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Reviews
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
A different beast than the book, but still a powerful, entertaining film.
I read the book before this movie ever entered theaters. I could tell right from the start that the storyline of the movie had nothing to do with the storyline of the book (except for the names of a few of the characters involved). I am surprised the book even mentions that it is now a "major motion picture" considering you can hardly even compare the two.
In the movie, the Vikings must defend their food and land from attacking dragons, and the young Vikings are trained to become dragon slayers. Hiccup, the chief's son, is a weakling and a screw up who desperately wants to show his father that he is worth something.
When Hiccup ends up catching the only dragon no Viking has ever caught or killed, a "Night Fury," he is unable to slay the dragon and instead ends up training him and keeping him for a pet. His dragon, whom he calls Toothless, gives him insight into how dragons think, and he is then able to defeat all the dragons in the sparring ring quite easily without slaying them.
Of course, when it is discovered that Hiccup is now able to fight dragons because he has one for a pet, he is ostracized from the clan. His father, who wants nothing more than to find the dragons' lair and slay all dragons, uses Toothless to find the lair. Little does he know that there is a very large dragon living there, and they must now defeat it, aided by the very dragons he grew to hate. In the end, Hiccup is victorious, gets the girl he loves (Astrid), becomes a hero, gains respect from his peers, and changes Viking life as they know it by making pet dragons commonplace.
The book is called "How to Train Your Dragon" because the characters must do just that. In order to be considered a true Viking, the characters must go and get their very own dragon from the dragon lair and train it. Only the chief's son (Hiccup) is suppose to get a "monstrous nightmare" dragon, however, one of the other characters gets one just to spite him.
In the book, the characters learn that the only way to really train your dragon (that the Vikings know of) is to "yell at it," and Hiccup tries everything imaginable to train his dragon, all while being taunted and humiliated by his peers. Dragons in the book are ornery and decidedly un-loyal, and are also small enough to perch on shoulders.
Toothless in the book is a whiny, annoying character who refuses to be trained, and is called Toothless because he IS entirely toothless. In fact, Toothless in the book is the most pathetic dragon anybody has ever seen; scrawny with no teeth (and is also a "common green" type of dragon, which is the most basic dragon any Viking can have). Hiccup makes up a new species to call him so that he is not made fun of, and assures everybody that he has the rarest type of dragon anybody can have.
In the ending of the book, the characters must fight two huge dragons (much like in the movie) and their trained dragons aide them. Hiccup becomes a hero by coming up with and executing a plan to slay the large dragons. There is no female character in the book called Astrid, and the other Viking children are much more developed in the book and play a larger role.
Overall, both the movie and the book are thoroughly enjoyable, but anybody who has read the book must not compare it to the movie unless they want to be disappointed. The movie has a slightly cookie-cutter and predictable plot (hero messes up, hero wins respect and girl in the end), but is triumphant and humorous with likable characters and lovely animation. There are several tear-jerking moments in the movie, as well as many laugh-out-loud, witty jokes. Overall, this movie is one for the DVD shelf, and will be liked by both children and adults.
I think anybody who saw the movie without reading the books will be in for a surprise if they pick up the book series, and anybody who read the books and sees the movie can appreciate both.
Ghost Rider (2007)
Awesome flick if you like some cheesy fun
First off, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed this movie. I have read a lot of the bad hype that the flick has receieved, and I believe that this is partly due to the fact that people go into these types of movies expecting amazing advances in cinematography as well as a gripping and dramatic plot. Well, I hate to burst everybody's bubble, but that is really not the purpose of this type of movie. These bad reviews make me wonder just how serious you have to be (or just how snobby a critic) going into the theater to hate this type of movie making.
Far be it from me to say that this movie was perfect. It had its flaws and there were times when I found myself snickering at the silliness of it all, but that to me is good entertainment. The scenes where Cage turned into ghost rider for the first time were fairly intense, and I found myself marveling at the coolness of his transformation and powers. I also enjoyed the battle scenes including one involving ghost rider and a helicopter (I won't tell you what happens there, but it is pretty amusing). I also felt that the movie was pretty well-acted overall, and the entire flick maintained an aura of fun throughout (which I believe was the main purpose of the whole thing) while flowing smoothly through a simple plot.
If you are the type of person to over-analyze plots, scrutinize special effects, whine about some cheesy acting or if you get offended when a movie doesn't have a deep and philosophical meaning behind it, this is definitely not a movie you should waste your time or money on.
If, however, you are the type of person who enjoys some good laughs, some over the top (and at times cheesy) comic book acting, cool battle scenes, action and adventure, or if you simply just like to see some guy with a flaming skull, this is worth the 8 bucks to get into a theater seat.