How To Train Your Dragon 2

 

How To Train Your Dragon isn’t considered one of my favourite animated films, it is considered one of my favourite films.  I am still in love with How To Train Your Dragon and was not prepared for How To Train Your Dragon 2 to be anything less than the perfection of the first instalment.

Oddly, at the 12.30pm showing on the opening Saturday it was just me and my friends.  This was unexpected.

PLOT:  After the events of How To Train Your Dragon there are now dragons a plenty on the Island of Berk.  The only creatures living in fear are the sheep.  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless begin to venture away from Berk to explore uncharted lands.  On their travels they meet a mysterious dragon rider and are introduced to a secret cave filled with wild dragons.  Unfortunately the villainous Drago (Djimon Hounsou) gets wind of their discovery and vows to take the dragons for his army.  END PLOT.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 takes place several years after How To Train Your Dragon and the first thing that struck me was how much I had missed the residents of Berk.  It was very satisfying, even at twenty-eight years of age, to join Hiccup and Toothless on another adventure.  Right from the opening dragon race sequence I was gone.  Time stood still and I was completely engrossed.

The plot is fine but with the benefit of hindsight the battle against Drago was probably very predictable but I care not.  I lived every moment of the story with the characters and genuinely grieved for the unexpected loss of a favourite. 

Jay Baruchel heads the returning cast of Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig with each actor sliding right back into their roles with ease.  Djimon Hounsou is adequate as Drago however Cate Blanchett was awful as Valka with her accent veering from Scottish to Irish before settling on a general mishmash of something which sounded vaguely Celtic. It is a strange day when Cate Blanchett is the worst thing about a movie but she does have previous when it comes to dodgy accents.

There are more action set pieces in HTTYD2 and this comes as no surprise but the animation is stunning and was an absolute treat for the eyes.  The dragons playing in the background of some of the quieter moments meant that there was always something fun for the audience to watch.  Toothless is the star of the franchise and even my typically hardened heart has fallen in love with the character.  The eyes and facial expressions are perfect.

The relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is stronger than ever although it does hit a little rocky patch during the film.  The problem is they didn’t have this moment on par with this iconic scene from How To Train Your Dragon:

This moment is what cemented How To Train Your Dragon as one of my favourites.  I didn’t think it could be recaptured but How To Train Your Dragon 2 gave us this:

The flying scenes in this film have a real magical quality that I lose myself in.  The film could be a 90min montage of Hiccup and Toothless flying through the air and I would be happy.

In order to counteract the gushing adoration HTTYD2 did have one minor problem – the score.  John Powell is back and although the main musical theme can be heard throughout the film the score lacks the ferocity of “TestDrive” and the sweeping “Coming Back Around”.  The score feels watered down which is surprising given how important it seemed in the HTTYD.

Overall I cannot be disappointed with How To Train Your Dragon 2.  The sequel suffered slightly because it didn't have the surprise factor of How To Train Your Dragon but it will be loved just as much.  HTTYD2 gets 9/10.  There is something special about the mixture of friendship, dragons and flying that I completely fallen for.

The days are being counted until How To Train Your Dragon 3.

 

 

Despicable Me 2

 

The cute kids and hilariously bizarre minions meant that Despicable Me was an easy film to fall in love with.

The sequel although inevitable was not unwelcome.

PLOT:  Now settled with Margot (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher) Gru (Steve Carell) is living the life as a happily retired villain.  The family setting is interrupted when Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to catch a criminal who is hiding out in a local mall.  END PLOT

The plot of Despicable Me 2 doesn’t miss a single beat in terms of predictability.  The script covers family drama, mother issues, father issues, dating issues and of course self-acceptance.   There are a lot of plot threads contained within the 98min (IMDB) running time.  A little bit of trimming here and there would have tightened up the film and brought it down to a solid 90mins.

The story-line is a paint by numbers affair but as soon as you sense the monotony creeping in the ridiculously adorable Agnes or the minions appear on screen.  Despicable Me is a simple premise but cleverly knows when to play its ace cards.

Steve Carell is excellent as Gru and more importantly the voice work of Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Kate Fisher is perfect.

The humour is a mixed bag.  I will never find fart joke humour funny and I didn’t hear shrieks of laughter coming from the younger members of the audience.  Perhaps it is time to retire this particular brand of comedy.  It is lazy.

There are some witty one liners but as expected the vast majority of the giggles comes from the minions.

The animation is similar to the first film however it isn’t up there with Dreamworks or Pixar.  This isn’t a criticism as Despicable Me 2 is a bright and colourful film.  I commend it for not being released in 3D.

Despicable Me 2 was everything I expected it to be.  I have a real affection for the first film and the sequel lived up to the hype.  It didn’t surpass the original though – it just lacked that extra something special.  Despicable Me 2 gets a very respectable 7.5/10.

Paul

I have been a huge Pegg/Frost fan since the days of Spaced but the fact that they were off to America worried me somewhat. This worry was upgraded to absolute terror when it was announced that my 4th least favourite American Seth Rogen would be joining them. There was genuine fear for Pegg/Frost’s comedy legacy and it was with an over abundance of nervous trepidation that The Nerdy Trio went to see Paul.

PLOT: Clive and Graeme, two Brits on a road trip fresh from Comic Con run into an alien named Paul who has escaped from the Government. They must help him get to a destination which is never fully explained in order that he can be picked up by his ship. They are chased by Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman my 5th favourite American) and his two trainees through the dusty back roads of America. Clive and Graeme kidnap Ruth played by Kristen Wiig (another Saturday Night Live cast off that I neither care for nor care to see more of). Graeme and Ruth fall in love. Paul swears a lot. Sigourney Weaver shows up and I get a little over excited at the use of one of the best lines in Aliens. Paul gets beamed up. END PLOT

Paul opens up at Comic Con and I watch two nerds live out my dream. We are then transported to a hotel with Pegg and Frost gushing to the tune of “We are in America!” “I cant believe we made it to America”. This was too self congratulatory for my liking and at the moment in time I hated them and quite frankly forty eight hours later I am still hurting from this.

The movie starts off quite slowly and picks up speed when they crash into Paul (voiced by the bile inducing Seth Rogen). I enjoyed the Pineapple Express - it was funny but there is something about Seth Rogen that I now cannot stand. I think it is the fact that he is in every single comedy known to man without one humorous bone in his body (the funny bone not withstanding). I hate him - he is the male equivalent of Jennifer Aniston (My 1st least favourite American).

Someone should tell Seth Rogen (and Jennifer Aniston for that matter) that being a workaholic doesn't necessarily mean he (or she) is any good at his (or her) job.

The success of the movie Paul is heavily dependent upon the success character Paul. Paul’s main contribution to the laughs is that he swears, drinks, smokes a lot and is fowl mouthed. He is funny but it just seemed like a desperate and cheap attempt to get laughs. There was nothing particularly clever about Paul.

Pegg and Frost were are good as ever but the big laughs came from Bateman and his two trainee agents.

There were some clever little moments - the Hillbilly Cantina bar music and some brilliant throwaway lines - Deliverance, Aliens and a brilliant Battlestar Galactica line that you will either think is hilarious or you just wont get at all.

Paul does deliver laughs and it is clever but if you watched it back to back with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz it is noticeably the weakest of the three - saying that Paul is a lot funnier than most comedies that you will see this year.

Paul gets an 8/10.
Paul cements the fact that Pegg/Frost are two of the best comedy double teams out there (although come back home boys, come back home)
Paul cements the fact that I am now in love with Jason Bateman (and his amazing head of thick, gelled hair)
Paul cements the fact that I do despise Seth Rogen (If a Pegg/Frost movie cannot thaw that fiery hatred then nothing ever will)