How to Train Your Dragon

[Epical]

Saw this a couple days ago with my girlfriend, and I LOVED it! I'll admit, in the first 10 minutes I was sitting there thinking "Why am I here again?" but then I quickly found myself enjoying the movie a great deal. Personally, I think this was the best usage of 3D thus far (I've seen about 10 movies now in 3D, Avatar being one of them, etc)... the depth of field, the amount of 3D used, etc, was all top notch. The story was really good too, something people of all ages could enjoy.

Highly recommend this!

[Lexa]

I'd never even heard of this movie until this thread, but now I really want to see it! :O The trailers + this thread makes it seem good. Plus, I will by default watch anything with Jay Baruchel, cause I'm disturbed like that.

[Headspace]

The water in this movie was so surreal. Great use of animation and I may say, I could definitely see this beating Toy Story 3 for an Oscar. TS has the nostalgia, but judging from the previews I'm not sure if I will like the story or not yet.

[poct]

Saw this over the weekend with the girlfriend. The only 3D showing they had was IMAX, so we went ahead and paid the outrageous $36 for it.

Money well spent. The dragons reminded me of cats, and Toothless specifically of my cat. Was surprised how many adults and people our age were there (23ish), and how many times people laughed at the kiddish moments. Myself included. Was a great movie, and something I would probably see again in the theater if nothing else was going on. The ending was perfect.

edit: Forgot about the song at the end. Was extremely good, so me and the gf decided to look it up. Turns out its the singer from Sugur Ros in his solor band, Jonsi. Song is called Sticks & Stones and everyone should give it a full listen.

[Antithesis]

So are the reviews on this good because it's actually a good animated movie (see: anything made by pixar) or because it's typical dreamworks drivel but in 3D?

Not even TV's Craig Ferguson could get me to watch this if it's as bad as Kung-Fu Panda or Shark Tale.

This definitely ranks up there with many Pixar films. What I like about this film is that it doesn't try to be anything other than what it is suppose to be. It's a great story, has likable characters, great settings and so on.

[Shade]

Loved it, probably going to go see it again this week with different people.

Easily Dreamworks' best flick in a long while. It was pretty, it was funny, and it had CLEVER DIALOGUE. Oh how happy I am. Tiny black dragon of adorableness! Big manly Vikings and young very metal Vikings! It uses archetypal story-telling but it does new things! Suck it, Avatar. Much love.

[Lbelle]

Why is this movie being related to Avatar so many times in this thread? ITT any movie that uses 3D must be put up against Avatar? That's stupid.

[Shade]

For me?

Avatar was a movie that was marketed and hyped as being amazing, but I found it incredibly boring. How to Train Your Dragon, the latest in a long line of mundane animated features from Dreamworks, surprisingly... wasn't. I went in expecting average and found I had just watched the first actually good movie I had seen in a really long time. Avatar's ploddingly predictable storyline and flat characters were all supposed to be forgiven under the umbrella of using archetypes to tell the story. How to Train Your Dragon uses archetypes as well, but it has dialogue that is actually funny, characters that actually have chemistry with each other, and above all, it puts it's own twist on everything, resulting in a well-told story with personality and charm.

Oh, and, ending:

Spoiler: show

The ending does something that you never see in this type of genre movie, pretty much ever. The level of sacrifice and consequence present in the idea of taking the leg of the main character is impressive narratively, and a very bold thing to do in a family/kids movie. It is also handled very well. For that alone I give this movie props.

[Antithesis]

I agree, the ending made me like

Spoiler: show

"Omg, he lost his leg?" But then I was like, you know what? That's actually pretty cool and brave of these people for storyline purposes.

I've seen it twice, I might go back for a third time.

[SephYuyX]

I also agree. The ending was a complete shock. It's rare for a movie to ever do that let alone a 'childrens' movie, I didnt even know what to think at the time I was so caught off guard, but later I thought that it was a good choice and it worked well.

^ more of an 'omg I have to see this movie now', than a spoiler.

[Lexa]

This thread made me go see it today (was pleasantly surprised to find even my little hicksville theater showed it in 3D), and it was so completely worth the outrageous price! :D This was an AWESOME movie!

And I agree about the ending. I intentionally avoided reading the spoilered stuff in this thread (which I never do; I love spoilers), and

Spoiler: show

I was like "WTF THEY MUTILATED THE MAIN CHARACTER OF A KIDS' MOVIE?!?" But then I thought it was really bold. Plus, y'know, there was the way obvious parallells to Toothless losing one part of his tail.

On the whole, top notch, would watch again, etc etc.

[Kaisha]

Saw this over the weekend with the girlfriend. The only 3D showing they had was IMAX, so we went ahead and paid the outrageous $36 for it.

Jesus christ that's expensive, what gives? IMAX-3D is only $14'ish in my area per person, unless you included drinks/junk food into the equation.

[Headspace]

3D movies have gone up in price, including IMAX. It was 17 a ticket for me.

[poct]

Jesus christ that's expensive, what gives? IMAX-3D is only $14'ish in my area per person, unless you included drinks/junk food into the equation.

Pasadena prices. Just how we roll. No junk food or anything.

Used to live in Cincinnati and I remember paying like $12 for an IMAX 3-D over at the Levee. It was beautiful.

[Kenai]

Thank you BG. I was VERY pleasantly surprised. It's not perfect but it's damn close. After seeing some of Dreamwork's earlier attempts at movie making I was skeptical, but this was good. Real good.

[SephYuyX]

Pasadena prices. Just how we roll. No junk food or anything.

Used to live in Cincinnati and I remember paying like $12 for an IMAX 3-D over at the Levee. It was beautiful.

Still $5 for a 2D matinee.

[Antithesis]

$8 for a 2D Matinee for us in Miami

[SephYuyX]

Cheaper than I expected.

[Antithesis]

Let's go to see HTTYD again together Sephy D:

[Qalbert]

just got back from seeing it in 2D. Great movie indeed.
was $4, lol.