How To Train Your Dragon

In this DreamWorks animated flick from 2010, young Hiccup, a viking, wants to earn his father’s and the community’s respect by slaying dragons.  However, when the opportunity presents itself he finds he doesn’t have the heart to do so.  He develops a relationship with an injured dragon and learns that perhaps dragons aren’t the evil creatures his village thinks they are.  This movie was one of the three films nominated for an Oscar in the category Animated Feature Film.  I thought it was okay.  It seemed to have a good underlying message- that we should try to understand one another rather than jump to conclusions that could result in violence.  However the message was overshadowed by alot of violence, especially in the initial scenes.  Also, the dragons and the vikings end up uniting against a common enemy (a bigger meaner dragon) which seems counterintuitive if the point is that the bad guys might not be so bad.  Why didn’t anyone try to befriend the bigger meaner dragon?  I was also perturbed by the one female character, a beautiful blond viking (in sharp contrast to all the other viking characters that were pretty ugly).  She seemed to be thrown in as a love interest for Hiccup and was just a sex symbol.  Please understand that I am looking at this with such a critical eye because it is a movie geared for children and I think things like messaging and stereotypical character depictions are a concern in children’s movies.  Now, for adults I’d say this movie was pretty entertaining and worth a watch, but I would not recommend it for young children.  My husband really liked the main dragon character, Toothless, because it reminded him of our cat. 

I give How To Train Your Dragon three artichokes, for an adult audience. 

Toy Story 3

This latest installation of the Toy Story series is much like the others.  It features excellent animation, humor, adventure, and emotional drama.  The funniest scene was when Buzz Lightyear gets switched to Spanish mode and he starts dancing Flamenco.  Overall, I enjoyed it…Rosalynn (age 11) did not.  There were some intense scenes that I think would be terrifying for young children.  In a way, I think this is better as a movie for adults rather than kids.  Of course, the target audience is kids, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for little ones.  That being said, as entertainment for someone my age I give it 3 artichokes.

Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1

This volume contains 13 short animated films.  I found the first 3 films a little dull, but then “Tin Toy” came on and I woke right up and took notice.  The rest of the films were mostly very good.  My favorites were “Tin Toy,” “Knick Knack,” “Geri’s Game” and “Lifted.”  To give you a flavor of the content, “Tin Toy” depicts a little wind-up toy that tries desperately to escape the clutches of a drooling careless baby.  In “Geri’s Game” an old man plays a rousing game of chess, with himself!  This volume was a lot of fun to watch.  I give it 3.5 artichokes. 

Avatar

So, I’m probably the last person in the country to finally see Avatar.   I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now, but here’s my two cents.  Avatar imagines a futuristic pillaging of a beautiful and bizarre planet, Pandora.  Wheelchair-bound Marine, Jake Sully, must try to get to know and then placate the native humanoid inhibants by visiting them while inhabiting an avatar created by scientists to blend into the alien world.  Once he gets to know the strange people, called the Na’vi, will he still want to help destroy their land so that humans can plunder a precious mineral?  And of course he falls in love with a lovely Na’vi woman.  So, the theme is nothing new…white invaders steal the land from noble natives…white man falls in love with exotic native woman and exotic native culture (Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, etc.)…ho hum.  However, there was nothing ho hum about the intense CGI animation.  It was a bit too cartoony for me, but I still found it beautiful.  I had to really suspend my disbelief because of the cartoony aspect (and when they said that the precious mineral was called “unobtainium” my carefully teetering disbelief came crashing down, I mean really…unobtainium?  So dumb.)  However, the futuristic lab areas set up by the humans on the planet and accompanying technology were very well done.  I could believe that a place like that might exist in the future (until they went outside in to cartoonland).  There was too much “shoot ’em up” stuff for me in this movie, and the animated action scenes such as the Na’vi riding dinosaur-like birds or running across branches were visually disturbing.  I’m glad I didn’t see it in the big theater or I might have gotten sick from the visuals.  It was tolerable on a t.v. screen.  Those were the bad points.  Good points: the story was very engaging, I wanted to keep watching to see what would happen next.  I appreciated the animation, even if it made me feel like I was inside a video game.  I actually recognized two of the actresses from their avatars (Neytiri played by Zoe Saldana and Moat played by CCH Pounder).  Sigourney Weaver gives a good performance as the chief scientist.   Mark liked the movie too, so it has broad appeal.  I give it 3 artichokes. 

Persepolis

This is an intense French animated film featuring a coming of age story of an Iranian girl, Marjane.  It is very heavy on politics and war.  I really liked the animation, especially the fanciful scenes that were sub-stories.  Despite it’s heaviness, the film was not completely depressing or oppressive.  It was somewhat whimsical which off-set the dark nature of the times well.  It captured well the varying moods of a girl as she grows up.  Actually, all the characters were done well and were relatable despite being animated.  Persepolis is not a film that everyone will like, and you have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it…but I do recommend it.  I give it 3.5 artichokes. 

9

This is a Tim Burton animated film from 2009.  In a post-apocolyptic world, little doll-like creatures struggle to survive against evil machines.  Each creature has a number, and the main character is “9.”  This movie was like a cross between Coraline and Wall-E.  Of the three movies, I liked Coraline best.  But this one was okay.  I think that Tim Burton is so uniquely talented, and I like watching his animated films for the artistic value.  The doll characters were very endearing and the animation was very good.  There was too much machine-shooting action for my taste.  I liked the sci-fi aspect and the premise was good.  I didn’t bother passing this movie on to my Mom (as I do with most of the movies I watch), because I know that she would say that it was too “visually dark.”  As an artist, she is sensitive to these things, and she couldn’t watch Wall-E because the lack of color and light bothered her.  I enjoyed this movie for a night’s entertainment, but it won’t be one that sticks with me in my mind for long.  9 earns 3 artichokes.