15 June 2014

How To Train Your Dragon 2


A feel good, family movie that is more heavily skewed towards the children rather than tweens or above. Less exciting and less dramatic than the first instalment, but still a decent cartoon.

Writer-Director Dean DeBlois did a commendable job but the directing here was rather messy with the action-choreography seemingly too rushed. Many scenes borrowed heavily from other sci-fi geek moments which made this movie seemed less original that it was meant to be.

Although I did not watch it in 3D, I believed that there were a few scenes which would have definitely showed-off the technology. However, they were a lot less frequent than in the first movie.

Even from a story point of view, DeBlois' foreshadowings were way too heavy-handed. Perhaps it would be suited for the target audience of under-10s, but the adults in the audience would surely be groaning inwardly. Even the emotional centre was dealt simply and too casually, such that where there should be emotional fallout in the audience just fell kind of flat.

The best relationship depicted was between boy and pet.

I love Cate Blanchett, but her voice-acting here was extremely distracting. She affected a strange Aussie tilted, pseudo-Viking-that-sounds-Scottish accent that was not constant. It just kept jumping around.

The best aspect of the movie was Roger Deakins' cinematography (Visual Consultant). Some scenes were just so gorgeously depicted.

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