For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - How To Train Your Dragon
The Impression:
Perhaps, just perhaps, the trailer with it's cheeky dragon
training scenes, slightly unique animation and novel concept
implies that Dreamworks Animation has finally made a film
unlikely to tighten my bowels with rage.
The Reality:
I like dragons. I like vikings. I, as much as I wanted,
just didn't enjoy How To Train Your Dragon.
Dreamworks Animation peddles a unique idea (Vikings!
Dragons! Warfare!) but falls in to the film-for-kids trap so
many others have stumbled in to before. Moral lessons are
to be had in How To Train Your Dragon but their
heavy-fisted deliverance makes them digestible only by the
eleven and under set. Toss an underdog story and a handful
of low-grade cardboard stock characters in to the boiling
pot and you have another bland bit of yogurt from the
cash-hounds over at Dreamwork.
Story, character, narrative arcs, and other things of that
sort aside, the 2-D animation in the film (specifically some
of the viking's beard work) wowed me, re-instilling the hope
that this whole 3-D fad is nothing but.
The Lesson:
Don't trust Dreamworks Animation, those snakes are just out
to clean your wallet.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
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Unless
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John Laird under a
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