That... was for everything else

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Directed by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Produced by Bonnie Arnold, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Michael Connolly, Tim Johnson
Written by Adam F. Goldberg, Peter Tolan, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Cressida Cowell (Story)
Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson

How to Train Your Dragon trailer

Notes

• I accidentally called this "How I Met Your Dragon".
• I wish Gerard Butler had to yell a line like "THIS... IS... BERK!!!" and then push a dragon down an endless pit.
• BUHH or could you imagine if he had an ex-wife in the movie played by Jennifer Anistion? And he was assigned to capture her and take her to the dragons?? The movie could be called How to Train Your--... nevermind.
• One of my only gripes is that they didn't explain why Hiccup doesn't have a Viking accent.
• I like to pretend that after the end of the movie, the Vikings become super angry for no reason and start conquering random territories. This is potentially the prequel to The Secret of Kells.
• I have a love-hate relationship with the character designs in the film. On one hand the vikings are awesomely huge and the dragons are cleverly constructed. On the other hand I feel like some of the designs were too "safe". For example, Hiccup's hair is bland and they designed it in such a way so that it's more relatable to today's audience. TODAY's audience. Which, I realize sounds like a good thing, but it bothers me that the Jim Halpert hairdo will become passe in about 20 years. It's like if the film came out in the 1980's, they'd have given him a mullet or rattail. This grinds my gears because I feel like the movie should establish that it DOES take place in a different place and a different time, but by having fashion accustomed to the 21st century America, it breaks the confines of their world. (This is also seen in the kids' America accents. Either have everyone sound like a Viking or no one!) They implement contradictory ideas for the sake of making the film more approachable, but at the expense of more powerful story telling.
• Did I over think that? It probably just bothers me...
• Did you know the movie is loosely based on a book??

Things I learned from HTTYD

• How to train my dragon.
• Dragons are cool pets.
  
• Viking children don't have viking accents. (I assume they grow into them, like puberty.)

Conclusion

MUCH BETTER than I expected. How to Train Your Dragon was entertaining from the moment it started to the second the credits flashed. I often have horrible preconceptions that non-Pixar CG movies are going to be bad (maybe I'm just traumatized from Happily Never After). The reason for this is because movie studios (and a lot of the public) consider animated films to be made specifically for children, and with that mindset, they neglect efforts to create a compelling film and instead come out with a simple and sloppy mess that can ONLY be tolerated by children. This film has given me hope. Hope that future animated movies that aren't made by Pixar will not suck!

Great White Buffalo

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Directed by Steve Pink
Produced by Matt Moore, John Cusack, Grace Loh, John Morris
Written by Josh Heald, Jarrad Paul
Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover

Hot Tub Time Machine Trailer

Notes

• Some of the best parts in the movie were the George McFly scenes.
• WHOAWHOAWHOA I just made the connection. He was in THAT movie, and now he's in THIS movie. Cool!
• I thought I'd get a better kick out of the whole 1980's retro thing, but I realize I wasn't alive back then... so maybe when Hot Tub Time Machine 9 comes out in 30 years and takes place during the turn of the century, I SHALL LOVE IT.
• It was difficult to not find John Cusak's relationship with that young girl a leeeetle creepy.
• Chevy Chase did nothing.
• The end of Hot Tub Time Machine reminded me of the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. If you saw both movies, YOU KNOW what I'm talkin' bout. (Both films also had 4 main characters in them too!)

Things I learned from Hot Tub

• If you change a few things in the past, everything in the future will be perfect.
• The word "awesome" was a hip slang word in 1986. (Wait, right?)

Recommended to

• Those who lived through the 80's.
• Those who want to see a decent R-rated comedy.

Not recommended to

• Anyone outside of the intended demographic. (So uh... the movie did what it wanted to do.)

Conclusion

FINALLY a solid comedy with funny characters and a funny script. Nothing was majorly surprising, especially since a few parts were riffed from other time traveling movies, but it's so hard to find a good comedy nowadays in the slew of films that Hollywood is churning out. With its mediocre downs and its aweseomely hilarous ups, Hot Tub Time Machine ended up being pretty much what I expected. If it exceeded my expectations, however, I would have definitely given it... two tubs up.

-five!-