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!

I'm going to show you how to kill a god.

Princess Mononoke (1997)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by Toshio Suzuki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Starring (English voices) Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thorton, Jada Pinkett Smith

Princess Mononoke Trailer

Notes

• I keep wanting to type "Princess Monkey".
• DUDE, I didn't know this movie was so... gory! They got appendages flying off everywhere! (Okay it's not that bad.)
• Could you imagine if Miyazaki directed a Pokemon movie? Pikachu would never look more beautiful...
• Why is it that in animes, the good-looking guy is always the male who looks the most like a female?
• This movie reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, The Legend of Zelda, and The Secret of Kells. It probably should've been named The Princess of Mononoke or something.
• Wait who's Mononoke?
• And why is she a princess? Couldn't she just be the queen? I guess "Queen Mononoke" sounds a little weird.
  
• Best character: Koroku the Ox Driver!
• Best scene: Pigs painting each other with their snouts.
• ASHITAKA! has been added to CHIHIRO! in my "Miyazaki character names that are yelled List."

Things I learned from Mononoke

• Wolves can still bite with their heads cut off.
• If you have feuding armies, just almost kill all of them, then they'll give up.
• Arrows can decapitate samurai!
• Don't get an infection or else your town will hate you. Forever.
  

Recommended to

• Fans of beautiful stuff.
• Fans of Miyazaki.
• Nature lovers.
  
• Those who want to see butt load of imagination.
• Those who enjoy contemplating upon the many themes of a movie.

Not recommended to

• Anime haters.
• Little kids...
  
• Those who don't want to sit down longer than 2 hours.

Conclusion

Yeah, it's a bit long. Contrary to the trailer, there actually isn't a WHOLE lot of action, but to the movie's credit, when there IS action, it's all kinds of awesome. I very much enjoyed the movie and probably got a bigger kick out of it because I love this kind of animation eye candy. Just watch out for the middle because it gets a little slow (I think Ashitaka is just sleeping or something), and I thought the end was both shocking and unevenly paced... There are also times where I'm like "wait WHAT? oh, yeah, this is a Miyazaki movie, this is magic. Gotta go with the flow...", and if you're okay with that, then by all means watch this! At least watch it to see Ashitaka battle a giant evil black Tangla.