I had a difficult time writing today’s comic because the joke is kind of crass and I kept trying to censor myself as I was constructing it. That’s a lose-lose situation every time. So I decided to just kind of go for it.
I prefer to think of Theater Hopper is a family friendly comic. But sometimes, you just have to throw caution to the wind.
I don’t know if this joke is particularly funny, but an imaginary sexual euphemism was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about How To Train Your Dragon.
I actually got a chance to see the movie on Saturday and I’m surprised how much I liked. Or, rather, I’m surprised how much my enjoyment of the film mirrored critical and fan response leading up to the release.
In the few days before Friday and on Friday itself, I was seeing all kinds of effusive praise for the film and thought it was almost going over the top. I was skeptical that if the film was the first moderately good film of the year that people were going overboard heaping praise on it just so they would have something to talk about.
Well, it turns out the praise is justified. The movie is spectacular. Even if the film lacks some of the wit and heart of your average Pixar film, Dreamworks was finally able to put the cap on the annoying pop culture references they’ve been making since the first Shrek movie.
And while the film’s story of an outsider who finds acceptance (and his reticent Daddy issues) won’t win points for originality, you never really notice the tropes as you’re watching the film. The plot moves briskly, explains it’s rules succinctly and never treats the audience like idiots. Kind of a tall order for what is otherwise a kids film.
At the insistence of others, I watched How To Train Your Dragon in 3D and I strongly recommend you do, too. The flying scenes alone are a wonder to behold. Talking with my friend Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies, he said “It does for flying sequences what Iron Man did. It’s almost becoming its own genre.” He couldn’t be more right.
Bottom line, the movie looks fantastic. And I’m not talking about the computer animated bells and whistles. I’m talking about the cinematography, the lighting.
It should look good. Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders hired Roger Deakins to make sure the film looked top notch in this department. You may not know it, but you’ve seen Deakins work before. He performed the same role for Pixar’s Wall-E.
If I could make one complaint about the film, it would have to be the voice casting. Jay Baruchel can sometimes come off a little too nasal and whiny. Kind of like Woody Allen’s grandson snuck into a Viking village.
Similarly out of place are Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson as tribal leaders. Their thick, Scottish brogue’s on full display in a Scandinavian village. If I were Nordic, I’d be kind of peeved. What? They couldn’t at least cast Stellan Skarsgård?
I was also very distracted by the inclusion of America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig as Baruchel’s friends in “dragon training.” Every time I heard their characters speak, I was distracted by trying to figure out where I had heard their voices before.
Hill’s character in particular, Snotlout, threw me because he looked like he was modeled after Jack Black. I kept expecting the character to break into song and over-enunciate his consonants at any minute.
But these are minor distractions, really. For the one or two things the movie gets wrong, it gets four or five things really, really right.
The dragon referenced in the title – a “Black Fury” Baruchel names Toothless – is an excellent reflection of the animators skill of showing without telling. Toothless does not speak, but we know exactly what he’s thinking throughout the entire course of the movie. His facial expressions flow effortlessly between snarling distrust to wide-eyed playfulness. His body language is equal parts dog, cat and jet-black gila monster.
How To Train Your Dragon does an excellent job of accessing that part of your childhood that fantasizes about dragons all day. The part that doodles them on a sheet of paper when you get distracted. It is an immensely enjoyable film and if you don’t leave the theater wanting a dragon of your own by the end of it, then you must be one of those people who likes unicorns. If that’s the case, then I don’t know how to save you.
If you saw How To Train Your Dragon this weekend, feel free to leave your comments below. Let’s talk about it, shall we?
Flying solo tonight, Mr. Brazelton?
Yeah. Cami didn't want to come because she thinks the title How To Train Your Dragon is too "suggestive."
What does she mean?
Oh, you know. Like "spanking the monkey" or "waxing the pole?"
I think it's kind of silly, but...
OMIGOD!
She was totally dropping hints!
I could be at home having sex with my wife!
I guess you really ARE flying solo tonight, Tom. HAH!
I saw it on opening day in 3-D and it was pretty great. Strong characters and story, tons of emotion, enjoyable action and those flying scenes really are breathtaking. This is definitely Prince of Egypt-level DreamWorks.
One thing I’m surprised almost every reviewer (including you) is over-looking is the fact that Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois also directed Lilo & Stitch, which I felt was Disney’s last truly great animated film before The Princess and the Frog came along. You would think the dragon’s similarities to Stitch would be enough for critics to acknowledge that. I was excited for this film, mainly because of them being involved, but that’s probably because of how big a fan I am of Lilo & Stitch.
Tom, ask yourself 4 questions each time you’re unsure about your comic: Do I like it? Will Cami like it? Will new readers like it? Will avid fans like it?
I’m an Avid fan and have been for almost 2 years, now. I thought that it was funny, and still good hearted comedy. So, there’s answer four for you. “yes”
It’s a Night Fury, not a Black Fury (unless it’s different in Aus than in the US) 🙂
Glad to hear you enjoyed the film – I’m looking forward to seeing it later this week.
What encouraged me the most was that it was directed by the same folks as Lilo and Stitch. From the ads (and I know I can be way off on this), it seemed like there should be similar themes between the main characters – underdog young person gets matched up with misunderstood alien/mythical creature who communicates mostly without speaking. Hijinks ensue, lessons are learned, people grow, etc.
I was hoping that the subtleties from Stitch’s expressions (which made that film for me) carried over into this film, and from your review, it sounds like that’s the case. If Dreamworks could focus more on subtleties like these rather than over-bearing characters, pop culture references, and fart jokes, they might have a chance be taken as seriously as Pixar.
Great strip this morning, as well!
I watched and very much enjoyed HtTYD yesterday. I’ve always been a big fan of dragons, so a movie that does a good job building a fun (if slightly predictable) story around them gets high marks in my book. And I should note that the filmmakers doing a good job of showing what Toothless is thinking without saying anything isn’t too surprising; the directing duo are the same ones that brought us Lilo and Stitch.
I watched it in 2D, on account of me not believing in the gimmick that is 3D, and it looked great. The flying scenes were very cool, especially the first full practice flight (the harness/foot motion thing was a nice touch in that department). Very fun and enjoyable movie in the end, no question.
I think a bit of coffee came out my nose laughing at the comic. It was a nice change of pace.
Looking forward to seeing Dragons which is surprising because I normally wait until DVD release to see all Dreamworks animated features.
Well, I laughed! Don’t be to reticent to use naughty jokes. 🙂
I agree on the main kid’s voice. He sounded like a whiny little man, not a boy. It’s almost as bad as when they cast a woman as a boy and you can tell. Here’s an idea! How about casting kids as kids? I actually didn’t recognize any of the friend’s voices. I think I was too immersed in the world to think much about our world.
Unfortunately I read a tweet by Ryan Estrada comparing the dragon to Stitch, and I couldn’t get it out of my head the whole movie, which is all good and fine except that I don’t really like Stitch. The dragon was much more endearing, though, even if he did have a Stitchy face.
I liked the movie so much. Didn’t see it in 3D, mostly because I already had a headache and I didn’t feel like being sick the rest of the day. It was still stunning.
But I don’t want a dragon. Too much maintenance. No unicorns, though. They scare me.
Poor clueless comic Tom. His lack of awareness make me laugh.
Didn’t see it (but plan to – the local theater just got 3D), but did see Hubble 3D at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry’s IMAX theater this weekend. Thanks for the tip – it was an interesting follow-up to having just attended a live performance of CATS… (also quite good).
lol you know…that title did sound rather suggestive before I even viewed this comic.
By the way, opinions, is anyone going to see “The Clash of the Titans?” I’m strongly considering it, but I wasn’t sure. Looks pretty cool, though.
The trailer looks brilliant, can’t wait to see this! :)`
And I, too, could have sworn that was Jack Black – the character even looks like it was modelled after him! I also thought the main Viking was Mike Meyers doing his Scottish thing yet again, and that was before I saw it was by the same people who did Shrek! For some reason, the Scottish thing totally works for me, though, probably because they look like larger dwarves, and I’m used to dwarves being portrayed as Scottish (not to mention the Vikings invaded Scotland, amongst other places, though of course they wouldn’t have had Scottish accents at the time), though yes, Scandinavian accents would have been more accurate. But hey, if a Frenchman can play a Scot and a Scotsman can play a Spaniard (see Highlander), then I guess that’s nothing by comparison! 😉
Oh, and I thought the comic was great – it was playful and suggestive, without being blatant or crude. It’s definitely no more than a PG-13, if that; I don’t think you have to worry about having ventured too far out from your usual family fare. 🙂
I think the joke was good. Nice and refreshing. haha 😀
Saw the movie with my son on IMAX 3D. I’m not sure if I’m that much more impressed about the IMAX 3D over the Real3D experiences on the smaller screen. Good film. The action sequences near the end were great.
Definitely not too crass. And now I’ll definitely have to see if I can catch this movie in the theatre.
I hope the movie was worth it, sir.
I have to admit that I am shocked by how well-received this comic was. Not only with your comments, but with the voting going on in the Top Rated comics app.
Thank you, guys! I really appreciate it!
@Tom,
No, thank you. ;-}
Oh, and can the “Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail” thingy be set to OFF by default? One of these days I am going to forget and be even more deluged with mail I don’t particularly want.
@chuckers,
I’ve changed the settings so it is the author’s choice if he wants follow up e-mails.
Sorry about that. I think the previous setting must have been its default.
I for one thought it was a great comic, and I’m looking forward to seeing the movie. I didn’t notice a similarity between the dragon and Stitch – it actually looks a lot like my dog, which is kind of odd. I kept thinking “I’ve seen that expression before…the character looks familiar”. Then my husband saw the trailer and said “Our dog makes that exact same face!” It’s kind of weird that my dog looks like a dragon…or rather, a dragon looks like my dog.
Good comic.
I saw the movie with my nephew Saturday and we both enjoyed it. Your mentioning of Hiccup’s daddy issues reminded me of something I noticed while watching it. I was caught by the fact he had a dad. Usually in fantasy stories the hero is an orphan.
LOVED IT. I am a dracomaniac (obsessed with dragons) and this is a very original idea. The movie strays from the book, while still being within its mythos, which is a very good idea when it comes to adapting books to movies. While some movies can’t do that (Harry Potter comes to mind,) others, such as The Lightning Thief could’ve done with some of that. The Lightning Thief tried to cram too much from the books into the movie, and it was splooged up because of that.