Posts Tagged ‘How To Train Your Dragon’
Film Review – The Sea Beast
The Sea Beast (2022) is a surprisingly effective animated adventure. It has several elements that calls to mind the likes of Moana (2016) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010) but adds a level of intelligence more thought provoking than expected. How many family films would introduce a theme as…
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Film Review – Raya and the Last Dragon
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) is a superb animated fantasy adventure. Borrowing elements from a number of Southeast Asian cultures, the story brims with color, life, and imagination. There is a sense of wonder and discovery within each location, as though every detail has a…
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Film Review – Abominable
One often used trope in family and animated films involves a protagonist befriending an outsider, usually of the fantastical variety. The earliest iteration of this I can remember was the friendship born between Elliott (Henry Thomas) and the alien in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). But…
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Film Review – How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The How to Train Your Dragon series is not only one of the best animated series of the new century, but one of the best film franchises period. The journey of the young Viking named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his friend – the Night Fury…
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Film Review – Pete’s Dragon
The remake train marches on, this time with Walt Disney Studios’ Pete’s Dragon (2016). I’ll admit to you, dear reader, that the original 1977 picture doesn’t hold any nostalgic value for me. It was primarily used by my elementary teachers to distract us students on…
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Film Review – Home
DreamWorks’ animated adventure Home (2015) is the cinematic equivalent of cotton candy. It’s colorful and sugary sweet, but disappears almost immediately after consumption. There’s not much substance going on here, and whatever emotion it tries to reach toward remains on the surface at best. That’s not…
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Film Review – How to Train Your Dragon 2
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) succeeds by fulfilling the potential established by the first film, without succumbing to the trappings of being a sequel. Yes, it is a bigger story, with a grander scope and darker themes, but writer/director Dean DeBlois maintains the…
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SIFF Interview – Bonnie Arnold – How to Train Your Dragon 2
Spencer interviews producer Bonnie Arnold from the animated adventure How to Train Your Dragon 2 at SIFF 2014.
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