This is the part where he flew the skies with the night fury. I really liked this movie. Nice storyline about being different. This soundtrack is when he finally fixed the dragon's tail and flew n'sync with it.
So the story is about a boy who in the viking community who wouldn't even kill and ant. As the story goes, he begins to discover himself and eventually changed his communities way of thinking. Yup. I am way too late to be talking about this but I was 'you tubing' and found this. It then reminded me of the GREAT story of 'How To Train Your Dragon'
How to Train Your Dragon is another highly enjoyable animated movie by Dreamworks. This one features a young boy named Hiccup, whose destiny it will be to forever change the relationship between the people of his village and the local pests - which just happen to be dragons...
Living on a small island beset by various kinds of dragon, the Vikings of that village are tough - really tough, especially Stoick (Gerard Butler) - ultra-heroic warrior, village chief - and Hiccup's father. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) just isn't cut out to be a warrior, though he's going to give it a real try... in case you were wondering, the Vikings give their children hideous names in the hope that it will scare enemies. Hiccup, we are told, is not actually among the worst names... (Snotlout, Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut are his fellow trainees.)
While Hiccup enrols in dragon-bashing school under the tutelage of Gobber (Craig Fergusson), he's also secretly befriending a dragon that he managed to immobilise for a time, but found that he just couldn't kill. The scenes between Hiccup and the dragon as they slowly gain each others' trust are wonderful; the rest of the film, good though it is, never really matches the sheer pleasure of watching these scenes. There are a variety of dragons on display here, a pretty diverse range, which makes things more interesting - they all have their own unique talents as well as appearances. The personality of the dragon who ends up befriending Hiccup seems to have been styled on a cat, which actually works quite well.
I didn't bother watching it in 3D - I've come to the conclusion that it's a waste of money after watching several 3D movies last year and being unimpressed by most of them. The visuals are superb, as you'd expect from Dreamworks - the only slight issue I had was that in some scenes the backgrounds appeared just too static, but on the whole everything looks fantastic, plenty of detail in both characters and backgrounds, and great animation. John Powell's music score was terrific too - sweepingly majestic and skittishly comical as the scene demanded. Oh, and the voice acting is excellent throughout.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon. Perhaps the stories of father-child relationships and a loner's path to redemption are a bit too well travelled; certainly this movie won't win any awards for plot originality, but it tells its tale well, looks great, is charming and amusing, and the main plot twist isn't obvious. A very nice animated movie, whatever age you are.
The introductory narration:
This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have... dragons.
As a feminist mother of a young daughter, I am always on the lookout for movies with a positive message. As a mom who is a geek, I'm always looking for sci-fi and fantasy movies that are kid-appropriate. As an intelligent woman, I'm always looking for entertainment that has good storytelling. Luckily for everyone like me, How to Train Your Dragon fits all three categories.
First of all, the movie is great storytelling, with fantastic visuals (especially in 3-D) that will keep everyone from a three-year-old to an adult interested and engaged throughout the whole film. The pacing is excellent, without any dragging moments or exposition that will bore young kids, and with enough depth that parents won't get bored either.
But much more importantly, the story gives a great message for kids of any age. For those who don't want to have the movie spoiled for them, here's the basic rundown: strong female characters (women & girls), great attitudes towards disability, support for flexible gender roles, good messages about accepting people as they are, underlying message about understanding, and peaceful solutions as opposed to conflict. Now, on to the details...
The story revolves around a teenager, Hiccup, who lives in a Nordic village that is defined primarily by its ongoing battle against hordes of raiding dragons. Both women and men fight, and teens help as well, but Hiccup is awkward and physically weak, and is not allowed to help. The teenager who is best at dragon fighting is a girl named Astrid, whom Hiccup likes. Hiccup's father is chief of the village, and does not value Hiccup's other talents. Hiccup creates a machine to help him capture a dragon, so that he can prove his worth to the village.
The machine works, Hiccup attempts to kill the captured dragon, but cannot bring himself to do so; instead he sets it free. The dragon, injured by the machine, cannot fly anymore. Over time, Hiccup befriends it, names it Toothless, and creates a prosthetic device that will help the dragon fly again, but only with the help of a human rider. Meanwhile, Hiccup is learning about dragon behavior, and uses that information to become the best teenaged dragon fighter, all without killing a single dragon. Hiccup's success frustrates Astrid, because she has been training all her life to be a dragon fighter, and was the best until Hiccup's changed behavior. Astrid discovers Hiccup and Toothless, but has her mind changed after spending time with them. Hiccup and Astrid discover the dragons' nest, and realize that the dragons raid the village in order to feed a giant dragon who will eat them otherwise.
When Hiccup is chosen as the best dragon fighter, he must kill a dragon in front of the village, but he refuses. His father agitates the dragon into attacking, and Toothless arrives to save Hiccup, but is captured and imprisoned. The villagers use Toothless to lead them to the dragons' nest, but the giant dragon attacks them and the teenagers, all on dragons, rescue the adults, each using her or his own abilities and skills in a group effort. Hiccup and Toothless defeat the giant dragon, but Hiccup loses a leg as a result. The village accepts the dragons and lives in harmony with them from then on.
Do I think this movie was helped by the fact that a) it's based on a book written by a woman and b) three of the five producers are female? Yes, I do. And this is exactly why we need more women in Hollywood. I love having a movie that I can show my daughter over and over again, and not worry about the underlying messages she might be getting from it. Instead, I can show her How to Train Your Dragon as much as she wants, knowing that she's getting a message of inclusion and acceptance.
So, I know I said when I started this blog that it was just gonna be a repository for my Stitch obsession. So, you'll forgive me if you find this item a bit on the OT side.
This is a promotional sticker set for the Japanese version of How to Train Your Dragon, "Hic & Dragon." The film won't be released in Japan until summer, so product is still relatively light. The interesting thing, as far as I'm concerned, is that it looks like all of the chara are rendered pretty much as you see them in the film, EXCEPT Toothless, who's drawn in an extreme chibi manner.
An extrememly cute chibi manner.
In case you didn't know (longtime readers may click away now before the boredom sets in) tiki started out as a little baby collector buying Japanese dolls. I simply decided to pick up "one or two" Japanese items from the Lilo & Stitch cartoon. Well, as it turned out, J Stitch stuffs was not just cute, it was freaking adorable, and so I soon proceeded to bury my doll room in plush aliens.
How is this relevant to HTTYD? Um, Toothless? Cute chibi Toothless? I suspect I'm gonna be in trouble, come summer. A lot of trouble.
How to Train Your Dragon is showing real staying power in theaters, here are a few more location design pieces. This is the interior of Dragon Island. I did them in photoshop, they're based on a look created by our Art Director extraordinaire, Pierre Olivier Vincent.
for Wii
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