How To Train Your Dragon (Live Action)

[Paul Heroy]

It's hard to spoil something that's already spoiled itself, lol.

As most of you have probably heard, this latest in a string of live action remakes of animated movies barely deviates from the original, begging the question of "Why?". Well, duh - money. 

The original is a very engaging and fun underdog story with relatable characters, and this is pretty much too. 

The cast is generally good - the actor portraying Hiccup was pretty much perfect. There seems to be some criticism that Nico Parker as Astrid doesn't look the same; I don't have any issue with that, but I do take issue with the fact that she is even slighter of build than Hiccup, who is constantly ridiculed about that. She doesn't make up for it with superior athleticism or other physical abilities, so as a result I found her very unconvincing as a top warrior. 

The live action sequences, especially the dragon riding (of course) are a lot of fun and thrilling, but I felt they could have benefitted from less up close shots that felt very busy, and more wide panoramic shots. It's not really fair to compare but the sandworm riding sequence in Dune Pt 2 is FAR more impactful. However, the combination of CGI dragons with live humans never drew me out of the movie and made me notice it, so that seems to have been done at a very high level.

But THE BIG question to me is... will Craig deign to watch a live action version of an animated movie when he (in)famously won't watch animated movies? 

[bmoney]

That IS the biggest question hahah. I say no

[SRW1000]

Paul,

Any impressions of the sound design from your theater viewing?  That was a standout feature from the animated version, at least with the disc release.

[David Vaughn]

The animated version is one of my daughter's favorites (along with Lilo and Stitch) and she refuses to watch either one because as she says "there's no point in remaking outstanding animated titles into live action films....they won't earn a dime from me!" I'm very proud of her

[Paul Heroy]

Paul,

Any impressions of the sound design from your theater viewing?  That was a standout feature from the animated version, at least with the disc release.

Unfortunately, not really. I didn't think about that aspect while viewing it, but nothing jumped out at me during the movie. That may be my inattentiveness or the theater I was in. (Which wasn't necessarily state of the art, though it was a 3D presentation - not my choice and the picture was too dim for much of the movie.)

[AVSCraig]

It's hard to spoil something that's already spoiled itself, lol.

As most of you have probably heard, this latest in a string of live action remakes of animated movies barely deviates from the original, begging the question of "Why?". Well, duh - money.

The original is a very engaging and fun underdog story with relatable characters, and this is pretty much too.

The cast is generally good - the actor portraying Hiccup was pretty much perfect. There seems to be some criticism that Nico Parker as Astrid doesn't look the same; I don't have any issue with that, but I do take issue with the fact that she is even slighter of build than Hiccup, who is constantly ridiculed about that. She doesn't make up for it with superior athleticism or other physical abilities, so as a result I found her very unconvincing as a top warrior.

The live action sequences, especially the dragon riding (of course) are a lot of fun and thrilling, but I felt they could have benefitted from less up close shots that felt very busy, and more wide panoramic shots. It's not really fair to compare but the sandworm riding sequence in Dune Pt 2 is FAR more impactful. However, the combination of CGI dragons with live humans never drew me out of the movie and made me notice it, so that seems to have been done at a very high level.

But THE BIG question to me is... will Craig deign to watch a live action version of an animated movie when he (in)famously won't watch animated movies?

No! I'm waiting for F1 and Ballerina.