Another 3D IMAX extravanganza. Another five minutes sitting through that increasingly annoying laser show introduction: IMAX....It's Canadian....The sub-base is HERE....Small stuff? I don't think so...Yep. The novelty is definitely wearing off.
Besides, I'd seen the trailer for this one umpteen times at other 3D screenings and it had the usual shtick: British book, so of course voiced by young American actors playing American high school stereotypes; gruff and stubborn adults with the wrong idea; hero with the right idea and an underdog to protect; lots of explosions and smart-assed humour, etc, etc.
As we set off for Silver City to see How to Train Your Dragon this morning, I comforted myself with the thought that at least we were catching the early show and so would still have Saturday afternoon to play with. Also, David Tennant was voicing someone named Spitelout, so I could at least amuse myself by listening for him...
Somehow, as our hero Hiccup (Vikings need horrible names so the gods won't hurt them, or something like that) bonds with an injured young dragon he dubs Toothless (he isn't), I found myself being won over.
This movie has something that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland didn't have: it has heart, and it has enough of a story that it really doesn't need to be in either IMAX or 3D. It also featured a really nice soundtrack that enhanced the action instead of distracting from it. I floated through this with a general feeling I haven't had at a movie in a while, that of relaxing into delight, silently thinking to myself: Hey...this is rather good!
Just as our own little claim to fame: one of the directors is younger daughter's ex-tutor's brother-in-law. I can tell you're impressed.
Oh, and David Tennant? He's in the cast list, but darned if I know which Viking he is. Elder daughter claimed she could tell from one of the trailers on the internet. She said he says something like "Well, good luck with that." It's his distinctive Scottish accent, she said.
"All the grown-ups had Scottish accents!" I groaned in exasperation.
"No, it was definitely him!" she insisted.
"Which web site?"
"I dunno," she shrugged.
Oh well. I'm ordering one of the audio-books from Amazon.uk. David Tennant narrates all of those...
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As much as this animation may win a heart, I could not bring myself to go and see it: I have listened multiple times to the wonderful audiobooks that David Tennant reads for Cresida Cowell's dragon series and could not think of hearing different voices to the ones he created for the cds. May I especially recommend the one about the Vorpent's curse [How to Cheat A Dragon's Curse]? Very funny, very exciting and the vorpent's evil tones have an effect on grown women that really shouldn't be unregulated by law. And his voice for toothless never fails to make me giggle loudly. An all-round winner.
I have How to Train Your Dragon on order from Amazon.co.uk, but will place How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse on my wish list on your recommendation. May I suggest that you reconsider your boycott? Dean Deblois, one of the directors, is Canadian and was also responsible for Lilo and Stitch, another of younger daughter's favourites. ("Family means nobody gets left behind" has become one of our credos.) Even with this knowledge, I was astonished at how much I enjoyed this movie. I really had thought I was going to have to soldier through it. Instead, it was a delight.
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