I’m not really high on Dreamworks’ “animated children’s movies” because well… they’ve sucked and have a pretty poor track record.
My rule is simple. When you see the commercials/trailers for the movie, are they pitching the movie and the story? or do they work on promoting the “star power” of the “voice actors”? Pixar? They don’t advertise that so-and-so does the voices, even if they’re not really good voice actors and are just doing their normal voices. Pixar knows story is king, and that shows in their movies.
But with Dragons, Dreamworks well…. now that I see WHO the people are that did the voices well, it’s not like it was massive star power there anyways. But that’s just fine! There was less focus on the glitz and more focus on making a good movie.
And good it was.
Sure it was a story you’ve heard/seen a thousand times. There’s really nothing new to the base story. It’s the telling that changes, and I think they told a good story. I found the movie most enjoyable. Comedy, action, suspense, just a hint of innocent romance, some emotional heart-tugging moments. Sure you know how things are going to go (tho I thought the end um…. thing that happened to Hiccup at the end of the movie, that was a cute touch), sure you know “happily ever after”. But still, I enjoyed myself.
Daughter approves as well.
Oldest and Youngest… well… fisticuffs in the morning meant no movie for them in the afternoon. *sigh*
Anyway, an enjoyable movie. I’m sure it means a “Dragson 2” is already brewing… not sure it should be done… sometimes I think it’s good to just let good things stay as they are, we don’t need to milk it to death. But you know how it is… there’s money to be made and ideas to run into the ground. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 
I just got back from seeing it with the fam myself. Good movie.
You didn’t like Kung Fu Panda, or Shrek? Are you really that much of an Apple/Jobs fanboy? :)-~
Didn’t see Kung Fu Panda. But things like Madagascar? Gah….
Wall-E
I liked Wall-E. I’ve enjoyed every Pixar movie they’ve made.
But I will say, the notion of “Toy Story 3” has been the first uncertainty. Not only because it’s a “3”, but it’s the first that Disney has had a direct hand in… there’s so much backstory in the making (or not) of “3” that well… I figure it could be the first flop for Pixar… thank you Disney machine. But yes, I’ll probably still go see it when it comes out.
Wall-E. There’s a movie that wasted so much potential. The first part of the movie was great, but it was all thrown away by the terrible 2nd half after the white robot turns out to be a probe from the humans in exile.
If there wasn’t a single word of dialog in the movie it would have been a better and more compelling story.
Kinda sad, two grown men talking about cartoons.
Anyway, you’d like Kung Fu Panda. It’s very respectful of eastern philosophy/wisdom, while at the same time funny and entertaining.
It’s not sad at all. I love cartoons. Heck, remember it’s a bunch of grown men and women that make all of these cartoons. Nothing wrong with cartoons.
OK, I’ll give Kung-Fu Panda a try. I must admit I grew a major bias against Dreamworks pictures because they had such a poor track record. But if they’re coming around, well, that’s good.