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How to Train Your Dragon 2 turns ten! Come and share your memories on the thread.

Posting reply to Most tragic, emotional, and dramatic character death in mainstream animation history?
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Clickable Emoticons	Oneill5491 wrote: > Always wanted to open up a discussion about this since so many people > reference other past animated movies that have hard-hitting character > deaths (e.g. Lion King, Bambi), but I haven't heard anyone debate which > death scenes in animated movie history was best done. > > Which carried the most emotional weight; had the best setup leading into it > (i.e. audience investment into character); was the most surprising or > untimely (most impactful to surrounding characters); best technical > execution (layout, audio/visual effects, music); best use of character > death to advance story and/or develop surrounding characters; best choice > of style and method of death to enhance aforementioned elements. > > Feel free to include any more points to debate over. > > So you could probably guess that I firmly believe that HTTYD 2 has set the > bar for how well a death scene can be written and utilized in an animated > movie, but if you guys believe there's a better one, I'd love to hear your > input. > > I'll try to list off all the positive aspects to this death scene which > makes it so great: > > [list] > []First and foremost: Death is of a very organic, mortal, [u]human[/u] > character. A human character's death adds tons more weight to the > seriousness of the death since you value human life more than anything else > and relate more to humans than you do animals or inanimate objects. > This hits on what I think is this franchises' strongest suit: having the > most organic feel and look in the history of animated productions. I'll > probably start a new thread at some point to elaborate on this. > []Unprecedented investment into building character before death. > Seriously, how many animation writers/directors have had the balls to have > the audience invest so much into learning about and loving this character > to later kill them off after a full movie of character development, not to > mention hours of screentime between all the shorts and TV episodes. > []Heroic death, jaw dropping method of death used. Valka and Stoick said > that "a chief protects their own." Well actions speak louder > than words. And I think having the protagonist's best friend kill a loved > one is unprecedented in animation (correct me if I'm wrong). Now I'm > trying to think of live action films that have done this. Excellent way to > bring tension into an otherwise perfect friendship. I was concerned when > they announced a second HTTYD because I knew that Hiccup and Toothless' > bond was the centerpiece of the franchise and I didn't know how they could > make that character dynamic interesting since it appeared that you couldn't > generate conflict between them. Yet they found the biggest wedge possible > and drove it in between them. > []Most tragic and untimely death with the heartwarming thought of > reuniting the Haddock family and with Stoick reuniting with his presumed > dead wife, lost for 20 years. A dagger was thrusted into that warm and > fuzzy notion after about 15 minutes. > []Impeccable technical execution with character death shown ON SCREEN. > While other animated movies shy away from actually showing the character's > body at the exact time of death or showing the cause of death inflicted > upon them in plain view, often preferring to have the gruesome details > implied within the audiences' imagination, in HTTYD 2, you see everything > for full effect. And the surrounding characters see everything in full > detail as well. Very bold move that adds more weight to the reality of > death and how quickly it can come. Also, excellent use of cinematography > throughout the entire scene, especially in the following funeral pyre scene > with the lighting and framing of characters for reaction shots. But IMO, > John Powell's score for those two scenes was the biggest technical asset > for drawing your emotions out. > []While most of us saw this coming (personally I thought this would occur > in HTTYD 3), the passing of responsibility to Hiccup in a very > Godfather-like scenario was powerful. These kind of growing pains in a > becoming of age story is cinematic gold. > [/list] > > Anyway, that was a lot to process, but I'm just really proud of the guys at > DreamWorks for not holding back and, as Dean put it, "going beyond > what's immediately comfortable in animation." > > Anyways, eager to hear how you guys think this movie stacks up against the > rest that incorporated emotionally heavy death scenes. (Yay for morbid > discussions)! :'(
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