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| Httyd2 Reviews [spoilers] | |
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| Topic Started: 19 Aug 2014, 10:27 (9940 Views) | |
| Cartoon Freak | 19 Aug 2014, 10:27 Post #21 |
Deadly Nadder
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Um, you might just want to check this: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_ ... _dragon_2/ Now, 92% is a great Tomatometer score, and well-deserved, but that still means that 8% of critics didn't like it (of course, there's some margin of error here, with those borderline fresh/rotten reviews, but the basic point stands). It's near-universal acclaim, not universal acclaim. This isn't Toy Story. Of course, there's also a difference between liking a movie and loving it, but I appreciate that is a more complicated argument, and one that I have no desire to get into at the moment. |
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Number of times I've watched the trailer: 18. My pet peeve: people who refer to complete strangers by their first name. The correct ways to refer to a "John Smith" whom you have never met are Smith, Mr Smith, or John Smith. Not "John". He's not your buddy. | |
| DarthBacon | 19 Aug 2014, 15:21 Post #22 |
Gronckle
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I know right! Your thoughts exactly mirror mine! This was a darn close to a perfect sequel. I totally agree. This movie is the greatest animated sequel to ever come out. I would give it the greatest animated movie ever, but hey, httyd 1 is and will always be the greatest animated movie. :-) |
  
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| LawOfTheSeas | 19 Aug 2014, 17:50 Post #23 |
Defender of Insanity and Master of Apologies
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The point was mere rhetoric - not intended to be taken perhaps as literally as the rest of the argument. But I agree - there are some who do not appreciate the sequel for all it is worth. |
I HAVE RETURNED! Did you miss me? | |
| dorcas18 | 20 Aug 2014, 02:14 Post #24 |
Dragon Egg
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Well, to me, httyd is universal, and I think its better than Toy Story (Maybe I'm one of the rare ones who think that httyd1 should have won the Oscar instead of TS3). True that httyd movies weren't as well received as many other top-notch animations, but it has for sure changed the course of animation history, from cinematography, computer graphics, sounds to story lines; it has definitely topped animation standards to a whole new level, enlightening the world to the potential of animation, not just seeing animation as a children production, but to be respected as a descend motion movie itself. That to me, is the kind of universal acknowledgement I wish DW can pull out. Well, I think that httyd 2 was better than 1. The story in 2 was deeper than 1, the themes were also more mature and complex. Hence it is comparatively challenging to execute than that of 1, that's why I wanted to re-watch the movie over and over again, and i must say that httyd2 is a great movie to analyze, the themes and story threads were intertwined all so well, but it will take a few revisits to understand the rationales behind the executions of its production. |
| Every bucket is unique, observe and you will see~ | |
| DarthBacon | 20 Aug 2014, 05:29 Post #25 |
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Gronckle
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I agree. I like httyd much more than the toy story series, or any other franchise for that matter. Ts is good, but it lacks the magic httyd has. I know right! I wanted httyd to win over ts3, but hey, that award felt just like an obligation to one of the greatest animated trilogies. And I love httyd 2, dont get me wrong. I generally dont like to compare the 2,as they are both just 2 chapters in Hiccup's life, and so they are meant to be viewed at together. How do I put it? Both the movies are like the left and right hands of an ambidextrous person. They are equally good, only the experience is different. I just chose 1 because I get that same feeling of wonder and amazement even if I see it now, after 4 years and for the millionth time. It just never gets old. |
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| LawOfTheSeas | 20 Aug 2014, 06:13 Post #26 |
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Defender of Insanity and Master of Apologies
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I completely agree. I have watched HTTYD at least thirty times over the last month, and it still does not lose its amazing magical feeling. But I also think that HTTYD 2 is at least equal to the first in terms of audacity and emotion. |
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I HAVE RETURNED! Did you miss me? | |
| Cartoon Freak | 20 Aug 2014, 07:40 Post #27 |
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Deadly Nadder
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I want to make one thing very clear: I am not even trying to compare the quality of any movies here. I am simply talking about some movies that have universal acclaim and some that don't. Universal acclaim is not inherently a measure of quality (though it can certainly be helpful - a film with universal or near-universal acclaim is likely to at least be good, as is the case for all movies that I've discussed here), but rather a measure of reaction. And as you say, HTTYD movies are not as well-received as some other movies. Is that fair? For the purposes of this discussion, I don't care. It's utterly irrelevant, since I am talking about people's reactions, not the fairness or accuracy of those reactions. In the end, it takes barely any time to find evidence that HTTYD 2 (and, for that matter, the original HTTYD) does not have universal acclaim. It certainly takes longer to find people who don't like Toy Story (and I'm only talking about the original at this point). While I was able to find people who claim to hold such views, given that I had to go to reviews from anonymous internet users for that, I'm not ruling out troll accounts at this point. Further research may prove otherwise, but that still makes it a lot harder to find people who actually don't like Toy Story. So in short, Toy Story has universal acclaim among critics, and once you remove the trolls, I wager it would come pretty damn close among the general populace. HTTYD 2, on the other hand, was liked by approximately 92% of critics. Even with rounding, that doesn't go to 100%. There's simply no way you can call that universal acclaim. And again, this doesn't mean that Toy Story is a better movie than HTTYD 2. That is an entirely separate argument, and this is neither the time nor the place for it. |
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Number of times I've watched the trailer: 18. My pet peeve: people who refer to complete strangers by their first name. The correct ways to refer to a "John Smith" whom you have never met are Smith, Mr Smith, or John Smith. Not "John". He's not your buddy. | |
| Inferno.and.the.FlameSwords | 06 Sep 2014, 12:19 Post #28 |
Dragon Rider ~ Peace Keeper
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I loved subtle moments in the movie where things happened that not even some of us expert Dragon Riders caught. Like, how the music that was played when Hiccup lost his mother as a baby is similar to Stoick's Ship, where he looses his father. I also love how, on the island where Hiccup and Toothless were drawing Itchy Armpit, Astrid was talking to him about being Chief. After stating that Chiefdom is not "his thing", Hiccup sinks his head down as he usually does (especially in the first movie) when he thinks about himself not being good enough and Astrid, to the rescue, as she has done before, literally sinks herself down to his level and looks up at him, forcing him to make eye contact with her and look up, because Astrid just understands Hiccup that much. Another scene where this kind of thing is when they are riding on baby dragons and Gobber yells to Hiccup, "What is your........plan?" and Hiccup replies, "Get Toothless back, and kick Drago's --!" He flies behind a tall piece of ice so the audience doesn't hear, although he all know what he meant. Anyways, when Eret, Son of Eret captures Astrid and the gang, Astrid gets up in Drago's face and says, "Hiccup's gonna kick your" but Drago says, "Hicc-up?" before Astrid can finish her sentence. Although, again, we all know what she meant. One last thing is back when Hiccup finds out Valka is his mother. He distinctly says to her, chasing her, "You can't just say something like that, and run off!". Later on in the movie, he tells Astrid he was "catching up with mom." Not only does Astrid yell "That's your mother!?" The exact same way Hiccup says, "Your my mother!?", but also, Hiccup simply flies off on Toothless the same way Valka ran from him. "You can't just say something like that, and FLY off." Astrid should've said. 
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"It's all good and well to call yourself a dragon, BUT CAN YOU FLY?" ~Hiccup "You are a heaping piece of dragon --" ~Astrid "Get 'em you Son-of-an-Eret!" ~Ruffnut "WILL STOP ME ON MY JOUuurrrnn-ey. Sorry." ~Gobber | |
| Inferno.and.the.FlameSwords | 10 Sep 2014, 06:53 Post #29 |
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Dragon Rider ~ Peace Keeper
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It was also funny when both Hiccup and Drago miss pronounced eachothers names when they first said them. 
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"It's all good and well to call yourself a dragon, BUT CAN YOU FLY?" ~Hiccup "You are a heaping piece of dragon --" ~Astrid "Get 'em you Son-of-an-Eret!" ~Ruffnut "WILL STOP ME ON MY JOUuurrrnn-ey. Sorry." ~Gobber | |
| Demonwolf002 | 29 Oct 2014, 00:18 Post #30 |
Lone Dragon
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I'm definitely late on this one since I wasn't able to see the movie in theaters, but I have seen it now so here's my review. (@the mods just in case this falls under necro maybe this post is pinned so not entirely sure if this was to old of an topic to post on.) So I'm not really going to go to much into the animation quality or the sound track. I do think they were both wonderful in their own regards, but I'm definitely not the person to talk about it in depth since my knowledge is fairly limited in those areas. All I can say is I think they were great  . Now the story and characters however I do think I can talk about since I would be willing to say I have at least a general knowledge on those two subjects. So I'll start with the first half of the movie story wise. Just for clarification I mean everything before the first major battle begins. Most everything I thought was great, it hit all the right notes, it moved along at a decent pace, and to me it managed to give you that feeling that this is HTTYD's second chapter while still being it's own thing. To sum it up story wise I thought the first half was great. I really cant find to many faults with that half. Character wise for the first half we were fist introduced to Eret first, and I thought he was a good character. There wasn't really all that much contention/controversy with him before the movie and I thought he lived up to his role pretty well. He didn't overshadow the main bad guy Drago, and he didn't overstay his welcome either. I also agree with Kentuckywildcat about how I liked the ambiguity of why he was doing what he was doing and of himself as well. Now for the second character that was introduced and possibly one of the ones we had the most discussions about and the one who kinda did have a lot of controversy surrounding her. Valka number one her introduction I thought was great and worked well. I loved that it wasn't just an excuse for an aerial dragon fight but it was just her catching Hiccup unaware. Then we move to the scene in the dragon cave which I thought was great. Especially liked the first glimpse of what I think the movie was trying to get across when it comes to the alphas and their "mind control" power which was sound more on this later though. When the dragons lit up to give off light in the room after a flick of her staff and it made the slight rattle sound although granted that could have been down to movement to. (which by the way Dean I caught that subtle/not so subtle light saber sound  ) Next on Valka to any one who remembers some of my previous comments on disqus for the main site I was worried she wouldn't come across well at all and that they might completely under play her being gone for so long and choosing not to come back. While I do think they took the easier route when it comes to story telling since she kind of gets Hiccup off of the subject by playing to his desire to learn more about dragons, and how she said that she thought the people of Berk would never change for her reason to never come back. It was an explanation that worked and I think it worked because of one the flashback scene (which I thought and had said they might do for this, but was still surprised that they did) and how it showed how her and the rest of Berk(Possibly even her and Stoick. This is me assuming though so it's a possibility but still an assumption) may have been at odds at times, two the fact that she does kind of apologize for not coming back and being there to Hiccup, and third the scene with her and Stoick when they first meet. Some of that was speculated on by quite a few of us, but I think it all came across quite a bit better than what we thought it would. The last point on her would be her feralness while I don't think she was as feral as Dean may have said or had led us to think/believe she was I did get this feeling of disjointedness from her. To end it off I thought she was a good character who came off a lot better than what I thought she would. The third character we were introduced to would be Drago Bludvist. You know this is a character who I honestly think his build up was amazing. The flash back from Stoick and the dialogue during was such great setup for him and had me really believing he would be something deadly, evil, and all in all an amazing villain. However I feel like we got a character who didn't quite measure up to the setup he got. Don't misunderstand me though when he finally came on screen I most certainly thought he had a presence and you could tell it, but I just felt like one his goals and motivation didn't quite equal up nor did I feel that his setup was entirely inline with his goal either. His motivation maybe but goal ehh. However we then get the scene where he tells his alpha to control Toothless and then I get the feeling I felt like I should have goten from him in the first place, but I'm not to sure that should go to him or just the emotion of Toothless turning on Hiccup. So to be honest I'm little bit conflicted on him. I feel like he was an alright character that didn't live up to his setup, but maybe he can come back and really show that next time. Moving on to the second half of the movie though, and this is the first major battle to the end of the movie. My number one problem with this half is that first major battle. I have no problem with the bigger battle not being the end battle nor do I have a problem with the bigger battle not being the end of the movie. I take problem with the fact it just had no real reason to be there story wise like it could have been saved for later maybe or just had been better led into it. Don't get me wrong I do think it was a good battle as far as the characters doing things during and there being a lot on screen, but it just felt a little out of place to me to be honest. Then we get to Stoicks death we all knew something bad was going to happen. We had discussed for quite sometime that either Stoick or maybe Gobber was going to die we mostly ended up leaning towards Stoick. I and a few others even talked about Valka maybe being the one to die. I personally thought it was the more interesting idea, but I never doubted it wouldn't more than likely end up being Stoick. Just wow though you know it was coming and it still managed to hit hard. Even the kind of subtle foreshadowing by Stoick when he says the line "I thought I have to die before I had that dance again" after Stoick and Valka's song just man. So my last major point is going to be on the alphas themselves and how I think that sound being what they used to control the dragons and a point the movie tried to get across. Before I do though I'd like to address the original gang of side characters. For the most part I was happy I did have to shake my head at Dreamworks unwillingness to just let a beautiful moment play out when it came to Gobbers interruptions during Stoick and Valka's song. Also at how Astrid did come off as a little bit more of background this time around and at the outburst that seemed like something the twins/Fishlegs(maybe even Snotlout) may have been more inclined to do. I got the idea that she may have been trying to throw him off balance maybe or trying to scare him into letting them go, but it just didn't seem like her. Last on the small points would be Toothless becoming an alpha himself. This I'm not really sure on to be honest it was cool definitely, but it also felt kind of out of nowhere a little to. I get that emotions may have been high and that can convey strength in times of need, but I just feel kind of ehh of this one thing in particular. After that I would like to say I truly did enjoy this movie and will most definitely watch it more than once. I also believe that it is a sequel done right, and that I don't believe we could have gotten much better then what we got. Overall a great movie that is most certainly apart of a franchise that will be remembered fondly. My theory on the alphas and sound is going to be put in a spoiler since this is already a long post. While I do think it affects my overall opinion of the movie it's not such a huge impact on it that I wasn't able to enjoy it. Also it approaches more the side of speculation and discussion then review maybe. Spoiler: click to toggle
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See you in the skies Dragon Rider! The Dragon Root:Thing what I wrote. Is Toothless Evil? :Me possibly being crazy, but fun. The BerkCast The HTTYD podcast, you should listen. | |
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