Off the Cuff Reviews Big Hero 6 (2014)

I don't really have a neat transition into the beginning of this review, so I might as well just get started with it. Today, I'll be looking at Big Hero 6 (2014). I've seen this movie a few times now, and every time I watch it, I'm always impressed. It's easy to see why this won Best Animated Feature. Starring Ryan Potter as Hiro, Scott Adsit as Baymax, Daniel Henney as Tadashi, T.J. Miller as Fred, Jamie Chung as Go Go, Damon Wayans Jr. as Wasabi, Genesis Rodriguez as Honey Lemon, Maya Rudolph as Cass, James Cromwell as Robert Callaghan and Alan Tudyk as Alistair Krei.

Big Hero 6 (2014)

The world this film creates is an incredibly distinct one, which is weird considering the movie unashamedly mashed two existing locations together, but it's true. San Francokyo is so vibrant and colourful and just a joy to look at. In fact, the entire movie is animated wonderfully. You can really tell this is a Disney movie; the models all have that Disney design. They do a really great job of emoting when they need to, and believe me I'll get to that. The main thought that came to mind when watching this movie is that they need to make more animated superhero movies. It just feels like the perfect medium for bringing these people to life, and this movie proves that. The powers and insane tech are wonderful to watch, and the way they use movement is glorious. It's never just movement for movement's sake; it's energetic and purposeful. The flight sequence with Hiro and Baymax is especially good. It's like a How to Train Your Dragon flight sequence, but with the backdrop of a futuristic metropolis, and it's brilliant.

Ryan Potter as Hiro

The characters are wonderful, and they're really what make this film so amazing. Hiro is an excellent protagonist, and Ryan Potter does a fantastic job in this role. His arc in this film is just so natural and believable that even when he's doing questionable stuff, not only do you not hate him for it, but you completely understand. Part of that comes down to the emotional core of this movie, and I'll get there, but it just flows so naturally and Hiro's story is just so relatable even if you've never gone through what he has. On that note, Tadashi is used incredibly effectively for how long he's in the movie. It's a real stab in the gut when you see what happens to him, since the movie does such a perfect job of endearing you to him right from the start. The supporting characters are all excellent, as well. Hiro's gang of friends are all unique from each other and very likeable, and even though T.J. Miller is basically just playing T.J. Miller again, he does a very good T.J. Miller, so it's fine. Also, and this is a little weird to single out, but Maya Rudolph as Cass is a very underrated character as far as I'm concerned. It would have been very easy to do either the cruel aunt or the try-hard aunt, but they somehow do neither and we get a really interesting relative character. The movie barely gives her any focus, but I honestly wanted to see more of her.

T.J. Miller as Fred

You may have noticed that I left a very important character out of the above paragraph, and that was because I was saving it for this one: Baymax is unquestionably the best thing this movie has going for it. He completely sells this movie. Scott Adsit absolutely f***ing nails this performance. First of all, Baymax is the comedic highlight. Pretty much everything Baymax does in the first half of this movie is comedic gold, and I almost fell out of my seat the first time I watched the 'low-power' Baymax sequence. The way they equate a robot in low power mode to a drunk person is hysterical. Next, when Baymax needs to get dark in the second act, he gets dark. It's incredibly impressive that I can be laughing my ass off at him in one moment, and then be genuinely terrified of him just a few scenes later. Finally, we have the more emotional moments centred around Baymax and, for the last time, I'll get to that, but suffice it to say, Baymax is absolutely phenomenal in this movie. Just quickly, and it is the other end of the spectrum, but I will say here that while I completely understand why they did what they did, the villain was a bit of a letdown. It's not just that it's another Disney fakeout/twist villain, but when it's revealed who it is and why and how, it completely contradicts how they initially set up the character in the beginning. That's the main problem with Disney's villains in the last few years: they have it be a twist villain for the sake of there being a twist villain, and it's really unfortunate that a film such as this was let down by something like that.

Scott Adsit as Baymax

Okay, in the final paragraph, I can address what I'm sure you're all waiting for me to talk about: how good this movie is compared to the comics it's based on. And, look, I know this film is drastically different than the comics, but I think that's a good thing. Not only were not a lot of people familiar with the original source material, but the changes they make allow them to tell a better story. In the comics, for example, Fred could become an actual kaiju, and that would be incredibly out of place in a movie like this... Alright, I've entertained this joke long enough, let's talk about the emotion. If Tadashi's ending hits you like a stab in the gut, the more emotional scenes in the back half of the movie hit you like a stab in the gut if the knife in question was tied to a runaway truck heading straight towards you at top speed. The genius of the character models and attention to detail therein is that it allows you to feel all of what a character's feeling as they're feeling it. Hiro and Baymax's relationship progresses so naturally that in the last act it's incredibly sad and you cry. You have no choice in the matter. You cry. Combine the character models with the top-notch voice acting and brilliantly written dialogue and you get a stunning movie.

Daniel Henney as Tadashi

Big Hero 6 (2014) is one of my favourite Disney movies of the last decade. I'm honestly blown away by how well this movie has held up over the numerous times I've watched it. Just amazing. 9/10.

Off the Cuff Plays Super Mario Odyssey (2017) (100th Review)

I was considering what to review for my 100th review on this blog, then I realised I'd completely forgotten to get around to this one. I finished it months ago and, for some reason, just forgot to review it entirely. What a fitting way to bring up 100. Super Mario Odyssey (2017) is currently the best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch, and it's very easy to see why. It's the 3D-Mario game many people have waited years for, and it absolutely delivered. Super Mario Odyssey is a semi open-world 3D platformer collect-a-thon developed and published by Nintendo.

Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

High above the skies of Peach's Castle, Bowser kidnaps Peach for a wedding, destroys Mario's cap and sends him blasting off again. He lands in the Cap Kingdom where he teams up with Cappy, whose sister Bowser also kidnapped, to traverse the planet and save the two. Yeah, it's not a very fleshed out story, but that's par for the course with Mario games. In fact, I'd honestly be more disappointed if a main-series Mario game did have a super complex and compelling story. The gameplay is pretty standard for a 3D Mario game. You've got your jumping, your rolling, your long-jumping and backwards-jumping. Oh, uh, except for this one new ability: Cappy. Cappy makes this game. When Mario tosses Cappy out, not only can he jump off of Cappy to gain extra height and length, but tossing it into specific enemies allows Mario to possess them, gaining their unique abilities for as long as Mario wishes. To win the game, you must collect Power Moons which are the energy source for the aptly named 'Odyssey', and are scattered throughout the game's multiple kingdoms. Each kingdom also has its own set of unique Purple Coins, and collecting all of these are also necessary for some Moons and for 100% completion. Collecting these and regular coins also allow you to buy new costumes for Mario and Cappy, which are mainly there for cosmetics, but some are also required for certain Power Moons. Coin grinding to buy every single one for 100% completion wasn't fun, but that's not for everyone.

Cascade Kingdom

This game looks incredible. The attention to detail is staggering, but what's impressive about that is how cartoony the game remains. The colours are vibrant and they just pop off the screen. You know you have a good looking game when I played the majority of it in handheld mode and it still blew me away. I think I only played about an hour of this game using the TV, and the game never felt worse for it. Each kingdom has a very distinct look and feel to it, and that helps to make the 'world' of Super Mario Odyssey feel so much bigger than I thought possible. The soundtrack is also phenomenal. Just as the look of each kingdom is unique, so too is the music for each kingdom, and what you end up with there is a multi-genre soundtrack that's up there with some of Nintendo's best. I was unsure if the music in this game could rival the soundtrack in the utterly outstanding Super Mario Galaxy OSTs, and while I do think those games have better music overall, this game came very, very close. Cascade Kingdom, Sand Kingdom, Luncheon Kingdom, Wooded Kingdom, Madame Broodal Battle, Bowser Battle 2, Lost Kingdom, Underground Moon Caverns, the sensational 'Jump Up, Super Star!'... there is hit after hit after hit in this game. I don't think I've ever finished a game and then downloaded its soundtrack so quickly once I had. All in all, the presentation of this game is perfect, and the perfect showcase of the sheer amount of love and care that was put into this package overall.

Metro Kingdom

Odyssey controls wonderfully. As I said above, the standard 3D Mario gameplay is all here and it still controls great. Jumping around these worlds as Mario feels great, and I found myself just jumping around when there was no need to, as is standard in classic 3D Mario. Where this game comes into its own is with Cappy. Tossing Cappy around is wonderful, and what on the surface is a simple tool to break things and possess enemies becomes the most powerful method of getting around the level once you get really good with him. The long jump, cap toss, dive, bounce, cap toss, dive combo is godlike, and the things I've seen people do in this game to utterly break levels and shortcut their way to victory is especially good when you consider it wasn't an oversight by the developers and was specifically coded into the game for that very reason. The enemy capture system is another stroke of genius by the developers, as its a clever way of varying up the gameplay without making it come across like a gimmick. I can't think of a single capture off the top of my head that I disliked, though there were obviously some I preferred to others. The game does a fantastic job of teaching you how to use a new capture the first time you encounter one, and the levels are designed around exploiting every little thing a capture can do.

Luncheon Kingdom

Speaking of which, the objectives in this game are insane. There are 880 different Power Moons in the game, and I know hearing that can be off-putting, but for the most part, actually collecting them isn't too difficult. The hardest part is finding all of them, but the game actually gives you two different methods of assistance on this front. One marks a Moon's location on a map, and the other gives you the name of the Moon, which often can give you a good indication of the objective. There are a lot of Moon objectives that repeat in the Kingdoms, such as finding Captain Toad in each area or stacking Goombas, but with 880 Moons, it would be nearly impossible, and oddly less fun, for 100% of them to be vastly different to each other. The drawback is, of course, not all of them can be winners. There are some Moons that are pathetically easy (such as when they're just out in the open) and some Moons that are infuriatingly hard, and not in the good way (jump-rope and volleyball come to mind). Don't even get me started on the Hint Art Moons because I want nothing to do with them. On an unrelated note, the boss battles in this game are great. A lot of them have you utilising a specific capture, and this leads to some of the most unique boss battles I've played in a long time. Most of them are repeated at least once throughout the game, but they always stack the difficulty in some way that doesn't make it feel like too much of a rehash. There's a specific boss towards the end of the game that genuinely made me question if I was still playing a Mario game. The amount of variety and environments and sheer gameplay on offer here really make this game feel like a true adventure.

Bowser

Super Mario Odyssey (2017) is appropriately titled, as it's a globe-trotting adventure that felt immensely satisfying from start to finish. Completing this game really felt like an achievement, as I felt like I'd gone on a long trip and returned home the better for it. Not bad for a 100th review. 9.5/10.

Off the Cuff Reviews Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

This is a strange movie. It's odd to find a film that's a comedy, yet also not, a drama, yet also not, abstract, yet also not, and naturalist, yet also not. But, here we are. Stranger than Fiction (2006) is one of the most unique movies I've seen, and certainly one of the most unique movies I've reviewed. What's most perplexing about it is how all those contradictory styles from the beginning somehow actually work with each other and blend together about as well as they possibly could. Starring Will Ferrell as Harold Crick, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana Pascal, Dustin Hoffman as Professor Jules Hilbert, Queen Latifah as Penny Escher and Emma Thompson as Karen Eiffel.

Stranger than Fiction (2006)

Going into this movie, I was getting all geared up to hate it. I don't tend to go into movies with a pre-conceived notion of what I'm going to think, but the opening premise didn't set itself up for success. A Will Ferrell movie where he hears his own narrator and no one else can? Be prepared to ask for the refund. But, I was really surprised by just how subdued this plot is. It's not even the main focus a lot of the time. It's mainly just used as a vessel for this guy to get his life together. There's a significant chunk of the film where there's no narration at all, and there's a surprisingly little amount of Will Ferrell comically talking to the voice in his head while innocent bystanders look on quizzically. Granted, it's also the catalyst for the plot in the first place, but there's a decent amount of the second act where the voice is just gone and the actions of the characters are shaped by the mere presence of the narration in the beginning. We don't even get a clear explanation for where the voice came from in the first place. While that is a little off-putting for me, as someone who likes all my questions to be answered by the end of the story, it wasn't that big a deal by the end. If it had been a huge focus the entire time, I'd be marching through the streets demanding an explanation, but the fact that it's so relatively subdued here somewhat justifies the lack of a lightning bolt or magic spell or static shock from turning the pages of a thrilling novel.

Will Ferrell as Harold Crick

Even Will Ferrell's performance is somewhat subdued, at least compared to what people consider his usual performance to. In fact, I might go out on a limb and say that this might be my favourite performance I've seen him give. Not only does he nail the idiosyncrasies of a character like Harold Crick, but he absolutely kills it in the more emotional scenes. He also has great chemistry with Maggie Gyllenhaal, and I will say that maybe the movie could have done a little more to endear me to her character. While Gyllenhaal does fine in the role, I felt like Ana herself could have used a little more fleshing out. It just seemed like she's an anarchist... because she is. We do hear some of her backstory, and what we get is really good, but none of it is related to her most defining character trait, which is a problem. The rest of the main cast do a great job across the board. Dustin Hoffman does a great Dustin Hoffman, Tony Hale is a fantastic pick for comedy relief, and Emma Thompson is always, always, ALWAYS amazing, and this is no exception. Queen Latifah is also good, but her character seems a little pointless. I know she's there to show us how closed off Thompson is at the beginning in order to further her character arc, but Latifah's character herself doesn't actually do anything in the movie. I thought she might have done something to help her get over her writer's block, or talk her down by the end, but nope. I know that not every character needs to be integral to the plot, but a character that gets their name on the poster probably should.

Dustin Hoffman as Jules Hilbert

Stylistically, this film is really unique. The film has a really clever way of showing off Harold Crick's OCD nature and, more specifically, how he manages to break through it. Initially, I was annoyed that the film didn't use it more often, but it does make sense with how the film shows Crick's progression. I also need to comment on the romantic subplot, since it does take up a significant portion of the movie and it's one of the key motivators for Crick's growth. And, I'm not going to lie when I say that it does feel a little rushed. I did say that Ferrell and Gyllenhaal have great chemistry, and I stand by that. It's also true that a lot of the scenes we do get between the two of them are really well written, and I could believe a relationship could generate between the two over time. The problem is that it happens a little too quickly, and in the wrong circumstances. Given how they establish Gyllenhaal's character, I don't see her falling in love with her auditor, especially with how she has such a rage-boner for the IRS. Even if she got to know the real Harold Crick, which she does, it still happens far too fast. They had exactly 2 non-IRS related exchanges prior to deciding they liked each other, and that seems like a very quick development, especially stacking that up with the amount of hostile IRS-related encounters they've had. I don't know, it's not a huge deal breaker, and the relationship is still solid by the end, but it's a little iffy.

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana Pascal

Just quickly, I do want to touch on the main reason I'm glad we don't discover the reason why Crick can hear the narration in his head, and we are encroaching somewhat on spoiler territory here, so be warned, but basically it all boils down to one scene. It's not even a very long scene. It's where Emma Thompson is obsessing, terrified, over if this situation has happened in the past, and if she's killed people with her writing. Not only does this form the basis of her character arc, but the fact that they leave this question ambiguous is honestly chilling. The movie doesn't definitively answer whether or not she's killed people with her writing or not, and there's no evidence one way or the other. That's honestly horrifying, and I'm surprised this movie had the guts to do that. I was also impressed by how Crick was written to die, since they'd keep setting it up as something that had to happen, and the fact that they actually gave us a situation where they puled it off and I agreed with them by the end is worth noting. That said, and I did say that I can overlook the fact that we get no explanation for Harold being able to hear his narrator, but something I can't overlook is the fact that his watch is apparently sentient. I get that was the plot device that Eiffel was using for her book, but that somehow takes control of reality... I guess...? The fact that the watch is sentient doesn't actually change anything. You could have just had the watch glitch at the beginning and you still get the desired ending. There's barely a focus on it, so it's not that big a deal, but it was in the back of my mind throughout the entire film, and the fact that it just seemed to be an afterthought for something so bizarre was a little jarring.

Emma Thompson as Karen Eiffel

Stranger than Fiction (2006) was a nice surprise, and a movie I'll gladly watch again. It wasn't the funniest movie I've ever seen, but for a unique premise, unique style, unique tone and solid execution, I'm definitely recommending it. 8/10.

Off the Cuff Reviews How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

This is a tough review for me to write. Not because I'm conflicted about my feelings, but I think a part of me knows that finishing this review means accepting that it's over, and I don't think I'm ready for that. Not after the movie I just saw. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) was never shy about what it wanted to be: a conclusion to the Dragons trilogy. And it so. F***ing. Delivered! This is one of the most consistent film trilogies of our time. I am not exaggerating. Starring Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, America Ferrara as Astrid Hofferson, Cate Blanchett as Valka, Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman, Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, Justin Rupple as Tuffnut Thorston, Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston, Kit Harington as Eret, F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel and Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Alright, I'm going to start this review the same way I did my other two Dragons movies. If the first movie was beautiful and the second movie was f***ing beautiful, then this movie was downright phenomenal. Even as someone who was going into this expecting the visuals to be fantastic because, well, that's kind of where we're at with animated movies in general by this point, I was still stunned and I was still impressed. The attention to detail is staggering, and almost infuriating at times. There is a scene which takes place entirely above the clouds that I swear looked exactly like actual, real-life clouds. That in and of itself doesn't mean much. But, like how fake graphics I can overlook if they still look pretty, realistic cloud effects mean jack all unless they look pretty, and holy crap, they so do. And, again, we kind of expect visuals like this nowadays, which is kind of sad, to be honest. But, again, even though I expected to be impressed, I was absolutely blown away. The movement, the colours, the lighting, the variety, the sheer amount of things on screen. The fact remains that this movie is just stunning to look at, and it deserves to be praised for it.

The Light Fury and Toothless

While I'm gushing over things that we've come to expect from the Dragons series by this point, the soundtrack still kicks ass. The funny thing is that I was expecting more leitmotifs from the previous films than we actually got. They barely show up at all, which is a good thing, but not what I was expecting from a final chapter in a franchise. When they do show up though... yeesssssssss. It's not just that they play music from the past movies, that's not what makes it so great, but it's the moments they choose to play them that just fit with the moments they were used in the originals and takes you back to those moments. Not just that, but the way they update those tracks and don't just play them ripped from the originals. John Powell deserves all the praise he's gotten and more for the soundtracks to all three of these movies. While I'm talking about the past movies, it's worth knowing going in that there are a few moments in this movie that directly harken back to the past movies. The good thing about callbacks like these, or, at least, how they're used in this movie, is that they never feel hamfisted or shoehorned or that they're there just for the sake of being a callback. It's really well structured that way, and the movie is just well-written overall, but I'll get to that.

America Ferrara as Astrid

The characters continue to be the best part of this series. There are a lot of balls in the air here, in that the cast is surprisingly big, and everyone is well-defined, but luckily they keep the focus where it should be: on the relationship between a boy and his dragon. The focus occasionally shifts to Hiccup and Astrid, and sometimes to the many side-characters, but the majority of the movie is telling the story of Hiccup and Toothless, and rightly so. This is a powerful story they're telling here, and it works because the characters are well-defined, and occasionally flawed. I haven't mentioned it yet, but Jay Baruchel deserves all the praise in the world for his performance as Hiccup in these movies. He is a part of what made this character so great, and this is no exception. Everyone else is still great here, but touching on the only new main character, the villain Grimmel, I feel like he's the strongest villain we've had in this series. Not only is he menacing and a true threat, but he's the only villain we've had that's specifically gone after Hiccup on purpose. It just makes him that much more of a menace. They also touch on his backstory just enough that makes him complimentary to Hiccup just that little bit more. It's really only one line, but sometimes one line is all you need. He didn't need to have a sympathetic backstory and he didn't need to have this big, grand, complicated plan with lots and lots of steps along the way. Sometimes the simple plan of going after one dragon can be incredibly effective.

F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel

So, I've talked about this movie as a movie, but now I need to talk about it as an ending. It might seem weird to do this, but this movie was specifically advertised as an ending and the entire plot is structured around it being the ending, so it's part of the movie, and the fact that it succeeds entirely on that front just makes the movie so much better for it. It being a good ending doesn't disqualify it from being a good movie on its own. If anything, it just enhances the experience even more. And, as an ending, I do feel like I could have used a little bit more. Maybe if the movie was just 5 minutes longer, with just a little more interactions between Toothless and Hiccup at one important part (which wasn't the ending but I won't say what the moment was since the movie came out today) it could have made the ending that little bit more impactful than it was. That is incredible nitpicking on my part, since the ending as it was? I cried. I cried and I cried. Then I thought I was done crying. And then I cried some more. This is the first time I have ever properly cried in a cinema. I saw it coming, as well. I knew where the ending was going, ever since they announced it would be the final movie. And it still hit me. It was like I was punched in the gut. It really felt like my childhood was ending. I wouldn't say I grew up with these movies, but they were an important part of my childhood. The original Dragons movie was the first film I saw as a kid that really made me appreciate cinema, and I'm not trying to sound pretentious when I say that, but it's just true. This trilogy has been fantastic, and the fact that it ended on such a strong note means more to me than you could probably ever understand.

Jay Baruchel as Hiccup

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) is absolutely my favourite movie in this trilogy. You could say that's just because the ending was so great, but that's a part of the movie. Besides, the ending isn't the only great thing here. The entire film was exactly what I wanted it to be and more. The fact that this is the first Dragons movie I went into fully expecting to love it and I was still blown away? Yeah, that's a good movie right there. 9.5/10.

Off the Cuff Reviews How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Huh. Two reviews in one day? With them both being from the same franchise? What could that possibly mean? Huh. Well, I'll let you ponder that one until around 10pm tonight, and I'll just say that How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) was a big surprise, even for someone who loved the first movie. I really didn't expect this film to deliver after how good the first one was and it absolutely did. Starring Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Cate Blanchett as Valka, Gerard Butler as Stoik the Vast, Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, America Ferrara as Astrid Hofferson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman, Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, T.J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston, Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston, Djimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist and Kit Harington as Eret.

How to Train Your Dragon (2014)

So, I thought the last film was beautiful. This one... well... how should I phrase this? If the first movie is beautiful, this one is f***ing beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Not only is the movement just as good as the last film, if not better, but the name of the day is colour. The colour just pops in this film far more than it did in the previous. That's down to the story more than anything else, but the fact of the matter is that you can just tell that they were given a bigger budget this time. Simply put, there are shots in this movie where you could show them to someone completely out of context, and they would legitimately say 'Where was this photo taken?' I'm not exaggerating. I seriously was watching this in the cinema and momentarily forgot I was watching an animated movie. The soundtrack still kicks ass too. They bring back a lot of the leitmotifs from the previous movie, and they still bring a tear to my eye every time, but they've been enhanced in a way that I can't really explain. This is just a better soundtrack.

Toothless

All your favourites from the previous film are back, and they all have new character models due to the fact that there's a five-year time jump from the last movie. The good part about this is that the models still look enough like themselves that I can buy this is how they'd grow up. The kids are no longer kids, they're adults, and it shows. But they're still young adults, and they're still a little immature and act exactly how young adults act. The movie just gets it. The most-improved medal clearly goes to Hiccup's character for one very simple reason: he actually has an arc in this movie. I love the original, you should know this by know, but the Hiccup that begins that movie is more or less the same Hiccup we have by the end. In this movie, he actually goes through a journey and a transformation. The events of this movie leave a resounding and long-lasting impact on him and he is a changed man by the end. And it all just works, and we're there along for the ride and it's just so effective.

Jay Baruchel as Hiccup

There are also a few new additions in this film. Cate Blanchett plays Valka, and she does a superb job. I legitimately can't tell its Cate Blanchett in that role, she just loses herself in the character, and she has fantastic chemistry with Gerard Butler. Their interactions are among my favourite scenes in the entire movie. I can't really go into it more without encroaching in on spoiler territory, which may seem a little weird since the movie is 5 years old... God, I'm old... but I really don't want to risk it with this one. Anyway, Kit Harington plays Eret and I'll be perfectly honest, I always forget this character exists. He's a fine character, and he's likeable enough, but I always feel like he doesn't really do much by the end. Even walking out of the cinema, I couldn't quite work out what the point of him was in the long run; my only guess is that he'll play a bigger part in the next one. As for the villain, Drago... yeah, he's easily the least fleshed out character in the entire Dragons franchise. He's menacing, sure, and he does his job well as a villain, but we just never heard enough about his actual character or backstory for me to properly care. Don't get me wrong, I don't need every villain ever to have an interesting backstory or sympathetic motivations, but considering how fleshed out everything else in this movie is, the fact that he is so one-dimensional is a little odd. It stands out too much, and even though he did his job and did it well, I was a little disappointed.

Cate Blanchett as Valka

One last thing I need to say about this film that I felt could have been done a little better is the pacing, specifically in the action department. So, around the end of the second act there's this massive action scene with humans and dragons fighting humans and dragons and it's honestly a better action scene than the climax of the first film. The problem is what comes next. The actual final conflict is pretty poor in comparison. It's still great for what it is, and I love watching it, but after the action scene we just saw it does feel a little weak. I feel like with a little edit and a little reshuffle, they could have reworked the events of the story and switched the two scenes without really compromising much. Again, I'm trying really hard to avoid spoilers here, but I was a little letdown by the climax. That's only for the pacing of the action, however, as in terms of the emotional pacing, it's one of the most well-structured films I've ever seen. It wasn't just the music that had me crying in this one, and that's especially impressive when you consider that at the end of the day it's a kids' movie. I honestly thought they weren't making movies like this anymore. This is a movie that just hit me to my core. I can't say that about a lot of movies, let alone kids' movies. That should tell you everything you need to know.

America Ferrara as Astrid

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) is a movie that I have a couple of nitpicks about, but I still absolutely adore it. I actually prefer it to the original. Will it remain my favourite film in the entire franchise? Well... we'll just have to see... 9/10.

Off the Cuff Reviews How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Going to see this movie in cinemas all the way back in 2010, I wasn't expecting much. Even as a stupid 14-year-old, I didn't have high hopes for a movie with such a dumb title. Imagine my surprise when I walked out of How to Train Your Dragon (2010) having had one of the best cinema-going experiences I'd had up to that point. I fell in love with this movie, and on the eve of the final chapter's release, I figured I'd give this another look. Starring Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gerard Butler as Stoik the Vast, America Ferrara as Astrid Hofferson, Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman, Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, T.J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston and Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Visually, this film is on another level. The animation is gorgeous, and the environments are beautiful. The characters are all very expressive, and it's weird to say, but they're sort of... inviting. With their facial expressions, even when they're not being super expressive, you can tell exactly what they're thinking. They're probably not the best looking animated humans I've ever seen, but they're definitely close, and among the best expressive animated people I've seen. The most impressive part of the visuals by far is the way it animates movement. There's never movement for movement's sake, and especially in the flying scenes, the movement sucks you in and really makes it feel like you're right there with the characters. The movement in the three key flying scenes is all very different and equally effective. The first flying scene with Toothless and Hiccup is triumphant yet nervous, and the way the scene is 'shot' reflects this, with a lot of closeups and long-panning shots, until he gets his act together and the camera-work also gets more confident. The next flying scene with Hiccup and Astrid is erratic and frightening, and we get a lot of crazy camera movement and fast pans to make us feel the same thing. The next flying scene immediately afterward is calm and peaceful, with a lot of still camerawork and wide shots. This film is a masterpiece in how to 'shoot' an animated movie.

Toothless and Jay Baruchel as Hiccup

The perfect companion to the camerawork is the 10/10 soundtrack. I love this music. John Powell pulled out all the stops with this score, and it has basically everything I look for in a soundtrack. It's nice and quiet in the moments that need to be, but booming and loud when it needs to be as well. The orchestration is beautiful to listen to, and feels like butter on the ears. The soothing violins, the calming flutes, the pounding drums, they all work with each other perfectly while also getting their own moments to shine. But the absolute best thing about this soundtrack is the way it uses its leitmotifs. I'm a huge fan of when recurring melodies play throughout multiple music tracks, and this film has that in spades. It's the kind of thing you don't notice until you listen to the soundtrack on its own. It's all well and good to just play the same melody over and over, but it's the way they're used that makes it so effective. The way Test Flight takes over the score more triumphant than ever when Toothless and Hiccup are ready to enter the final battle. Romantic Flight playing softly during conversations between Hiccup and Astrid before getting its moment in the sun during the flight scene. This is Berk playing during the dragon training scenes. They're all used to evoke memories or emotions from when those tracks were originally used, and every single time, without fail, it achieves the desired effect. This is a soundtrack that I have listened to over and over again, has set the bar for what a soundtrack should do for me, and is one I will never get tired of.

America Ferrara as Astrid

The characters and their relationships are without question the best thing about this movie. Usually I would point out specific characters and which ones were the most likeable, which were the funniest, which had the best chemistry, but the answer to all of these is 'all of the above'. Every character is likeable, every character has their moment of comedy (Gobber moreso than others), all the voice actors are incredible and were perfectly cast for their roles. The relationships and the way they bounce off each other is far and away the best thing this film has going for it. Of course, the Toothless/Hiccup friendship is the best, and it has a nice build throughout the film, and it naturally helps that Toothless is a wonderful character of his own right, but the other relationships are solid too. Hiccup and Astrid are well established, and the way they interact feels very natural, there's a nice camaraderie and respect between Stoik and Gobber, even the kids all bounce off each other really well. The one that surprised me was Hiccup and Stoik. From the beginning, you think it's going to go one way and... well, it does, but the way they do it, it just feels really fresh and genuine. I think the reason for that is when something happens in the story, they actually take the time to show how it affects people. And the characters are so well established that not only does it feel incredibly natural when they do react the way they do, but you completely understand their point of view. It's the kind of movie where the story doesn't drive the characters, the characters drive the story, and those are always the best.

Gerard Butler as Stoik

The dragons themselves are also really well-defined. A lot of thought clearly went into the designs of these things. Not only do they all look super unique and have a lot of unique attributes, but they all have unique personalities as well. That is, except for the giant dragon at the end. Don't get me wrong, I love this final fight scene, but it really does feel like this dragon was just thrown in there so they could have this big climax. Compared to everything else in the movie, this definitely feels the least fleshed out, and even to this day, I still don't think I properly understand what the lore behind it is and why it's there and why the other dragons don't just leave it behind immediately. I'm sure there is an answer, and I have seen answers online, but the film itself doesn't do a fantastic job of explaining it. It does an okay job, but I feel like one or two extra lines would have gone a long way here. That's only something that comes to my attention afterwards, however, as in the moment, while I'm watching the movie, it's just too damn entertaining for me to care.

Craig Ferguson as Gobber

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is a brilliant movie, and certainly ranks up their among Dreamworks' finest. I do plan to get to the rest of the Dreamworks movies eventually, but for obvious reasons, I'm starting here. 9/10.

Next, it's How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Off the Cuff Reviews A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 3 (2019)

It certainly didn't take me very long to get around to the first review of the new year. I've already written reviews for the first two seasons of this show, so now that Netflix have released the final season, I finally get to see the end. And, oh my God, A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 3 (2019) wrapped up in the best way possible. I loved every minute of this last season. Part of me really thought I wouldn't be as satisfied as I was by the end, and I was so, so satisfied it almost defies belief. What a beautiful way to end a beautiful show. So, uh, yeah, I liked it. Starring Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire, Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire, K. Todd Freeman as Arthur Poe and Presley Smith as Sunny Baudelaire.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 3 (2019)

Where to start? Well, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first. The show is still beautiful. I love the world the show presents and how it exists in this weird little bubble outside of any particular time period. It's a world where everyone still uses typewriters, but Nickelback exists. You might think that throwing in the odd reference here and there (by which I mean that Nickelback moment was the only pop culture reference in the entire season) would date the show, but oddly enough, combined with the world they set up, it actually makes it even more timeless. It already exists in this weird bubble where time is non-existent, so to speak, so having the occasional reference actually works. It's also nice that the show is continuing to rely on practical effects and big sets, and they all look amazing. Of course, they don't always stick to this, and the CGI effects are noticeable when they happen, but given the nature of the source material that was unavoidable. Is it the most realistic CGI ever put to screen? No. Did it at least give me the illusion that it was real? Well, in some cases, no, but I'm honestly okay with that as long as it looks nice, and it absolutely does here. In fact, there are a few individual shots this season that got an audible reaction out of me. 

Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf

Going hand in hand with the unique world the show presents, the writing is also still really, really clever and really, really funny. It's a style of comedy that really doesn't exist in any other show, and it's a style taken directly from the books. In fact, some lines, and even some entire sequences, were lifted directly from the books, just like the last two seasons. It's never distracting and it all fits really well, and the best part is that you probably couldn't tell what lines were sourced from the books and which are originals if you haven't read the books. It also helps that the show is exactly my kind of humour, particularly with Lemony Snicket's lines. In fact, this season may have given me some quotes I may end up using in regular conversation. But anyway, while a lot of lines have been taken from the books, not all of the storylines were. Like with the other seasons, this season found a great balance between staying true to the source material and keeping things fresh for the die-hard book fans, but this season found a different way of doing it. Instead of adding in an entirely new plotline, they tweak the existing plots just enough to not only keep things fresh, but also have it make sense for the medium. For, example, for the longest time I was wondering how they were going to handle the trial sequence from Book 12, and the way they do it is really incredibly different from how it's done in the books, but it's done in the way that fits the TV show format the best while also accomplishing the exact same thing. It really impressed me how well they were able to find this balance, and speaking of balance, this season finds that perfect blend of light-hearted and dark. And, hoo boy, this season gets dark. For people complaining that Season 1 wasn't dark enough for them, now we know why: they would have had nowhere to ramp up to if it began on that note. That's not to say this season's all doom and gloom; it's still a family show, after all. But this season gets the darkest, and for those of you who felt that was missing, here you go.

Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket

The cast are still phenomenal. Neil Patrick Harris once again shines as Olaf and Warburton is still the perfect Lemony Snicket. The child actors went from strength to strength to strength, and this season perhaps gifted us with some of their best performances to date. The returning supporting cast are just as great once again, with particular highlights being Lucy Punch, Dylan Kingwell, Usman Ally and Kitana Turnbull, but I think the real standouts here are the new recurring characters. Having been teased at the end of Season 2, Allison Williams does a fantastic job as Kit Snicket, and she finds that perfect blend of dry wit and empathy that you'd want in a character like this. Can't really say too much about her performance without dipping into spoiler territory, so I'll move on to the other two highlights. Since the end of last season, I was curious about how they would handle two particular characters: The Man with a Beard But No Hair, and The Woman With Hair But No Beard. Both in the books and the show, they are described as truly intimidating, deeply frightening individuals that even Olaf is afraid of. And... yeah, they nailed it. Richard E. Grant and Beth Grant give truly unsettling performances, and they absolutely killed it as these two properly scary people. But even they get a few good laughs in, that's the beauty of this show: the dichotomy of these truly horrific events happening to these kids contrasted with that light-hearted sense of humour that keeps it all from being dragged down into the doom and gloom of being too depressing to watch.

Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire, Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire and Allison Williams as Kit Snicket

Now, as it is the last season, I do need to address how it functions as an ending, and, don't worry, I won't go into any spoilers. I'll simply say this to start with: tears were shed. I never outright cried, but I wouldn't say I just welled up either. It got really emotional in that final episode, and even as someone who saw it all coming from reading the books so many times, it still hit me hard. It's in this last scenes where the acting is at its finest, from all parties. In terms of structure, they did it the right way. Due to the nature of the final book, splitting it into two episodes like the rest would have dragged, so they stuck with one episode for that last story, which means, in a lot of ways, the second last episode functions more as a finale than the finale did. It's in the penultimate episode where we get a lot of the back-stories explained, and we get a lot of the minor characters' stories wrapping up, and we get the wistfully looking back on the show moments, and it all works there so we can leave the last episode for wrapping up the arcs of our main characters. Finally, and this is the main thing I was concerned about, we have the issue of closure. I was a little worried that the show would leave a lot of storylines open-ended, as the books did, but I also didn't want them to explain absolutely everything, since that's not really in the nature of the story. Thankfully, as with the rest of this show, they gave us the perfect balance. They answer everything that needs answering, and they leave a little ambiguous everything that should be left a little ambiguous. It was exactly what I wanted in a final season and, really, exactly what I wanted in an adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I may get around to reviewing the movie eventually, but I always felt that adaptation was missing something. I never felt that with this show. Not once. I used the word 'satisfying' before, and that really is the best word I can use to describe how this entire show felt, and not just this last season.

Lucy Punch as Esme Squalor and Kitana Turnbull as Carmelia Spats

A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 3 (2019), and the show in general, is the perfect adaptation. I believe my first words after it ended were 'I can't wait to start from the beginning and watch the whole thing over again'. I can tell you right now that I will be doing so time and time again in the future. I hope the show comes out on DVD so I can own it in hardcopy. What a great way to start the year. 10/10.