How to Train Your Dragon

This film follows Hiccup, a teen youth on the viking island of Berk.  Hiccup has never fit in to viking society and this is made even worse by being the son of the chief.  Hiccup wants nothing more then to be accepted by the rest of the vikings in the village, but every time he tries something disastrous happens.  Every viking in Berk knows from a young age that their primary purpose is to fight dragons.  Hiccup is no different and tries desperately to kill a dragon, not through brute force as the rest of the vikings do, but through ingenuity and though.  During a dragon raid on the village one night Hiccup manages to ensnare a Night Fury, the most feared of dragons.  When he tries to tell his father and the rest of the village of his accomplishment, none believe him.  After being escorted home by his father's best friend Gobber, Hiccup sneaks out a back door to go and find the dragon he brought down.  Just as Hiccup is about to give up on his search for the dragon he stumbles upon it.  Hiccup tries very hard to build up the courage and convince himself to kill the dragon but cannot.  Instead Hiccup sets the dragon free, who menaces Hiccup and then apparently flies away to freedom.  That evening Hiccup's father, after a conversation with Gobber puts him into dragon training before heading out to try and destroy the dragon's nest.  Hiccup is mocked by his classmates in dragon training and nearly killed by a dragon on his first day, Gobber as teacher saves Hiccup and tells the class that a dragon will always go for the kill.  Hiccup then goes out to where he freed the dragon he had downed and asks himself, "So why didn't you?"  The rest of the film follows Hiccup as he learns more and more about dragons, discovering that they are not the vicious monsters the rest of the village believes them to be.  The film culminates with Hiccup's father freeing the imprisoned dragon Hiccup has befriended and learned to ride.  Hiccup and his dragon then proceed to defeat the queen dragon on the dragon's island, apparently sacrificing their lives in order to spare the others who came to the island to attack the nest.  Back home in Berk, Hiccup wakes up in his own home after some nudging from his dragon.  Hiccup is surprised to see the dragon in his own home and makes his way outside where the village has embraced dragons as pets. Hiccup's father too has embraced dragons as more then just a menace.

This film is truly great, the story is excellently written, the voice talent is superb, and the score is masterful.  I cannot praise this film enough for the originality and the flow.  The story quickly establishes itself and flows seamlessly from beginning to end.  I highly recommend this film both to be seen and purchased to own, it is well worth the price you pay for it no matter what price you get it for.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Simply put this is an origin story to create the world of G.I. Joe and their global war against Cobra.  It pits the international military organization G.I. Joe against the rising organization that becomes known as Cobra.  Gen. Hawk leads G.I. Joe with team members Duke and Ripcord being focal points.  Cobra is originally thought to be led by James McCullen XXIV but is later revealed to be led by The Doctor who is in fact Duke's best friend thought killed in an operation four years earlier.  The Doctor becomes Cobra Commander and is imprisoned with James McCullen XXIV who has now become Destro.

This film adaptation based on Hasbro's action figures perfectly modifies the original animated series to fit within a live action realm.  There is no hesitation in the film when it comes to action, the action starts almost immediately and never really stops.  I highly recommend this film for anyone who is a fan of the original animated series or any incarnation of the franchise.

Madagascar 2: Back to Africa

I cannot write a complete review because I could not finish watching the movie due to how poorly done it was.

Valkyrie

I won't try giving a basic synopsis of the film, instead I provide a link to the Wikipedia article concerning the real life assassination attempt on Hitler that the film is based upon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Valkyrie

This film very accurate and historically represents the deep seated motives of all the individuals involved in the German Resistance against the Nazi's.  Being a history buff myself I was curious to see just what they would do in the film to cover the attempt on Hitler's life by Col. Stauffenberg.  I was surprised to see a scene involving a little known assassination attempt on Hitler in which one of the Eastern Front commanders secreted a bomb into a fake bottle of liquor and then asked one of the men flying with Hitler to deliver the bottles of liquor to another officer in Berlin.  This assassination failed supposedly due to a slowing of the chemical trigger on the bomb due to the high altitude the plane was flying at.  I also very much like that the director/writers started the film off in German and then transitioning to English.  This film is riveting for those who enjoy history and historically accurate films about real events.  I highly recommend this film for anyone who wants to look back at the German involvement in WWII and say that every German was a Nazi.  This film proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was not true.

Monsters vs. Aliens

This film follows the life of Susan, who is struck by a meteor on her wedding day and transforms in Ginormica.  Transported to a secret military installation she is imprisoned along with several other monsters.  When an alien robot probe lands on Earth, Ginormica and the other monsters are sent out to destroy the robot.  Once destroyed, the alien that sent the robot comes to earth to extract the Quantonium from Ginormica, the Quantonium is what made her grow giant.  The alien manages to extract the Quantonium and begins creating a clone army in order to destroy humanity and enslave any survivors.  Susan now back to normal size manages to attack the alien and in the battle exposes herself willingly to the Quantonium in order to become Ginormica again and rescue the other monsters from the alien ship which is self destructing.

This movie is a fun adventure which hearkens back to when monster movies were the biggest thing in Hollywood.  I would highly recommend this film for those that are looking for a somewhat corny but comically serious film.  Definitely worth the rental or purchase price in my opinion.

Alpha and Omega

This film follows two young wolves, Kate and Humphrey, starting off as childhood friends on the day Kate is set to begin her training as an Alpha female of the wolf pack.  Come Spring Kate has finished her Alpha training and is next seen on her first hunt going after Caribou.  This hunt is interrupted by another pack of wolves from the East which causes a conflict.  Humphrey as an Omega is meant to keep the peace and make others laugh, he quickly defuses the conflict.  Kate soon discovers that her father and the Alpha of the eastern pack have made a deal to unite the two packs by marrying Kate and the Eastern packs young male Alpha.  That night Kate and Garth are introduced, Kate is very much put off by Garth when he begins to howl at the moon horribly, dropping birds from the sky.  After getting away from Garth, Kate runs into Humphrey and begins trying to convince him she's not running away from Garth.  Eventually Kate is hit with a tranquilizer followed shortly by Humphrey.  The two wake up after being relocated to Idaho to repopulate wolves at a park there.  Kate convinces Humphrey to help her get home and adventure ensues.  In the end Garth and Kate are about to be married when Kate backs out.  Kate has fallen in love with Humphrey which leads to a battle between to two packs.  In the end Kate and Humphrey are together with Humphrey having protected Kate during a stampede of Caribou.

This movie flows well from beginning to end, it keeps you interested from the very beginning to the very end.  The best part about this film is the writers actually asked experts about and observed wild wolves in order to understand the pack structure.  Toward the end Humphrey is about to do what many Omegas do, take the lone wolf route.  This in nature eventually leads to the formation of a new pack, but for the purposes of this film they couldn't have that happen.  All in all an excellent film that does a good job debunking many of the common misconceptions concerning wolf pack structure that were first documented by scientists when they took unrelated wolves from the wild and introduced them to a new pack unlike anything nature would produce.  This film is dedicated to the memory of Dennis Hopper, his last film role before his death.  I highly recommend this film to adults and children both.

Legend of the Guardians

This film follows the adventures of a young owl before he can fly as he and his brother are kidnapped.   The young owl escapes the kidnappers along with another young owl.  These two owls set out to find the Guardians of Ga'hoole in order to rescue the other young owls who have been kidnapped by the group.  The young owl eventually finds the Guardians after many trials and much sacrifice.  The film culminates in a climactic battle in which the kidnappers are vanquished thanks in no small part to the young owl whom the film centers upon.

I held great hopes for this movie, and they were somewhat dashed by some of the slowness early in the film.  It takes a while for all of the puzzle pieces to come together and put you on the edge of your seat.  All in all a good film but not great, the score is fantastic, and when the story really starts to come together you don't want to stop watching.  The most difficult part of this film is getting through the slow and seemingly dis-jointed parts early in the film.  Had I written this review before or while it were in theaters I would have suggested to wait for it on DVD to rent and watch.  The story once it comes together is very enthralling and Hollywood needs more original material such as this to keep audiences coming back for more.