How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon is one of those movies you have to see in 3-D. While movies like Alice in Wonderland and Avatar are better in 3-D, How to Train Your Dragon lives for 3-D. The flight and battle scenes are amazing. This is a movie that will be cherished forever. HTTYD takes place on a faraway island where vikings battle dragons. The lead in the movie is Hiccup, son of the town chief. Hiccup has always wanted to live up to his fathers expectations. So when he shoots a dragon (a nightfury no less) he's very pleased with himself. But, when he goes to slay his pray, he realizes the dragons won't harm him unless he harms them. The CGI in this movie is breathtaking. Although, since it's from the same people who created Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, that's to be expected. I really wish all movies could be as good as this one. The voices were spot on. I loved the animation of Toothless (the nightfury) and Craig Ferguson is awesome as usual (not that I get to stay up late to see Craig Ferguson. Much.). I really enjoyed Gerard Butler's voice as Hiccup's dad. It's perfect for a Scottish place. I hope this movie does as well as Up did at the box office. I think it was every bit as good. If not better.

Studio: DreamWorks
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Actors: Jay Baruchel (Hiccup), Gerard Butler (Stoick), Craig Ferguson (Gobber), America Ferrera (Astrid)
Release: Wide
DVD Release: TBD
Recap: A-

Photo Courtesy of DreamWorks animation

Alice in Wonderland

What happens when you mix Lewis Carrol, Tim Burton, and a healthy shot of Johnny Depp? You get arguably the strangest movie ever made. That's one of the things I loved about this movie. It takes place in England where 19 year-old Alice is in modern times. She's being proposed to by a particularly snooty guy. Right in the middle of his proposal, she sees a rabbit. But not just any rabbit. A rabbit with a pocket watch (we all know what that means). Soon she finds herself falling down a rabbit hole. Then comes the most boring scene in the movie. Ten minutes of Alice trying to get a key and then trying to get small or tall. Finally she gets out and is in Wonderland which is now overruled by the Red Queen. Everyone wants the White Queen to be in power but sadly, she's not (tough luck for you Alice). She later encounters the Mad Hatter, a blue caterpillar smoking from a hookah, and a totally deranged rabbit. Alice finds out she has to slay a horrible creature called the Jabberwocky. But, she doesn't want to. It all leads up to a great battle between the White Queen and her army of chess pieces (which are all white), and the Red Queen with her army of playing cards (which are all hearts). This movie is extremely weird, which makes it amazing. I loved Mia Wasikowska in her role as Alice, but I think the best performance comes from Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. There is one scene at the end where he is talking to Alice about what will happen after the battle - it was beautiful. I didn't really like Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen with her "Off with the head" line every twenty minutes. But, I guess all movies can't be perfect. Visually it was pretty cool. Which is another thing I loved about it. I hope Alice falls in the rabbit hole say three years from now and makes another movie as good as this one.

Studio:Walt Disney Pictures
Director:Tim Burton
Actors: Mia Wasikowska (Alice), Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (the Red Queen
Release: Wide
DVD Release: TBD
Recap: B+

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Or should I say, Diary of a Wimpy movie? Sadly this movie lacks some of the main elements that make movies great. There were some laughs, but mostly the movie was the kid getting in trouble and being a jerk. Not a great movie. I loved Steve Zahn in "That Thing You Do!", but here his performance was - like the rest of the movie - mediocre. Diary of a Wimpy Kid takes place in a middle school where Greg Heffley is destined for greatness if he just wasn't stuck in school with "a bunch of morons." Zachary Gordon who plays Greg also gives a mediocre performance. There are however two very good performances. Greg's friend Rowley (Robert Capron) is really funny, his timing is great and he's perfectly awkward. Greg's brother (Devon Bostick) on the other hand is a drum-playing-older-brother-I'm-not-touching-you kind of guy. He is also one of my favorite actors in the movie because he plays the older brother normally (maybe a little meaner), but funnier. I really wish the movie was as good as these two. But it's not. I regret to say it's one that will be just fine to watch on DVD.

Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Actors:Zachary Gordon (Greg Heffley), Robert Capron (Rowley Jefferson), Devon Bostick (Rodrick Heffley)
Release:Wide
DVD Release:TBD
Recap:C-

Photo Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightning Thief

I know - by the time you're done saying the title the movie's over. If it only went by that fast. Percy Jackson, a young boy with dyslexia and ADHD lives in New York with his mother and his stepfather Gabe, a smelly jerk who likes beer and poker. While on a field trip, his english teacher turns into a demented bird and almost kills him (hope Percy had a permission slip). He finds out his father was really Poseidon (God of the sea) and that's why the freaky bird thing (called a Fury) tried to kill him. Percy is then sent to a camp called Camp Half-Blood (but not before his mom is taken by a minotaur) where he finds out his friend Grover is actually a saytr. Following so far? He meets a girl named Annabeth and he's lovestruck. They then have to go on a quest to get three pearls so he can get his mom back. On his quest, he meets Medusa, gets lost in a casino, and is almost killed by a ten headed dragon. I (being a thirteen year old boy) love action movies. But I don't like it when the effects are cheesy like they are here. Unfortunately, the writing was too. I liked the main character, and I think the whole Greek mythology thing is pretty cool. The problem is that as a piece, it became tiresome and a bit predictable. I hope the next one in the series - and there will be a next one - is better. At least spend a little more on the effects budget.

Studio: Fox 2000
Director: Chris Colombus
Actors: Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson), Brandon T. Jackson (Grover), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth).
Release:Wide
DVD Release: TBD
Recap: B-

Photo Courtesy of Fox 2000