Up yours Up

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 2011)

DreamWorks Animation responds to Pixar's "Up" with "How To Train Your Dragons". The plot: in a mythical Viking kingdom, a young boy teaches his warmongering clan to put down their weapons and befriend dragons. To do this they must first....kill a giant dragon. It's one of many "stop war, love nature" films currently in vogue, the Viking's, like various US administrations, utilizing a blend of fear, hate and tradition to justify much rape and pillaging. It is this way of life which our young hero hopes to change, but the film's last act dragon murder plays more like a case of "we destroy you, we take your weapons, you forced into friendship" than a trans-species love affair. Now shut up and help me with this saddle.
The film's plot strongly resembles "Battle for Terra", another animated film which covers similar ground. Both are preferable to James Cameron's turgid "Avatar". They're light, funny and move fast. See Miyazaki for the inspiration of most eco-friendly animated films.
As with most CGI or animated films, "How to Train Your Dragon's" exhilarating moments are due largely to its free-wheeling, uninhibited, virtual camera work. The picture moves well, its virtual camera zipping along all axis, every minute detail and camera-move super precise. The levels of aesthetic control granted to the film-makers also allow "Dragon's" virtual landscapes (and conceptual designs) to be super fine-tuned, resulting in a certain aesthetic rush. The film's silent moments are powerful and its flying sequences are subline, given even Miyazaki's air songs a run for his money. Unfortunately the film's plot is nothing but a string of clichés. It looks great, but it's a lightweight film.
"How to Train Your Dragon's" score, by John Powell, has been praised, but again it can't touch either Korzeniowski's similar score for "Battle of Terra" or Joe Hisaishi's scores for Miyazaki. But that's the DreamWork's motto: good enough is good enough.
"How to Train Your Dragon's" film-makers (a committee, auteurism is largely dead) make one interesting choice: after the film's climax, our hero, a mere child, loses his leg. His leg is then replaced with a prosthetic limb. It's a shocking moment for an animated film; the horrible consequences of hate.
Incidentally, "How to Train Your Dragon" is part of a longstanding battle between Pixar and DreamWorks Pictures (founded by Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen in the mid 90s). With the surprise success of Pixar's "Toy Story", DreamWorks set about discovering Pixar's next project. When their spies learnt of "A Bugs Life", DreamWorks then rushed out the similarly themed "Antz".
Next from Dreamworks came "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Road to El Dorado", two animated films designed to rip off Disney's "Hercules" and "Mulan". Then came "Sinbad", a knock off of Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire".
The battle continued with "Shark Tale", Dreamworks' copy of "Finding Nemo", "Megamind" which copies "The Increadibles", and "Flushed Away", which mimics "Ratatouille". Meanwhile, DreamWorks' monster movie, "Shrek", used a tale of monsters to poke fun at Disney, Pixar and Disney fairy tales, whilst Pixar's "Monster's Inc" celebrates the portals, multidimensional windows and doorways of business magnate Steve Jobs' "Apple Computers" (Jobs was chief executive of Pixar). No surprise then that the hero of "How to Train Your Dragon" is called HiccUP, and that the film was the studio's response to Pixar's "Up". And so on and on it goes, corporate warfare and artistry dancing their intimate ballet.
7.9/10 – Despite a somewhat clichéd plot, this is one of Dreamworks' best animations. See "Battle for Terra", "Castle in the Sky", "Porco Rosso", "The Sky Crawlers" and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds". Worth two viewing.