The Babadook: Quick Review

Thought the first 30 minutes were excellent. Great build up, the book itself was fairly terrifying, up until the Babadook actually shows up.

Next 45 minutes were pretty meh. The monster itself wasn't actually that scary if you know you're not afraid of hats/overcoats and traffic accidents, although the metaphor for depression is neat it gets rubbed in our faces a bit much.

Last 15 minutes were pretty stupid. Hell, the kid actually defeats the serial killer using Home Alone tactics.

Overall I'd give it a 5/10.

Review of How to Train Your Dragon 2

Building on the success of the first film How to Train Your Dragon 2 builds on its predecessor and provides even more action, excitement, comedy and… *Pause for emphasis*… Dragons, for all to enjoy.

The story in centres once again on Hiccup and Toothless and proves to be just as compelling that as the first. Greatly expanding upon the world of Bark HTTYD2 adds more dragons and more Viking lore to its fantasy universe and sees Hiccup take on the challenges of *Minor spoilers* becoming chieftain and facing down a dragon army, led by a unrelenting maniac, Drago, which threatens Berk’s very existence and freedom. Both plot lines feed well off each other and allow the story to drive forward with a good pace which climaxes in an explosive finish. The themes of responsibility, leadership and reasoning are well embedded into these plot, indeed at the end the film *Spoilers* there is a nice parallel between the role Toothless acquires in relation to his fellow and the role Hiccup fulfils which display these themes quite nicely. Throughout the story there are some twists and turns in the tale too, and though they won’t fool a seasoned film goer, they keep the plot interesting and enjoyable.

                                                                                              

One of the major obstacles Hiccup encounters upon his quest, is the chance encounter with his estranged mother, Valka. The portrayal of the family of Hiccup, Stoick and

Valka is perhaps the films biggest strength. Providing an excellent portrayal of the relationships in an almost dysfunctional family. Indeed it would not be too much of a stretch to suggest this is the best representation of a family in animation, ever... Arguably… I mean, although I do think Hiccups forgiving of his Mother’s abandonment is within reason, some may think he forgives her rather too easily, that’s just IMO. But Stick’s and Hiccups relationship, though perhaps a little stereotypical in protective father department, is overwhelmingly believable. But best of all is the relationship between Stoick and Valka and though they don’t get many scenes together the scenes, the few they do have are especially touching and convincing of a loving Mother-Father relationship. Indeed I initially thought the story would follow the route of (for lack of a better example) Abe and Mona Simpson, namely: Abandoned husband angry at wife, wife angry too. Rather we got an understanding and forgiving portrayal of a long lost husband and wife.

                                                                                                            

Hiccup proves to still be the awkward, genius he was in the predecessor. Bringing a catalogue of new contraptions, his courage and perseverance make Hiccup still a strong and likeable protagonist. Accompanying him on his adventure is Toothless, who is still as adorable and enjoyable as ever, with him being the source of the majority of the films laughs, while still retaining some mystical noble-like quality which esteems him as *spoilers* a leader among the dragons. The friendship between the two is built further upon and shows through just as much as the romance between Stoick and >>>. The sequel adds more cute and interesting dragons to its lore and goes further in establishing a mythos which fantasy lovers are sure to eat up.

                                                                                         

Concerning the side characters while they did have some screen time and added some comedic weight, into a film which is at times quite fairly serious, I felt for the most part their roles were pushed much more to the background than in the first film, with only Ruffnet really getting any focus. Even Astrid's role was more or less pushed to the sidelines. But none of this really takes much away from the main character and storylines as well as the quality of the comedy they do provide, counters their lesser roles.

                            

If there are any real negatives to the film it’s, like a lot of recent animation movies, the villain. Throughout the film Drogo was built up as this unreasonable blood thirsty tyrant hell bent on revenge and destruction, what he actually was some Heavy Metal with an odd voice. Hell, the back story they give him, as he justifies his *army* completely undermines the idea of him being beyond reasonable, I'd go as far as to say his motivation is perfectly reasonable. Added onto this is he is rather petty beaten in the finale, as he falls for the typical clichés animated villains tend to do these days. One minor irking I felt was one beautifully animated scene near the beginning of the film had its impact reduced by the prevalence of some upbeat pop song, but that's just a personal issue.

                                                              

Overall this a film everyone can enjoy, be it parents accompanying their children,  animation enthusiasts or fantasy lovers, with a compelling story, loveable and convincing characters, hilarious comedic moments as well as some gripping action make HTTYD2 a fantastic experience.

EDIT: Yayyy! I FINALLY got round to posting something!

First Post

Well here we are... At the beginning of a long and treacherous journey. There will be perils and many dangers on the way and you may waste a lot of your time reading though some of the shit I post, but regardless we'll march on, through fire, hot coal, and the grassy side of the pavement that's hard to walk on. Through thick and thin and the scientifically appropriately weight. We will never give in our endless quest to pointless criticise things in the name of justice, being-a-prick and boredom!

Yours hopefully, NotQuiteAKing.