Stunning sequences carry uneven How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Toothless and Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

The most enjoyable moments in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World have little to no dialog. They are carried instead by dazzling visuals, stunning enough to bring the audience into the fantastical world the film depicts. There is a sense of lightness to Hidden World in these moments, a little sense of joy in the adventure. Whats left outside of those moments is far, far more hit or miss; the good sometimes getting overshadowed by lackluster characterization and lackluster humor.

Hidden World continues the bromantic tale of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and his Night Fury dragon, Toothless. Since the last film, Hiccup, his mother Valka (Cate Blanchett), and girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera), have led raids to free imprisoned dragons, taking them back to the island of Berk Hiccup's dream is to create a utopia for dragons and humans and eventually end the war between the two sides. Unfortunately, the town isn't big enough to host the dragons and the residents, forcing Hiccup, Valka, Astrid, and fellow vikings Gobber (Craig Ferguson), Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Tuffnut (Justin Rupple), Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig), Eret (Kit Harington) and Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to search for a new home. Toothless' presence has also drawn the attention of villainous dragon hunter Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), who is always one step ahead of Hiccup. Hiccup also has to cope with the arrival of a Light Rider dragon, who quickly draws Toothless' eyes and heart.

The How to Train Your Dragon franchise is renowned for its flying sequences, which put the audience in Hiccup's shoes as he and Toothless soar through the skies. Hidden World doesn't deviate from that formula, providing several wonderful, majestic sequences in the air that add a great pop to the film. The visit into the eponymous world is visualized like an undersea voyage, complete with fluorescent flora and magical creatures. That sequence, along with the rest of the aerial moments, are by far, the highlight of the film.

Hidden World is buoyed considerably by the presence of Grimmel as an antagonist. The film does a credible job selling Grimmel as a genuine threat to Hiccup and his people, using some brilliant tactics to trick Hiccup time and time again. Grimmel's cunning contrasts well with Hiccup's heart, and it adds a nice psychological element. That Grimmel exerts so much effort into ruining Hiccup as part of a game makes him even more effective as a villain. It's almost cruel how little Grimmel cares about any of the chaos he sows.

The rest of Hidden World can't match the visuals of the flying sequence or the cunning of Grimmel. The animation beyond the flying scenes is consistently good throughout, if not quite as eye catching. The jokes are a fairly scattered; the high-level jokes are never quite as clever as the screenwriters imagined, although the jokes aimed at kids landed pretty well. The film is generally efficient with its use of time, at least until stretching out the ending awkwardly. Combined, they create an overall unremarkable film.

Some of the problem stems from the lead characters. Hiccup's journey to become a leader for his people is flat, never quite given the amount of time needed to develop. His coinciding trip into adulthood is less interesting, as he loses a lot of his shine as a character whenever Toothless goes away. In essence, the film's message of personal growth undercuts its most dynamic relationship. Astrid exists to fill that void, but she's not granted enough time to develop as a character either. Her expectation is to be the rock for Hiccup; how she gets to that point is not really considered. The rest of the cast, sans Grimmel, is there for comedic relief; the level of relief those characters offer is up to the individual viewer to decide.

Even with those issues, Hidden World still has a little heart and melancholy to it. Underneath some obnoxious characters and mold humor, this is a film about how sometimes it is necessary to say goodbye no matter how hard it is to do so. Hidden World uses the goodwill it has drawn from two other movies and an animated series to reinforce just how hard it is to do the right, but very difficult, thing. The inevitable moment when the tough decision is made packs a decent sized punch for a franchise about a boy and his dragon; with a little more development, it could have been a wallop.

Review: Three and a Half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

 

Rating: PG

Run time: 104 minutes

Genre: Animated

tl;dr

What Worked: Animation (especially the flying scenes), Grimmel

What Fell Short: Character development, Humor

What To Watch As Well: How to Train Your Dragon, The Last Unicorn

Rebel Wilson shines in funny but inconsistent Isn't It Romantic

Rebel Wilson and Adam Devine in Isn't It Romantic. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

At its best, Isn't It Romantic is a funny, charming little deconstruction of, and a homage to, the romantic comedy. Like some of the best rom-coms, it features a charismatic lead character and a winning sense of humor to keep the audience invested in its lead's romantic foibles. Even as it points out the genre's flaws, the film can't quite escape some of the more troubling romantic comedy trappings, eventually succumbing to one of the most harmful clichés without completely realizing that it did so.

Isn't It Romantic stars Rebel Wilson as Natalie, a low-level, put-upon architect trying to navigate the complexities of life in the big city. A vociferous hater of romantic comedies, Natalie takes a knock to the noggin trying to escape a purse snatcher and wakes up in her own romantic comedy. In this world, Natalie is the star architect in her office who unwittingly charms her firm's big client Blake (professionally handsome Liam Hemsworth). Her neighbor Donny (Brandon Scott Jones) is her sassy, obsessive, gay friend. Her real-life assistant and friend Whitney (Betty Gilpin) is now her main rival in her firm. And her best friend Josh (Adam Devine) stumbles his way into a whirlwind romance with model/yoga ambassador Isabella (Priyanka Chopra). Natalie is eager to escape the perfect vision of New York she's conjured and must complete her story arc, learning a valuable lesson about herself as she critiques numerous rom-com tropes along the way.

There is a fundamental issue with Wilson serving as an anti-romantic lead. The film explains why a woman like Wilson's Natalie can't be the star of her own romantic comedy while featuring her in a romantic comedy; the meta nature of the comment doesn't absolve the film from commenting on it so frequently in the first place. Despite the frequent jokes at her expense, Wilson is a pretty solid, and sometimes excellent, rom-com lead. Her inherent sarcasm and self-effacement doesn't overwhelm the character; Wilson finds a skosh of sweetness and charm to veer Natalie away from misery. It's a shame Wilson has to take this route to showcase her rom-com chops, but at the least it gives her a chance to reinforce she can be more than a supporting actress. 

 

Wilson is good enough that, like the best rom-com actresses, she could carry some otherwise lackluster material. Fortunately, she doesn't have to do that for Isn't It Romantic. Despite the premise's snarky overtones, the criticism it has for the genre is more loving than cruel. The film is generally careful on what it targets for criticism, hitting the weaker aspects while using the important notes – the tender speech, a solid musical number – to build out its message. What is left is a film that mocks and embraces the idealistic nature of its genre, using the familiar beats to tell a story of self-fulfillment

 

Then again, Isn't It Romantic can't escape some of the pratfalls it mocks so heartily. This is a flaw for meta comedies, as the line between calling out a flaw and featuring it is very, very thin. Take, for example, the gay best friend stereotype. The film calls it out as a regressive depiction, yet the jokes about Donny's character are rooted in the stereotype itself – the humor is directed at Donny, not from him. Then there's the battle between Natalie and Isabella for Josh's affection. The love triangle is another well-worn rom-com trope, a plot that exists solely to pit women against one another – the man at the center is rarely, if ever, held responsible for his role in the conflict. Isn't It Romantic ultimately steps away from basing its finale on some resolution to its love triangle, but it still uses it as a crutch in Natalie's journey of self discovery.

The message the film ultimately has is a pretty nifty one, at least until the ending when Natalie puts her lesson into practice and takes a rather awkward step backward into the very dangerous nice guy trap. The ending to Isn't It Romantic validates some rather toxic behavior from Josh, while at the same time having Natalie take a step back in her personal growth. Given the amount of time the film spent getting Natalie to a point of independence, the decision to strip that away in favor of convenience and one of the more hazardous clichés is a major downfall for this film. That last choice dampens the film's cheerful message, ending a very sweet film on a remarkably sour note.

Review: Three and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

 

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 92 minutes

Genre: Romantic Comedy

tl;dr

What Worked: Rebel Wilson, Script

What Fell Short: Ending, Stereotypes

What To Watch As Well: Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, Enchanted

Everything isn't awesome with Lego Movie 2, but it's still pretty good

Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) and Emmet (Chris Pratt) in Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What is moderately miraculous about the Lego Movie franchise is its ability to find quality despite being a blatant piece of toy marketing. The first movie, the Batman spin-off, and the new one – The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part – are all entertaining and fun, often cleverly written and with at least a modicum of feels to go with it. Lego Movie 2 retains the franchise's commitment to entertain audiences and shift a little merchandise in the process, although its method of entertaining comes at the expense of some of its heart.

Lego Movie 2 picks up right where the original left off, with the introduction of the toddler-based Duplo toys as they invade Bricksburg. Jump ahead five years and Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) are surviving in a prototypical Mad-Maxian wasteland, trying to stay out of the sights of the odd alien creatures. That is, until the powerful General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) kidnaps Lucy, Batman (Will Arnett), Unikitty (Alison Brie), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) and Benny (Charlie Day) and take them to meet Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish). Fearing for his friends' safety, as well as a prophecy documenting the end of the world, Emmet races off to save them, getting help from the dashing Rex Dangervest (Pratt again) and his crew of raptors along the way.

And, yes, the raptors – who are a comedic highlight – are a direct reference to Pratt's role in the Jurassic World franchise. This is a small taste of Lego Movie 2's general sense of humor, a machine-gun mentality to target as many jokes as possible and see what hits. The example above is one of the stronger references, as the movie never explicitly links Pratt to Jurassic World; the suggested implication is much, much funnier. Most of the references land thanks to the writing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Lord and Miller, who helmed the first movie, take full advantage of Lego's deep reservoir of franchises to toss in jokes subtle and broad. If a Lego version of Sheryl Swoopes exists, give her a line in the movie. If Bruce Willis has a few minutes to spare, let him have a line or two and see what happens. But the real target of Lego Movie 2 is, well, the Lego Movie franchise. The film goes out of its way to mock itself, making fun of everything from character motivations to Everything is Awesome!!! Even the numerous musical numbers exist less to advance the plot and more to outline how an infectious tune is far more notable than a good lyric. The existence of the movie is a joke to Lord and Miller, and they stretch that joke about as far as they can without shattering the film completely.

The ability to consistently tell a good joke is Lego Movie 2's strength... and the source of its weakness. There are so many jokes, so many things to make fun of, the film never develops the strong emotional resonance it seeks. The movie's tone is too silly and self-aware to take any of the action or consequences too seriously. So when the film introduces the real-life consequences to the plastic shenanigans, the emotional punch is weaker than intended. Which is pretty odd considering how well Lord and Miller connect the real-world action to the Lego adventure. It's written so well, almost immaculately structured that the emotional payoff comes very close to working despite the tonal discrepancy. But the feels they go for never quite arrive as they did in the first film, undercut by the plethora of meta jokes. It's really, really difficult to be sarcastic and sincere simultaneously, and LEGO Movie 2 isn't the first film to miss the mark.

This isn't to say Lego Movie 2 doesn't have a heart; rather, there is nary a mean bone in this movie's body. Like Steven Universe, the enemies are less evil than misunderstood, making a peaceful resolution to the film's conflict logical and satisfying. The emphasis on fun ensures the movie is never boring; something is always happening, and it's often joyous and exciting. Given its predecessor and the talent driving its creation, Lego Movie 2 isn't quite as great as it could be, but it is pretty gosh darn awesome for a movie about building blocks.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

 

Rating: PG

Run time: 106 minutes

Genre: Animated

tl;dr

What Worked: Sense of humor, writing.

What Fell Short: It gets a little too meta.

What To Watch As Well: The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie