How to Train your Dragon

Post by **GRUNT** » November 3rd, 2009, 1:05 am

Meg wrote:Hey, actually looks pretty solid! The dragon has a really interesting design, wasn't expecting it to look like that at all but it works really well. Not totally sold on the kid's voice yet, either, but it could grow on me.

I agree that the dragon looks very interesting. However, I absolutely love the kid's voice - I immediately took a liking to it the moment I heard it

. I'm not sure how to describe exactly what about it I find so likable, but I find it awfully endearing

.

Post by **estefan** » November 3rd, 2009, 8:17 am

By the way, the voice of the Boy is Jay Baruchel, who played the lead role on the too-soon-cancelled Fox sitcom Undeclared and as was also the young newcomer actor in Tropic Thunder last summer.

Post by **robster** » November 3rd, 2009, 9:15 am

I think the look of the movie is a step back from Kung Fu Panda, the look is very plastic and rubbery, very odd lighting and unappealing color pallete. The dragon design is cool, but it looks like a pre-render without any texture mapping on it or something. Not digging that aspect. I have faith in Chris Sanders though... Need to see more...

Post by **ELIOLI** » November 3rd, 2009, 4:31 pm

Werid. I thought the animation was a step forward..especially character design wise.The voice is actually quite good. It's not like we were expecting a 5 year old right?

Post by **Bill1978** » November 11th, 2009, 12:10 am

The trailer has given me hope that this will be an enjoyable Dreamworks movie and not a lame Madagascar type movie. I'm loving the concept and it looks like it's not going to rely on pop cultures for the laughs and it appears I coud care about the characters. My only issue at the moment is the dragon looks fake. Someone else mentioned how it didn't looked rendered properly and that's what I feel as well. It actually looks like a CGI effect in a CGI animated film, which is a very bad thing.

Post by **CGIFanatic** » December 9th, 2009, 11:08 pm

Here is the latest Imax poster for the movie.

chud.com/articles/articles/21804/1/EXCLUSIVE-HOW-TO-TRAIN-YOUR-DRAGON-IMAX-POSTER/Page1.html

Post by **Meg** » December 9th, 2009, 11:35 pm

Is it just me, or is every logo DW has done for their recent animated flicks look...Well, the same?

Other than that, this poster is definitely an improvement over the other one.

Post by **eddievalient** » December 9th, 2009, 11:49 pm

Just watched the trailer, finally, and I like what I see. I think there ought to be more animated adventure movies (as opposed to comedies or fairy tales, which have their place, but have dominated the industry for how long?) and if this one's a hit, it may start a trend. Here's hoping, anyway.

Post by **Dacey** » December 10th, 2009, 12:04 am

Yeah, but the thing is, DreamWorks is probably going to choose to market this movie as a comedy at the end of the day, even if they market it as one with some adventure in it. That seems to be the thing that sells, at least according to the way they see things.

Basically, it's very hard to find *any* animated movie from a major studio these days that's not mainly marketed as a laugh-fest. With the exception of "Coraline," which was marketed as another TNBC, I can't really think of anything. Even some of the ads for "The Princess and the Frog" have largely been focused on the gross out humor.

Granted, I am finding myself liking the trailer more and more every time I see it, and this definately looks like it's more along the lines of "Kung Fu Panda" than "Madagascar." At the end of the day, that may be what we get, but I'm betting that DW is going to mainly focus on the comedy factor regardless of what kind of film they have. Watch for the "fish scene" to be in virtually every commercial that they put out for this thing.

Post by **Ben** » December 10th, 2009, 9:07 am

Remember, also, that DWs are <I>heavily</I> dependent on <I>every</I> movie needing to be a hit, even moderately. They simply can't take a big failure. So they're going to market each one with a logo that looks like one for another movie of theirs that audiences liked, to get a subliminal effect going on.

Post by **EricJ** » December 20th, 2009, 3:26 pm

Also, it's the Katzenberg Way to presume mass-love based on a few lucky hits and say "Movie, shmovie, you came to see US!

"
Which is why the product itself tends to be so, well...interchangeable.

(BTW, anyone else have a theater that unfortunately put their lobby display near the hall leading to the Rest rooms, prompting jokes about "But I already know how to...oh, 'Train', never mind!"

)

Post by **CGIFanatic** » December 29th, 2009, 1:06 pm

A new trailer has been released for the movie.

The trailer invokes some of DreamWorks most successful movies (Shrek, KFP and Madagascar) and then goes on to shows some new and some already seen scenes in other trailers.

www.traileraddict.com/trailer/how-to-tr ... /trailer-b

Post by **estefan** » December 30th, 2009, 2:56 pm

That was a great trailer and it definitely gives more of a Chris Sanders vibe than the previous trailer did, plus I like the montage at the beginning. I'm definitely looking forward to this.

And is it just me or can James Newton Howard's "Dinosaur" score make anything look epic?

Post by **Dacey** » December 30th, 2009, 3:58 pm

Caught the trailer in theaters yesterday and was like, "What? Why are they using this score?" And it didn't help that I was convinced I was in for a shortened version of the "Shrek Forever After" teaser, since the ogre was the first thing I saw on screen.

Basically, this feels like DreamWorks trying to play themselves off as having a "legacy," and the montage feels almost identical to the one that Disney used for the "Up" trailer last Christmas. In other words, it seems kinda forced.

Still liking how HTTYD looks, though. I'm even getting used to the boy's voice.

Post by **Dissapointed** » December 30th, 2009, 6:11 pm

The above post from Darcey brings up similar points as someone on Cartoon Brew did and a person over there named "optimist" responded to that post in this way:

Using old music to score trailers is done for all films-in fact it’s imperative, since any and all films are a long way from being scored(scoring happens a lot later than you’d think) when trailers are made. Hasn’t anyone noticed how many film trailers have used “The Right Stuff” or especially “Edward Scissorhands” music-even films from “competing” studios? NO one is supposed to know or care what film the scratch music in a trailer is from-it’s just supposed to evoke a mood. God knows that virtually 100% of the audience won’t remember Dinosaur (or even Scissorhands that well). And films are made for the general audience, not for geeks like us. As for supposedly ripping off Pixar by citing previous hit films(and although I know it’s horribly aggravating to so many, Shrek and Panda were megahits all over the world)…you’re kidding, I hope. ANY studio would be foolish if they DIDN’T mention that an upcoming release is from the same place where previously popular films are from. The other day I watched the Zemeckis Christmas Carol trailer; it pointedly says that it’s from the director of “Back To The Future”. That was 30 years ago! There must be a good reason for that, don’t you think? This is a Chris Sanders film. It was made at DreamWorks. Yes, it is possible to reconcile the two. No, there are no fart gags in the trailer. The film is adapted from a series of very popular children’s books. That’s where the characters and the basic plot come from. The style and the rest is from the people listed in the credits. It’s a trailer.

BTW, Here is the Japanese trailer for the movie.

www.hic-dragon.jp/