Movie Reaction: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Formula: (How to Train Your Dragon * Toy Story 3) / Toy Story

I just don't love How to Train Your Dragon as much as other people I know. That's what a lot of this Reaction is going to come down to. The first movie left no impression on me (I meant to rewatch it in preparation for this to see if I could find what I missed the first time). The second movie I remember really getting into in the theater, but again, it didn't really stick in my mind. What I do know is this. Dreamworks Animation came out of the gate as the first real competition Disney Animation had in a while back in the late 90s. It directly competed with Pixar when the two studios released A Bug's Life and Antz the same year. The Shrek series built the studio into an industry force. The first Shrek beat Pixar (Monsters, Inc.) for the first Animated Feature Academy Award. The second Shrek for a time was the 4th highest grossing movie of all-time*. It looked like Disney had a real competitor. While series like Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar have done decent business, Dreamworks Animation has fallen behind Illumination (Minions, Secret Life of Pets) after milking everything it could out of Shrek. Since buying Pixar, Disney has widened the gap between first and second significantly. Dreamworks Animation hadn't even release a film in 20 months before The Hidden World. For the last decade, How to Train Your Dragon has be the great fire-breathing hope for the studio. Even though I have trouble loving the franchise as much as other people, I do appreciate its place in the animated landscape and looked forward to this final installment.

*Behind Titanic, Star Wars, and The Phantom Menace for unadjusted domestic gross. It remained there until Avatar bumped it down in 2009.

The Hidden World is exactly what fans of the series want. Hiccup, Toothless, and the gang are back. This time, they are running from an infamous dragon hunter, Grimmel, who wants to eradicate the last of the Night Furies (i.e. Toothless). Hiccup hopes to move the citizens of Berk to a safer location and maybe find the mythical Hidden World where supposedly the dragons all come from. As far as villains go, Grimmel isn't very interesting except that's he's voiced with pleasure by F. Murray Abraham. His master plan is half-baked, but it works well enough to keep the plot moving forward.

Virtually the entire voice cast is back. Only TJ Miller as Tuffnut is gone, because, Hollywood finally figured out that TJ Miller is kind of a dick. Jay Baruchel is perfect for Hiccup. I've always been a fan of America Ferrera's Astrid as well. Hiccup and Toothless' relationship is the heart of the series, and, well, this movie successfully tugs at those heartstrings.

The animation is fine. It didn't blow me away. The movie is funny enough. The series still has the competition beat for animated action sequences. For people who are bigger fans of the series than me, I think this is a very satisfying conclusion. I didn't tear up the way that others apparently have, but I'm willing to chalk that up to me being dead inside*. I'm not sure where Dreamworks goes next.

*Ignoring the fact that just the night before I had a lump in my throat watching Fighting with My Family. Perhaps I'm just an inconsistent person.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Movie Reaction: Fighting With My Family

Formula: Ready to Rumble / The Wrestler

When it comes to my obsessions at different points in my life, it started with He-Man*. After that, it was Power Rangers. Next was Professional Wrestling. Magic: The Gathering followed that. Since then, it's been my holy trinity of TV, movies, and college basketball. While I don't watch WWE at all anymore, I still have a fondness for it. It's hard to describe the appeal of wrestling to non-fans. Everyone knows it's not "real" in the strictest sense. It's heavily scripted. The moves are planned and practiced. I can't stress enough how much fans realize that it isn't real. (Please stop saying "wrestling isn't real" like it's some kind of revelation. I promise, you are sound like an idiot when you say that.) But wrestling plays with verisimilitude in a way that isn't replicated in any form of entertainment. Wrestlers build personas like old-school vaudevillians. They are lived-in, fleshed out characters that can take years to create. They are real even if they are characters. The wrestlers are professionals in every sense. They pull off incredible physical feats. They practice hard to know what they are doing. One mistake could end with you or someone else breaking there necks. By the end of a wrestling career, these men and women's bodies are beat up. The wrestlers and promoters want the lines to get blurred about what is and isn't real. To this day, I can't say if the Montreal Screwjob was real or not. The fact that I'll never be fully convinced one way or the other is an incredible accomplishment when you think about it. I get that the specific brand of entertainment that wrestling provides isn't for everyone - I lost interest a long time ago - but I have nothing but respect for the people who love it.

*My parents insist that I was a huge fan, but - hand to god - I have no memory of any of this and still think they are gaslighting me.

I was very ready to love Fighting with My Family, Stephan Merchant's new film which tells the life story of current WWE performer, Paige. Paige showed up on the scene only a few years ago well after my days as a fan, so I don't know much about her. I certainly don't know the facts of her real life or WWE career, so let it be understood that, unless otherwise stated, when I refer to Paige, I mean the character in the film not the real Paige.

The film begins with Paige (Florence Pugh) living in a small, working-class town in England. She and her family - mother (Lena Headey), father (Nick Frost), and brother, Zak (Jack Lowden) - run a local wrestling promotion, scraping by with money made from shows and training local kids. The dream is for Paige (real name Saraya) and Zak to one day become WWE superstars. They both eventually get the chance to try out for the WWE, but only Paige is selected, which sends both siblings into a tailspin. Paige has to fly to Orlando, thousands of miles from everyone she knows, and Zak has to pick up the pieces of his shattered dreams. The movie follows Paige to Orlando, where she quickly realizes that she doesn't fit in with the models-turned-wrestlers who are being groomed alongside her. The film doesn't abandon Zak though, as he learns to cope with the new path his life must take. Mostly, it's about Paige going through WWE's NXT program though with Vince Vaughn as the demanding coach and drill instructor, very much reprising his role from Hacksaw Ridge.

The cast carries the movie. In about a year, Florence Pugh has become one of the actresses I'm most excited to see (thanks mostly to The Little Drummer Girl and finally catching up with Lady Macbeth). It's very hard to root against her Paige. She doesn't fit in with most crowds. She's a natural outsider, but she's honest and hard-working which makes her very likable. Headey and Frost as Paige's parents are a silly treat with occasional bursts of sincerity. Jack Lowden ends up being the emotional core of the film and handles it nicely. I liked seeing LA to Vegas' Kim Matula show up as one of the other women in the NXT program even though she doesn't have much to do. It's mainly Pugh that keeps it all going though. She's a tremendous talent. And, despite his small frame, she never seems physically outmatched.

More than anything, I appreciated how the film took this all seriously. This isn't Ready to Rumble, the disastrous David Arquette movie that I've seen more than a couple times for reasons I can't explain. Fighting with My Family doesn't talk down to wrestling fans at all. It's clear-eyed about the appeal of professional wrestling - why people like Paige and her brother would dream of being WWE champions - and recognizes the physical and emotional toll that life takes. The fact that WWE studios and Dwayne Johnson produced the movie probably helps explain that. I do think the movie takes some shortcuts that will bother WWE fans. I went and watched the real match that's used as the climax of the film and they are very different. It was also annoying how the film suggested that the climactic match wasn't mapped out beforehand. Paige would never be making things up during a live TV match. That's not how wrestling is done. She'd be fired for going off script in her first match. I get how this works for dramatic effect in the film, but it flies in the face of everything the film has been telling the audience before that.

I had a lot of small issues with the movie that built into bigger issues. There's too much plot. Paige's NXT training in particular felt underserved, covering a lot of the beats through montages. The suggestion that the well-trained and incredibly experienced Paige would struggle so much in NXT during drills, falling behind the other women who are new to it all, isn't very believable either. The movie had trouble picking a tone. A lot of that falls on writer/director Stephan Merchant, directing his first film in nearly a decade and second film ever. The film can't seem to figure out when it wants to be a comedy and when it wants to be a drama. Its heart is in the right place, so I forgave a lot of the problems I had with the it. It's far from perfect, but I enjoyed it plenty.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Final Oscar Predictions

With the Oscars happening later tonight, here's one last look at all the picks I've made over the last three weeks and 27 posts. I'll also include what I'll be rooting for to remind you that I'm a movie fan first and an Oscar "horse race" fan second.

Live-Action Short

Will Win: Marguerite

Could Win: Detainment

Should Win: Marguerite

Animated Short

Will Win: One Small Step

Could Win: Bao

Should Win: Late Afternoon

Documentary Short

Will Win: Period. End of Sentence

Could Win: A Night at the Garden

Should Win: Period. End of Sentence

Documentary Feature

Will Win: Free Solo

Could Win: RBG

Should Win: Free Solo

Animated Feature

Will Win: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Could Win: Incredibles 2

Should Win: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Foreign Film

Will Win: Roma

Could Win: Cold War

Should Win: Roma

Visual Effects

Will Win: Avengers: Infinity War

Could Win: First Man

Should Win: Avengers: Infinity War

Sound Mixing

Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody

Could Win: First Man

Should Win: First Man

Sound Editing

Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody

Could Win: A Quiet Place

Should Win: First Man

Production Design

Will Win: The Favourite

Could Win: Mary Poppins Returns

Should Win: Black Panther

Original Score

Will Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Could Win: Isle of Dogs

Should Win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Original Song

Will Win: "Shallow" (A Star is Born)

Could Win: "All the Stars" (Black Panther)

Should Win: "Shallow" (A Star Is Born)

Makeup & Hair-Styling

Will Win: Vice

Could Win: Mary Queen of Scots

Should Win: Vice

Film Editing

Will Win: Vice

Could Win: The Favourite

Should Win: Vice

Costume Design

Will Win: The Favourite

Could Win: Black Panther

Should Win: Black Panther

Cinematography

Will Win: Roma

Could Win: Cold War

Should Win: Cold War

Original Screenplay

Will Win: The Favourite

Could Win: Green Book

Should Win: The Favourite

Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: BlacKkKlansman

Could Win: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Should Win: Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Supporting Actor

Will Win: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Could Win: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Should Win: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Supporting Actress

Will Win: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk

Could Win: Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Should Win: Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Lead Actor

Will Win: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Could Win: Christian Bale (Vice)

Should Win: Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Lead Actress

Will Win: Glenn Close (The Wife)

Could Win: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Should Win: Glenn Close (The Wife)

Director

Will Win: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)

Could Win: Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Should Win: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)

Best Picture Cheat Sheet

Why BlacKkKlansman Won’t Win Best Picture

Why Black Panther Won’t Win Best Picture

Why Bohemian Rhapsody Won’t Win Best Picture

Why The Favourite Won’t Win Best Picture

Why Green Book Won’t Win Best Picture

Why Roma Won’t Win Best Picture

Why A Star Is Born Won’t Win Best Picture

Why Vice Won’t Win Best Picture

Picture

Will Win: Roma

Could Win: Green Book

Should Win: The Favourite (although I don't really have a horse in this race)