How To Train Your Dragon 2 (June 2014)

Official Australian release date: 19/6/14. Viewed: 22/6/14.

Director: Dean DeBlois

Actors: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Djimon Hounsou

Genre: Animation / Adventure / Fantasy

Rating: PG

If you haven’t seen ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, you really should – it’s a great animated film, not just for kids, with plenty of fun, a great cast, good story and it’s brilliant to watch. This sequel does a rare thing – it is even more enjoyable than the original! The cast are all back again, but more importantly, so are the animators. I’m not sure how, but the detail, colours, movements and everything in this film are so vivid, it’s truly astounding to watch.

The story is relatively simple – someone’s making a dragon army to conquer the free Vikings, so it’s up to Hiccup (Baruchel) & Stoick (Butler) to save them. The twist comes with the introduction of Valka (Blanchett) and the dragon sanctuary she has created. Seeing where/how these hundreds of dragons is both amazing and strangely beautiful – and a little reminiscent of ‘Avatar’. Needless to say, the clash of the two armies certainly makes for exciting viewing.

There’s some good morals of helping your friends and fighting for what’s right for the kids, but still plenty for the adults. Much of this is thanks to the great support cast – Jonah Hill as Snotlout, T.J. Miller & Kristen Wiig as the twins, Chris Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs and Kit Harrington/Jon Snow as Eret – they add the fun, banter and sidekick-ness to the film.

Overall: Very enjoyable sequel and great fun – go see it no matter your age!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

The Trip to Italy (June 2014)

Official Australian release date: 29/5/14. Viewed: 7/6/14.

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Actors: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan,

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

It’s now four years later and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are offered another restaurant reviewing gig – this time in Italy, rather than England’s Lake District. What qualifies them exactly, who knows, but the actors – and the semi-fictionalised characters they play – are pretty lucky. They get to stay in amazing hotels with fantastic views, drive around the beautiful Italian coast, drink quality local wine and try great-looking Italian cuisine. One thing’s for sure – this film acts as much as an Italian tourism promotion as it does anything else! I certainly wouldn’t mind visiting Naples now I’ve seen it...

Now much closer to 50 than 40, there’s plenty of digs at each other, as this is basically a ‘man-cation’ where they try to see who’s more famous/who has the bigger ego, as well as lots of postulating as to how (or if) they’ll be remembered when they’re gone. There’s a tangent of following Lord Byron and Mary Shelley’s personal history, that doesn’t really go anywhere. If this and the Rob having a bit of a mid-life crisis/affair bits were left out, it would have been a much more streamlined and succinct film.

The whole point though is to watch these two interact and do their impressions, constantly trying to outdo each other. There’s some truly great impressions, from Michael Caine (again), Tom Hardy, Christian Bale, Hugh Grant, Woody Allen, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Pierce Bronsan and more. How accurate some of them are is uncanny, but watching Steve & Rob interact in character is often hilarious.

Overall: Another good holiday with the two oddballs.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.