How To Despicably Train Your Dragon

On my days off from school, I almost always spend the entire day watching movies. There's just something about curling up in a moon chair and getting comfy inside of a blanket with a bowl of popcorn. So on Monday (which was two days ago), I did just that. I spent a few hours watching Despicable Me and How To Train Your Dragon. (Hence my odd post title.)

There are things I learned from both movies, things that I've jotted down on a sticky note so that I can remember it.

From Despicable Me, I learned how much humor can add to a movie. Seriously, that was some funny stuff.

The same concept goes for books. Some books just would not be the same without the humor. But you can't just add some random funnies in here and there. The novel has to be one that calls for the humor. Most people wouldn't try and be funny in a history book, because the book doesn't call for anything funny. It's there to tell people about the past. Funny books are there to give the reader enjoyment, to add a bit of spice to a boring day.

From Despicable Me, I also learned that I need to get me some of those minions. They could be very, very helpful sometime.

Perspective was huge in this movie too. Sure, we all know Gru's supposed to be the bad guy, but we can't help rooting for him. The way the movie is portrayed gives us the feel that he's not all bad. Sure, he's the villain, but he's doing what he thinks is right.

Now, from How To Train Your Dragon, I was shown some great plot twists at the end.

In most movies the main character that you're rooting for goes down and you think they die, more often than not, they don't. Hiccup was no exception, except for the fact that something happens to him. He doesn't die, he's just....well, I won't give that away.

But this movie was huge with plot twists. There were a few funny parts, but it wasn't like a full-on laugh fest like DM was. Some of the plot twists made me really really sad, others surprised, and others still made me happy. They were good plot twists.

In both of these movies, the characterization was well done. In the first movie, Gru starts out as being your typical self-centered villain, taking what he wants when he wants. He wants to be the best villain out there, and has big plans for stealing the moon. But by the end, we realize he's nothing but a big softie underneath. He cares about the girls, and he loves them like daughters.

In the second movie, Hiccup goes from being completely determined to fit in, to kill a dragon. But by the end he realizes that that's not what he wants. He wants to end the killing, to have dragons and men live peacefully. He was scared of not fitting in before, but now....now he knows what really matters.

I would recommend both of these movies, especially the second, which has some wicked awesome music going on during the action scenes.