I agree, like for example Lilo and Stitch. Yeah fantastic movie, no low budget sequels or television shows are going to be better, I don’t get my hopes up while watching them and I still enjoy them!
The thing is, I think for most of us our point of comparison are the Pixar shorts based on their feature films (e.g. BURN-E), which, while obviously not as good as the feature films, are very entertaining and have some high production values, which Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon simply does not have.
That said, it would be a lie to say that there’s nothing good about LotBD. There are some very funny bits:
[spoiler]1. Gobber getting punched by a frozen viking. Twice!
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“It’s right behind us, isn’t it?” It’s even funnier when you realise that it’s echoing (intentionally or unintentionally) the bit near the beginning of HTTYD where the Monstrous Nightmare is right behind Hiccup.
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Phil the sheep riding the Boneknapper while “Test Drive” plays in the background. The sheer hilarity of this must be seen to be believed.
[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, it’s just not enough humour to make up for the lack of any other emotion or some decent action.[/spoiler]
I don’t feel like it needed emotion or any sort of structure that say a full length feature film would need. It’s just telling one story, and it was comedic with giving us some humorous Gobber back stories. Originally they were going to have Gobber lose a limb in every story [spoil]but it was felt that it would downplay Hiccup’s situation especially since it’d be done in a comedic fashion[/spoil] among other reasons. Such a thing should be saved for maybe a larger feature with more meaning behind it. They gave this thought, and I feel like these characters are still being taken care of and not abused and squeezed out for as much money as they can bring in. This was just a fun little side project. It’s not meant to have the same production value of the original film NOR any Pixar short…
Umm, thank you, gazelle. 8’D Wonderfully put. ^^
Seriously, IV, you really should watch it. Don’t give up on it just because some people didn’t like it as much… it really is cute and I think you’ll enjoy it more if you don’t go into it with a critical mindset. (:
little chef
AWESOMMMMMMEEEEE!!! How to train your dragon is the best movie ever and i mean ever, I just bought it for my ipod and i just love watching it!!! 
^ I agree. Even though we have some mega fans, I feel like some of our…other members are just trashing this movie, which is a real shame. It’s really special to me.
Agreed. What’s with all the hate? Do y’all want Dreamworks to continue making films like this, or would you rather see stuff of Shrek the Third calibre? D8<
Well my mum got me the DVD as a sort of late birthday present. I am pleased as you could probably imagine, though it will be a little while before I can watch it as much as I’d like.
Can’t wait though! Might be able to watch it this evening, if I get my work done. Ooooor, maybe I can ask if some of my flatmates want to see it later on next week. We’ll see.
Exactly!! I’m tired of the losed mindedness of our members. I adore Pixar, too!! Closer to worship, really. But other companies are allowed to make half decent movies, too, you know…
I agree, I’m glad to see some really good things from from Dreamworks. HTTYD, obviously. And KFP and Megamind weren’t that bad either. Weren’t great, but defintely not bad.
I think some die-hard Pixar fans just don’t want to see Dreamworks ever outshining Pixar. But it’s bound to happen someday, Pixar can’t be the best all the time. After the end of the Disney Rennaissance, Pixar defintely outshined Disney as far as features go. And Pixarians are not frightened that Dreamworks will someday take the crown. But that’s just how the buisness goes.
Great words, eje. At the moment, I don’t think Pixar will give up its throne as Best Animation Studio in the World for awhile, though it is starting to lose its lustre with the upcoming sequels, recent internal disputes (Pinkava, Romano, and Chapman) and diversification into Pixar Canada and TV shows. I think the most likely outcome is that other studios will play catch up, and we will end up with some years with Pixar having the best movie, and other years with other competitors (especially startups in Europe and Asia) having better movies. Like I said, Pixar is not going to have the monopoly on quality, not for long, anyway. I have come to accept that, and the close-mindedness of some fans have only served to push me in that direction. Everything changes, nothing remains without change. Famous Buddhist saying.
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
Aside from my little philosophical ditty, I’m really excited to see Megamind to see whether Dreamworks has improved from HTTYD and Shrek 4.
To be honest, I’d like to see more studios trying to outshine Pixar. Considering Pixar’s quality, we’ll get some more awesome animated features like that!
(with that I mean that Pixar is so awesome that others try to be just as awesome and that’s probably also awesome, get it?)
^Yes, I do get it!!
Well, I was going to rant again, but I’ll just double eje’s positive words instead.
HTTYD was like a Black Swan for me. The term is based on a theory developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (which happened to be featured on a Numb3rs episode I just watched) to describe large-scale events that falsify an inductive statement. Back in the Middle Ages, Europeans assumed black swans did not exist because they did not see any white ones. There was even a Latin expression to describe a rare occurrence, using the metaphor of a black swan. Anyway, when the Dutch landed in Western Australia and discovered black swans there (big surprise), the expression later took on a different connotation in the sense that a perceived impossibility might later be disproven.
Taleb describes a Black Swan event by three factors:
The event is a surprise (to the observer).
The event has a major impact.
After the fact, the event is rationalized by hindsight, as if it had been expected.
To me, this describes the experience of the film to those whose attitudes were changed by it. While I was anticipating HTTYD to an extent, it did come as a pleasant surprise to me from a studio where I was expecting mediocre content output only a year ago. My viewing of the film not only changed my entire perception of the studio, but also of its rival Pixar, and their other competitors like Blue Sky, Animal Logic and smaller startups. It opened my mind to the possibility that Pixar may no longer be the king of animation, at least, not forever. And on reflection, I do realise that change, improvement, and redemption is always possible for any entity, film studio or person, all along. After the terrible dreck that is Shrek The Third, Dreamworks has slowly but surely been improving its stable to catch up to Pixar, while Pixar, in a sense, has ‘degraded’ to sequels and TV spin-offs. The signs were all there, but I wasn’t paying attention.
It was a 180° paradigm shift.
Anyway, belief systems are very fragile and dear things, and I can understand when people’s ones are challenged, they can feel like they’re been personally attacked and feel they should defend them. If there’s one thing HTTYD taught me, it’s to be open-minded to other views (especially the ones contrarian to mine) and that what we think is right, isn’t necessarily true.
Just like Hiccup understood when he came to befriend Toothless, an enemy he once despised. How to Train Your Dragon, in a sense, did the same thing for me.
@TDIT: +1
I loved Kung Fu Panda, and HTTYD. Now on to see Megamind, and I have a feeling that I’m going to love that one too!
Dreamworks is on the good track. Let’s hope they can keep it up, at least until they released HTTYD2. 
^ Exactly!! Everyone keeps forgetting Kung Fu Panda, which I’m almost obsessed with. Both the movies together gave me hope for DW. I hope Megamind is as good, or at least doesn’t suck. But I have a feeling it’ll be almost as good as Kung Fu Panda.
From what I’ve seen of it, it’s going to be awesome.
I agree. I loved the first 5 mins., I relate to MM, and the trailers are surprisingly decent.
How to Train Your Dragon? It’s awesome. You should buy it.
HTTYD is, indeed, one of the most interesting movies that Dreamworks made. It is definitely worth a watch. Or ten.
Also, I saw it again at my niece’s house, and I forgot how beautifully animated that movie was! But it was in Dutch. Ouch. At least the voices weren’t even half bad. But instead of sounding Viking-esque, the Vikings sounded Flemish. What.
Or I was watching the Flemish version. Probably that.
But the (other, REAL) Dutch dubs are horrible! I’ve heard some snippets and MAN
Hiccup sounds so very un-Hiccup-like! Arghpt! What has the localisation team done to him! RAGE!