Hello, and welcome to the Geeky Brummie Film Roundup! Each week we run through the biggest new cinema releases and why you should be excited for them. This week we’re training our dragons, drawing our swords, grabbing our kids, and having a good old moan about the unrealistic expectations of romance to be found in Pride & Prejudice…
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these movies yet so all of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
How to Train Your Dragon
Strictly speaking, I should have covered this in last week’s Roundup as it came out on Monday, but on the plus side that means I’ve been able to see it before my write-up and can go into a little more depth than usual. In case you haven’t seen the original 2010 animation (which you really, really should), HTTYD follows a young Viking named Hiccup (played here by Mason Thames) from the island of Berk. His people have built their society around a constant war with dragons – large scaly beasts that regularly attack the town and steal their food and livestock – but Hiccup is a scrawny kid who prefers inventing to throwing axes around, much to the disappointment of his father, the chieftain Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). During one dragon attack, Hiccup tests out a contraption and manages to bring down a night fury – the most mysterious and feared species of dragon that the Vikings have come across. But when he goes to kill it, he learns that the dragons are not as evil as he believed, and sets out to learn from his new friend and win over the minds of his fellow Berkians.
This is quite a tricky film for me to review, because the original is one of my all time favourites. It took some very light source material (Cressida Cowell’s children’s books, which you could comfortably read in one sitting) and expanded it into a rich, visually stunning world full of fleshed out characters and some perfect storytelling. The animation and music are beautiful, and Toothless is an endlessly appealing creation. I remember reading a review at the time which summed him up perfectly – he’s a combination of all the best features of a pet dog and a pet cat. The climax of the story is thrilling, and the ending is surprisingly poignant and mature.
This new film, the first Dreamworks movie to follow the ongoing Disney trend of adapting animated classics into live action, is almost an exact remake. There are elements here and there that are different, but nothing that really provides any substance or changes the plot in any meaningful way. The main addition is the idea that the people of Berk are made up not just of Vikings, but also of other peoples from lands that the Vikings have visited and who have joined them to add their experience to the fight against the dragons. That seems to have been introduced to lend some justification to a little diversity in the casting, but the only non-white lead character is Nico Parker’s Astrid, whose role in the film is completely unaffected by the change. Most of the dialogue is the same, John Powell has returned to do the score, and Gerard Butler even reprises his role as Stoick. And to some extent, I get the logic behind keeping it all the same, given that the original was so successful. But it means that you can’t help but compare the two versions, and every time you do, the only conclusion is that the original was better.
There is a trope in some movies where, at the end of their adventure, the characters watch a film-within-a-film of the Hollywood adaptation of their story (the only ones I can think of right now are the awful Chicken Little and the theatre scene in Thor Ragnarok which perhaps aren’t the best examples, but I’m sure there are many more). The joke is that it has been over-dramatised to make it feel more epic, but because the filmmakers weren’t there and don’t truly understand the emotions that the characters were really going through, it just feels silly to us having watched the real thing play out. The HTTYD remake feels a lot like that in places. Because the dialogue is unchanged you know what’s coming next, so when the next lines arrive and don’t sound like Jay Baruchel or America Ferrera, it just comes across as bad karaoke.
BUT, having said all of that, all of these negatives only exist because it doesn’t quite reach the ridiculously high bar set by the original film. If you haven’t seen the original, or you can somehow put those preconceptions aside and judge this one on its own merits, this is a fantastic movie. Everything that made the first version so good (apart from the animation, of course) is still here – Toothless is still adorable, the ending is still heartbreaking, the music is still soaring. Honestly, just having the excuse to sit and let that score wash over me from the IMAX speakers again was enough on its own to justify the ticket price. As a live action film, this works great as a classic family fantasy adventure – the sort of movie to curl up to on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
With the original now 15 years old, there will no doubt be plenty of kids out there who haven’t seen it who will have a wonderful time with this version. Did it need to be made? Probably not. Will I go and see a second one if they decide to adapt the sequel? Absolutely. Especially if they can rope Cate Blanchett in again…
- How to Train Your Dragon on IMDB
- How to Train Your Dragon on Rotten Tomatoes
Tornado
I’ve spent far too long writing about How To Train Your Dragon and it’s already getting late, so I’ll cover the rest of the list off quite quickly. But before we move away from live action adaptations of animated movies, did you ever wonder what it might be like if Quentin Tarantino made a version of Mulan? I suspect it might look a little like Tornado. A Japanese puppeteer’s daughter (Kôki) gets caught up with criminals when their travelling show runs into a crime gang led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). But Sugarman’s gang may have gotten more than they bargained for, because the puppeteer (Takehiro Hira) is a samurai and has been training his daughter to fight…
The cast here is great. Hira’s had a very successful career in both Japanese and Western markets, but a lot of us will know him best from his Emmy-nominated performance in last year’s Shōgun. Tim Roth is always very watchable and makes for a good grizzled bad guy. I can’t see Jack Lowden as anything other than River from Slow Horses, but I’m sure he’s also quite capable of playing a baddie when needed. Rory “The Hound” McCann is there too, looming behind Roth and Lowden as another gang member named Kitten (also in the gang are Lazy Legs and Squid Lips). At the centre of it all is Japanese model and songwriter Kôki, who I’m not familiar with but is clearly very talented – given her lack of acting experience it will be interesting to see if she can carry the film along.
Although it’s set in Britain, there is a Western vibe here which (if Westworld has taught me anything) goes well with a good Samurai revenge story. This looks like it could be a lot of fun.
- Tornado on IMDB
- Tornado on Rotten Tomatoes
Lollipop
After getting out of prison, Molly (Posy Sterling) is excited to see her kids again but struggles to regain custody. She joins forces with her childhood friend Amina (Idil Ahmed) to see if they can get them back.
I haven’t heard much about this one but it looks like a really moving story. There are some beautiful performances in the trailer alone, particularly from Sterling as she tries to come to terms with the idea of losing her children. The stakes are something that a lot of people can relate to, and director Daisy-May Hudson is drawing from her own experiences, all of which will help it connect with the audience. This is shown in the reviews which have been very positive, with particular praise for the film’s commentary on the British social justice system.
If you want something a bit more grounded this week, this is the film for you.
- Lollipop on IMDB
- Lollipop on Rotten Tomatoes
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
A French bookseller (Camille Rutherford), whose love of classic romance novels has left her with some very high standards in her own romantic partners, is accepted onto a prestigious writing course in England. Can she rescue her love life by fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer?
Ironically, given the title, this feels like it’s tailor-made for fans of Jane Austen. A film about writing and the profound effect that good literature can have on a person, wrapped up in a love story set in a fancy house in the English countryside, has to be exactly the sort of thing that Austen would be watching if she were alive today. Rutherford looks like a very likeable heroine, and has a couple of potential Mr Darcys in the form of French actor Pablo Pauly and Brit Charlie Anson who, fun fact, is not Rufus Sewell, Richard Armitage or Peter Serafinowicz.
If you want a good, grown-up rom-com then this is getting some positive reviews and looks like an entertaining bit of escapism.
- Jane Austen Wrecked My Life on IMDB
- Jane Austen Wrecked My Life on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week
It might not be a patch on the original but How To Train Your Dragon is still a soaring, roaring success. See it in IMAX if you can.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Ballerina – This advertises itself as John Wick but with Ana de Armas, and that is exactly what it is. Some great action scenes (including a standout flamethrower sequence that resolves itself like a Pokemon battle), lots of silly assassin culture gubbins, and welcome appearances from Keanu and other franchise favourites. Ana de Armas is great as always and very committed to the stuntwork. Lots of dead bodies, and lots of fun.
- Lilo & Stitch
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Trailer of the Week
Alien: Earth is a new series coming to Disney+ in a couple of months. Set at a time when the big global powers are not nations but corporations, a Weyland-Yutani spaceship carrying five extraterrestrial critters crashes to Earth in a city run by W-Y rival Prodigy. Can the aliens be contained in the ship? And if one of the five is an alien, what are the other four? This has been developed by Noah Hawley, the man behind the Fargo series and the brilliant Legion, which is a very, very good sign.
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