How to Train Your Dragon 2: Anyone else annoyed that Astrid and all the friends were shit?

Usually I'm not against killing off major characters for dramatic effect ala Lion King but in this case it felt rushed and unnecessary. I wish they didn't make it so obvious that they were going to kill off Hiccup's dad, it would've made more of an impact if it didn't seem so predictable. I did appreciate that it was Toothless who did him in. I actually think the fact that Toothless did it was the only worth while part of it. I thought that killing him was the easy way out. Forcing Hiccup to nut up and all but I guess kids movies can't have 2 living parents. Really kind of brought the pacing and tone down when it didn't have to be. I though that scene was weird overall, but I did like it when Hiccup pushed normal Toothless away. Like "fuck you, dog, you just killed my dad get out of here."

My problem with the movie is that the build up to the conflict with Drago was really weak and I really expected more out of the final battle. It felt really weak in the end. Too much time was spent on Hiccup's mom. Valka took the death way too well. Hiccup didn't seem too impacted either. When someone that close to you dies usually you're pretty fucking sad and need time to recover. Why was it alright with everybody that that bitch was just gone for twenty years for no real reason. It's probably because everyone sees that she's incredibly similar to Hiccup in how she sees the dragons and Berk flat out would have killed them for 15 of those 20 years which she wouldn't allow. She had lots of weird feral quirks in her behavior when she was interacting with Hiccup (as one would expect from someone who hasn't interacted with humans in 20 years), but as soon as Stoick came around, suddenly she was acting perfectly human again. I felt Valka's role was to present Hiccup with the alternative life he could choose and been happy with, but ultimately gives up on because of his sense of responsibility. Was anyone else annoyed that Astrid did almost nothing again in this film? I wanted her to be the awesome girlfriend who made a real difference in the outcome of events but she was worth than useless. I don't entirely blame the screenwriters because there were just too many characters to focus on.

Plot hole: Hiccup missed the stuff where Eret proved himself, and there's a whole island full of people that would have taken in Skullcrusher. Had Hiccup seen Eret becoming "good" it would have worked. Without that, it was a plot hole, one of many. I'm sure Hiccup trusts Astrid, but it just comes off weird that he's giving his father's pet to a guy that's a complete stranger. It just felt off. There were a lot of things that felt off. I don't think it would really have broken the pacing, when Drago is giving his brief monologue on controlling the dragons to Hiccup/ them destroying his village and shit, the writers could have given him a thirty second, "but I found this egg yada yada" to explain it, while giving some irony to the fact that the man who hates dragons is in control of the strongest one. Elephant Chain Syndrome is plausible, but not in the movie. There's just too many things we're expected to overlook. The long lost mom is a stretch, the long-lost mom being insanely good with dragons is a big stretch, Drago the dragon-hater having control over a ginormous dragon with mind control powers is convenient as fuck, and then you've got little things like Hiccup suddenly trusting Eret even though he wasn't there when Eret showed he deserved trust.

You really can't make a longer movie these days; the critics will have your head. You can't even really make a movie paced like The Return of the King; critics will call it too slow. I'm kinda surprised movies aren't down to an hour by now. Pretty much all the critics agree that this film was worse than the original but that it is visually stunning. To think otherwise makes you a dumbass. I thought the first film had perfect pacing and a great message. This film was doing well until about halfway through when it kind of lost focus and the character motivations got weird. That's not to say that it was bad, but it's not the A+ film that the first one was. When I saw the first HTTYD it was one of the first times I watched the movie and actively noticed how amazing the soundtrack was. It's to be expected that the majority are new compositions of the old movie's themes. It was generally enjoyable, but the only memorable songs for me was one near the beginning and the song they used for the credits. It's good but a majority of it is just remixed songs from the original plastered with a few great new songs. Where No One Goes is pretty damn great. There's also a little love song, it's incredibly sweet. HTTYD is immensely better than Frozen (even visual-wise alone). But since this doesn't have any princesses or corny singing, then I don't know if some kids would go watch this repeatedly.

I do like how Drago's motivation was how he never wanted to be weak again. And that Hiccup realized he was too far gone to even remotely pull him out of his view on the world. I still need to see both HTTYD films a few times to really tell which one I liked better. They're both better than Frozen. Frozen was shit. Way too many songs is my biggest complaint. Drago is basically evil Hiccup. Right down to losing a limb and intelligence. Reminder that Drago and Hiccup basically invented the same net gun.

I would just like to say that Drago did nothing wrong. He did nothing right either. Eret was pretty cool in this movie but I hope he does better things in 3 with Skullcrusher. I don't know if I could handle Toothless just up and leaving. It'd be like...fucking ET, except more heart wrenching. I want to end with Hiccup finishing writing a book based on his and Toothless adventures and he peacefully passes away in his sleep. The Book is titled "How to Train Your Dragon" I have to say, the story is weaker compared to the first one. But god damn the visuals in this one are absolutely stunning.

Parents are soft about death nowadays. I think it's a good opportunity for parents to kind of talk about the possibility of death in life. I've always felt parents trying to hide death from their kids was rather selfish. They're only doing it because they don't want to face having to explain it. Death is another part of life, it's one of the few things that every single living thing on this planet has in common. It happens to all of us and sooner or later you're going to find out about it. I was really glad they had the guts to actually have not only a death, but that amazing funeral scene. I also admired how the movie had the guts to show a death and funeral scene; how they honored and remembered Stoic, how they drove the point that life goes on and we all have to continue to live, fight and keep surviving. Fuck, I hate over-protective parents who are protecting their kids for the wrong reasons. Teach your kids about death and sex and other important things before your kid learns that from somewhere else. I'm upset that parents are not complaining about it.

Appreciate what we have today because it might not be there tomorrow

An Emmy for Regular Show

From Jesse Moynihan's website: ...next weekend I will be at the Emmy’s for the episode of Adventure Time, “Too Young”. It was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. It was written/boarded by myself and Tom Herpich. The story was by Pen, Kent, Pat and Mark. I had to buy a suit for this thing. I’m trying to teach myself how to tie a bow tie. This won’t be the Emmys that are on tv. It’s the Emmys that they say “Earlier this week some animation dorks won something, but they’re not actors so who gives a shit”. 

"Outstanding Short-format Animated Program"

Nominees for the 2012: 
Regular Show: "Eggscellent"
Adventure Time: "Too Young"
Mad: "Kitchen Nightmare Before Christmas / How I Met Your Mummy"
Phineas and Ferb: "The Doonkleberry Imperative"
Robot Chicken: "Fight Club Paradise"

It is kind of fun to have a bunch of 57 year old standing in a line weighing the pros and cons of phineus and ferb and regular show. "so the penguin is a spy?" "I dont know this show had a talking lemon in it." "I understood this one was about a gay animal couple in an eating contest, lets choose this one."

Considering the state of the Emmys nowadays, it was a blessing that RS won this year instead of some trite like MAD. I get the feeling that they just picked one out of a hat, which is probably what I would have done after removing MAD's name from the hat.  Since when do we care about award shows or what some academy of old farts who get paid to pretentiously judge the life's work of hundreds of thousands of people based on a brief submission reel or demo tape? The Emmy's haven't been relevant, let alone respectable, in decades.

They're all pretty okay shows, but they've had pretty weak seasons, as of late. While AT is worthy of winning, sense hasn't been a consistent part of the awards for awhile. I kind of fear that they may go the way of Spongebob or The Simpsons, and get dragged on far too long for the sake of having something to air that banks on the already established popularity of the show. Eggscellent was the one that won it for them that's one of the lesser episodes I would have expected one of the skips heavy episodes or one of the ones with Death are usually pretty great, Muscle Dad would have been a better example of RS.

These shows were made for older dudes and gals, and kids. RS Won, good, it deserves it. Gravity Falls and Adventure Time should be next. But AT has already had three chances and failed every time. Back in the early days AT was better. But ATs quality has dropped and RS has gotten better so RS is better now. I love both, that's how it's been and always will be.

I'd make the argument that AT has been really rallying after a truly un-exemplary third season, but it hasn't really been able to capture the second season spirit. I'm not too worried about that happening with AT and RS seeing as CN usually dosent drag out its shows. But I fear that that is already happening with P&F. P&F is also geared towards a more younger target audience than AT and RS.

RS really has just outright better story structure than AT to the point where AT looks like a huge mess that almost looks like it's trying to be The Room compared to it. AT characters just talk in a cryptically retarded way sometimes and a lot of plots wrap up, like, 2-10 seconds before the episode ends. It's just this confusing shit most of the time and it disappoints me in that way. RS itself throws out a lot of ridiculous concepts and twists but it just looks better and more organized while doing it. AT is like it's written by people who want to look incompetent for comedy reason and that's fun and everything but I just get tired of its stupid shit. And that aggressively music in AT never helps. I still like both but just wish AT didn't come off bullshit that severely lacks focus except for being consistent in stuff like those Lich Snail appearances.

It's not an argument anyone wants to get into. Let's just say that both shows have their merits and stop trying to compare them for whatever asinine reasons. They aren't the same kind of show and it's unfair to judge either of them based on the qualities of some other cartoon. RS is about two guys doing acid at there job and having a trip.There also furries and like to walk around in custom while tripping. It's ultimately a stylistic decision. AT is presented in a more "stream of consciousness" way and ventures often into unconventional plot structures. Evidently the appeal is to make it seem more natural as itself, but foreign to the audience in more than just a visual distinction considering it takes place after the apocalypse with candy people and a magical dog and whatever. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't.

As a crafted product, it's far easier to rely on Regular Show since it's very consistent in its style and delivery, but very rarely ventures outside of its comfort zone to tackle topics and relationships outside the norm for a couple mid-20s slacker dudes. Almost invariably it's the intentional contrast between these pedestrian elements and more fantastical elements that form the basis of the humor, and while their comedic tempo is excellent, I don't find the show very enthralling or engaging. Especially this last season. Regular Show has merits in consistency, it often holds them back in what they can accomplish. And simultaneously while Adventure Time has merits in dynamism, it's also very reckless and frequently unpolished.

I guess the ultimate lesson is that they're very, very different despite sitting under the same "stoner show" umbrella, and what one person may find appalling may be a benefit to the other, and vice versa. I don't think there's any argument to say they're not both successful shows in the styles they wish to pursue. I guess that finalizes the whole Regular Show vs Adventure Time argument. Not that us rational thinkers didn't already know it was RS. I don't do any drugs or drink at all, and I love Regular Show. I love both Regular Show and Adventure Time, but I'm really glad RS won an award. That show is gold.