May/June Round Up Part II: How To Train Your Dragon/ MacGruber

How To Train Your Dragon

Hiccup wants to be a Dragon hunter just like his Dad. However, his poor body strength and clumsiness gets him into into constant trouble with the monsters that stalk his land. Then one day he accidentally captures a rare and greatly feared Night Fury; a dragon no one has ever seen in the flesh before. Instead of trumpeting his capture, the two slowly form a strong friendship together. Can Hiccup keep his Dragon a secret and will his Father find out? The secret of "How To Train Your Dragon" is not its excellent 3D, as it has been sold on. It is its storyline. Brought to life by the acting talents of its cast, the film becomes ever more moving as it goes on. At its center, the Dragon 'Toothless' is a great creation and is very well realised by the animators. It is this relationship at the the heart of it all that drives the film. That it also has some eye popping action scenes and inspired use of 3D adds to the proceedings. Its animation is often fluidly done and all character design is fantastic. While I have yet to see "Toy Story 3" it will have a lot of work to do to beat this gem from Dreamworks, which shows Pixar, there is still plenty of competition on its back. A solid treat for everyone to enjoy.

Verdict: 80%

MacGruber

Upon the announcement that they were turning the 30 second 'MacGruber' sketches from SNL into a full length feature many scoffed. How could a sketch, so resolutely one note manage to sustain an entire feature running time? I myself had quiet high hopes, considering I am a fan of not only star Will Forte, but also its Director and co-writer, Jorma Taccone. I knew these were men who could bring the funny. I stayed quietly optimistic that while there hadn't been a decent film from a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch in quite some while, these men would finally break the curse. So it is a relief then, that for the most part, the film manages to escape its one note origins to deliver an incredibly smutty and crude lampoon of action films. Forte delivers some funny one liners as the oblivious title character and he is very ably supported by the 'funniest woman working today' Kristin Wiig, and Ryan Phillippe as the straight man to MacGrubers bumbling incompetance. Val Kilmer turns up as our hero's arch nemesis 'Cunth' (much fun of which you can imagine, is derived from his name). The problem is that the film is incredibly silly and rarely offers you more than constant snickers throughout. When I was expecting constant belly laughs, it is a slight disappointment. The cast all do great work, and Director Taccone shows surprising flair behind the camera, but it is just not enough. Its scatalogical jokes wear thin come the end and it isn't memorable in all the ways it should. However those of you expecting very little will find there are plenty of laughs to be had, and any film offering the 'least erotic sex scene' in all of cinema history cannot be all bad. One to rent.

Verdict 54%

She's Out Of My League

Another month, another romantic comedy that strives to be relatable to both genders; crude jokes for him, moral, sweet center for her. It's only a pity that we have seen this movie a million times before, and done much better too. Kirk (Jay Baruchel) is our hapless hero. He is an underachiever with very low self esteem. It is in working at his job at airport security that he meets Molly (Alice Eve), a beautiful, sucessful, 'hottie'. She drops her phone, he finds it and the two connect, despite the fact that Kirk thinks they might only be friends. So imagine his surprise when Molly, asks him out on a date. Kirk can't believe his good fortune. However, with all his friends and family watching him and waiting for him to fail, can he manage to keep the relationship on track without screwing it up? The films main selling point, is that apparantly we all fall into a very basic and very shallow rating scheme based almost entirely on looks. In this film Kirk is a '5', while the delectable Molly is a '10'. The main question here is how can a '10' and a '5' ever be together?

As with almost all of romantic comedies, it won't take a genius to figure out how it will all turn out. So, if the film is ever expected to be sucessful and connect with audiences, it must have at least decent jokes and relatable characters. Unfortunately this film has neither of these. Jay Baruchel, making his way from supporting to leading man here, was usually quite decent and watchable in previous efforts. Here seems to think that acting flustered and mixing up his words counts for comedic gold. It doesn't help that he is supported by a very forgettable gang of friends. Each one, while slightly likeable and retaining a seperate sense of identity from each other struggles to find any laughs in the mix. T.J. Miller obviously is the friend that they put forward as the 'one to watch for the future'. Looking like Napolean Dynamite and spewing out lines with the timing of Ryan Reynolds, he provides most of the comedic moments and is supposed to be the 'show stealer' in the same way that Zach Galfianakis was in 'The Hangover'. Unfortunately, he is given some very weak lines to play off and leaves next to no mark on proceedings. Alice Eve plays the aforementioned '10' in the film. She is left with a male fantasy of a role; completely unrealistic and very one dimensional. She gamely tries to inject some personality into it, which on some accounts she suceeds in, but is hampered by the script again.

It seems the writers Sean Anders and John Morris want something we can relate to, and yet the film becomes more cartoonish as it goes on. It is, as stated earlier, a complete male fantasy of a film. It becomes so unrealistic and by the end you wonder how could Baruchel and Eve ever get together in real life? Unfortunately, this is not for the reasons the film attempts to exemplify. Yes, the two are almost polar opposites as far as looks go, but they also have near to no chemistry together. They simply do not fit. And when are the studios going to make an 'ugly duckling' girl getting the man of her dreams in a hilarious romantic comedy? Or is that just too forward thinking that audiences just aren't ready for yet?! Films like 'Knocked Up' and 'There's Something About Mary' have done themes like these before, all to far better and funnier effect. This formula is just too tired. Especially with a script like this. So while undemanding audiences might get a chuckle or two out of it, this was simply too familiar and unoriginal to register in my mind. It is an innofensive romantic comedy at heart and does strive for your affections oh so very hard, but has to try far harder when attempting to make material like this seem fresh. You know when a film has to rely on the music of James Morrison to register depth and emotion, there is something gone astray.

Verdict: 38%

A game cast try and make all too familiar territory seem fresh and original. Unfortunately there is next to no laughs to be found and the films main message is extremely shallow and silly. Jokes go no where and it grows more unrealistic and far fetched as it wears on. Poor effort from all involved. Mainly because you get the sense that they could all be capable of a lot more.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQ49gh7sTg