Okay, so I just saw this this week, and avoided reading this review to now (not because of spoilers; I trust dronon when he says he'll avoid them, and I don't really care anyway, but just wanted my own perspective before tackling what everyone else thought).
So, first of all, thanks for the shout-out!
Second of all, I'm kinda going to do this in reverse and talk about the trailers first; Wonder Park probably has enough talking animals and such I should review, but you know what, screw it, I don't care (and doubt anyone else does), though interesting tidbit, it has no credited director. Here's a video that vaguely explains why (it sounds like about the same reason Louis CK was replaced by Patton Oswalt in SLoP 2), and, just in case you really, really, really need a review of Wonder Park, will serve.
Speaking of Patton Oswalt replacing Louis CK, they made no effort whatsoever to pick someone who sounds like who they're replacing, did they? Which they did in How to Train Your Dragon 3; TJ Miller used to voice Tuffnut, and he was replaced for exactly the same reason Louis CK was. However, the replacement basically did a vocal impression of Miller to the point it wasn't until the credit scroll that I figured out they had actually gotten rid of Miller (despite, thanks to the "manly advice" scenes, having the most lines for the character in the trilogy, his voice actor was not listed in the "featured" actor credits). I thought for a while the replacement voice actor must have been the voice actor for the direct-to-Netflix spinoffs or whatever, but IMDB says no.
I'm going to disagree with you that one of the flying scenes (if I'm guessing right) should have been seen in 3D; half that scene was color, and wearing shaded/colorized lenses would have hurt it. But, otherwise, yeah, this franchise is maybe one where 3D isn't entirely pointless. (Of course, I didn't see it in 3D, and was so late getting to it I didn't even have the option.)
I kind of found it amusing that the ending is basically the same as the new Doctor Who's episodes reintroducing the Silurians. Also, I now regret not seeing this as a double feature with Us, as there ended up being a bizarre confluence of themes/plot points in the two movies.
I'm coming to realize that the shot of Toothless finally letting Hiccup touch him is becoming something of an iconic shot; the filmmakers obviously think so, as they self-plagiarized it on two separate occasions this movie.
Okay, so I just saw this this week, and avoided reading this review to now (not because of spoilers; I trust dronon when he says he'll avoid them, and I don't really care anyway, but just wanted my own perspective before tackling what everyone else thought).
So, first of all, thanks for the shout-out!
Second of all, I'm kinda going to do this in reverse and talk about the trailers first; Wonder Park probably has enough talking animals and such I should review, but you know what, screw it, I don't care (and doubt anyone else does), though interesting tidbit, it has no credited director. Here's a video that vaguely explains why (it sounds like about the same reason Louis CK was replaced by Patton Oswalt in SLoP 2), and, just in case you really, really, really need a review of Wonder Park, will serve.
Speaking of Patton Oswalt replacing Louis CK, they made no effort whatsoever to pick someone who sounds like who they're replacing, did they? Which they did in How to Train Your Dragon 3; TJ Miller used to voice Tuffnut, and he was replaced for exactly the same reason Louis CK was. However, the replacement basically did a vocal impression of Miller to the point it wasn't until the credit scroll that I figured out they had actually gotten rid of Miller (despite, thanks to the "manly advice" scenes, having the most lines for the character in the trilogy, his voice actor was not listed in the "featured" actor credits). I thought for a while the replacement voice actor must have been the voice actor for the direct-to-Netflix spinoffs or whatever, but IMDB says no.
I'm going to disagree with you that one of the flying scenes (if I'm guessing right) should have been seen in 3D; half that scene was color, and wearing shaded/colorized lenses would have hurt it. But, otherwise, yeah, this franchise is maybe one where 3D isn't entirely pointless. (Of course, I didn't see it in 3D, and was so late getting to it I didn't even have the option.)
I kind of found it amusing that the ending is basically the same as the new Doctor Who's episodes reintroducing the Silurians. Also, I now regret not seeing this as a double feature with Us, as there ended up being a bizarre confluence of themes/plot points in the two movies.
I'm coming to realize that the shot of Toothless finally letting Hiccup touch him is becoming something of an iconic shot; the filmmakers obviously think so, as they self-plagiarized it on two separate occasions this movie.