Since i was already up, I went ahead and watched this.
I was not prepared for how incredible this movie is,
Broad story structure spoiler; no plot points spoiled):
Essentially Fellowship of the Ring meets Return of the King.
This movie is a pure action movie with an interesting and actually flawed lead. No righteous "princess" here. She gets angry, she hates; she has trust issues.
The art design, the characters, the story, the music; everything about this is practically perfect. The use of mocap for character movements is probably the most naturalistic (while still remaining a bit stylized) in an animated movie to date. Even the voice and characterization of the dragon which initially annoyed me grew on me by mid-movie.
There is a nice little bit of spirituality in this that really has not been done in another mainstream animated movie, and it was handled delicately and felt real. Even the obvious "lesson" takeaway fit the story.
One thing it lacks is we get very brief views into the 5 different kingdoms, but do not get to dwell long in any one of them. I would love more story some day that goes into that
The movie is family friendly, is both a visual and auditory delight and should appeal to every single age group.
Going to rewatch right now since I am already up and would have to get up in 2 hours anyways.
I was not prepared for how incredible this movie is,
Broad story structure spoiler; no plot points spoiled):
Essentially Fellowship of the Ring meets Return of the King.
This movie is a pure action movie with an interesting and actually flawed lead. No righteous "princess" here. She gets angry, she hates; she has trust issues.
The art design, the characters, the story, the music; everything about this is practically perfect. The use of mocap for character movements is probably the most naturalistic (while still remaining a bit stylized) in an animated movie to date. Even the voice and characterization of the dragon which initially annoyed me grew on me by mid-movie.
There is a nice little bit of spirituality in this that really has not been done in another mainstream animated movie, and it was handled delicately and felt real. Even the obvious "lesson" takeaway fit the story.
One thing it lacks is we get very brief views into the 5 different kingdoms, but do not get to dwell long in any one of them. I would love more story some day that goes into that
The movie is family friendly, is both a visual and auditory delight and should appeal to every single age group.
Going to rewatch right now since I am already up and would have to get up in 2 hours anyways.