It's 'Pretty Woman' but she's Richard Gere and you're Julia Roberts! (Long Shot 2019)

235.
Long Shot
 

 

7/10
 

It has been a while since I had seen a romantic comedy and if I'm honest, it's a nice change of pace from the seriousness that I have recently watched. Seth Rogan and Charlize Theron are bringing the most unlikely couple and putting the title of the movie into realisation as we are about to see these to get together. When it comes to a rom-com, there isn't too much to say as very rarely we are left unfulfilled as the two main characters always seem to get together. Let's quickly whizz through the story and find out whether it's going to be a long shot to whether we are satisfied.
We are given two characters who couldn't be further from each other. Seth plays a guy called Fred Flarsky a controversial writer for a small newspaper. Theron plays Charlotte Field, a lady whose name sounds as important as the job she is going after. She wants to be the first female president. With Fred quitting his job, he is cheered up by his mate and taken to the same party that Charlotte is attending. They bump into each other, knowing each other from their youth as she used to babysit him and knew back then that he liked her.

It has been years since then and Fred has not changed in any way, fashion sense of her nervousness around her. She offers him a job as one of her writers, thinking that he always knew her and her morals when they were in school and maybe he could do the same again after reading some of his work. She needs some new humour mixed in with the serious and this is the perfect time for a cheeky risk. One night, under attack whilst touring the countries with her environment plan, the two get closer and finally kiss. This leads to the rest and suddenly the tour turns into a physical relationship, which her other assistants find out and the stuck up cow far from approves of.
The movie shows their secret relationship taking the next step as, in their own world, they find themselves getting serious. The main assistant knows that this is never going to work out, Fred simply isn't in a place to be with her. All this time, one of the arsehole journalists or newspaper owners has been chasing an interview with Charlotte for a while now and after finding out that Fred is in the picture, they find a leaked video of him 'sorting himself out' to one of Charlotte's speeches. He is earning big money from deforestation and with Charlotte's ideas to run for president with environmental change as her big policy, she is blackmailed to drop this idea or risk the video being released. Fred is fuming as he only agreed to work with her on her policy because she knew it was a good one and was adamant that if she switched in any way to appeal to the voters, he would walk out. This is about to happen as he doesn't care about his image but with what is in stake for her, she has to take the deal.

He leaves and the two try to move on. Fred returns to his mate, finding out that his mate had been keeping the fact that he is a Christian and Republican private because he knew Fred is so narrowminded that they would argue. This could have cost his relationship with Charlotte, who has offered the hidden passage under the White House to keep him out of the public eye. After some missed calls, Charlotte tries a date with the Canadian president for publicity but he's a weird fella. I feel that something is coming and you can tell from a movie like this that the end is near. I guessed that the bitchy assistant was going to get them back together after trying for so long to keep them apart but I was wrong on that account. Instead, as Charlotte was going to give her biggest speech and turn away from her own ideas, she thought 'fuck it' and broke the news of the video going to leak, the fact that she was going to be blackmailed and ended up riding high to find Fred. Problem is that he was watching the conference live and so headed to her. Missing each other, Fred turns home to find her in the apartment with apologies and the two reconcile, heading down the gathering audience and introducing themselves as a couple, even with the bitchy one accepting the love they were getting from the crowd. The movie draws to an end as Fred gives us a tour of the White House, his painting up on the wall with the First Ladies and how happy this couple is living together.

This movie wasn't really a far cry from a lot of other movies. We had the standard meeting, break up and make up scenes that are always part and parcel, with a couple of arguments in the middle and somehow, two unlikely characters ending up in love by the end. If this wasn't the case for a rom-com, I wouldn't really know how to feel by the end, even if it is as predictable as rain in Wales. The cast was actually really compatible. We know what we are getting from Rogan and his humour but seeing Theron as a serious lady turning into a sex-pest with a night on drugs and trying to negotiate a hostage situation only gave a lot more humour to the occasion. This was definitely the best feature of the movie. At times, it did get amazingly crude and cringe, especially the video of Rogan masturbating but the slapstick humour has been seen in some of his other movies. Everything else was a little repetitive but as already mentioned, it had been a while since I have seen a rom-com so I can forgive that. I even put a tweet up about going to watch the movie with Seth Rogan given a read of the post and dropping a like! This was a true underdog story from the male perspective and I can get on board with that.

Pika Pika? (Pokemon Detective Pikachu 2019)

234.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu

 

 

 

7.5/10
 

Now I'm not going to lie. When I found out a live-action Pokemon movie was going to be hitting the big screen, I couldn't help but bring out the childish side of myself. Watching the original animated series and animated film growing up, I always wondered what the pokemon would look like if they were real. The trailer answered that for me straight away and the answer was awesome. I was intrigued by where this story was going to go with a witty Pikachu, probably the most recognisable pokemon, voiced by Ryan Reynolds.

The storyline of a young lad, played by Justice Smith, named Tim Goodman who has grown up unliking pokemon, mainly as his dad had moved away to be a Detective with a pokemon sidekick and hadn't really cared about his own son, or so Tim thinks. When the news filters through that his dad has gone missing and is presumed dead, it's time for Tim to go to the city. We have already had a glimpse of what happened as a trapped Mewtwo escapes and shots at a car, causing it to explode off the side of a bridge. Tim just wants to get in clear the apartment and get out. It's amazing to see the ideas that the writers had regarding this city which lives side by side with pokemon. Each actually having their own jobs and co-existing in every way possible. One problem though is that Tim finds a random, dark vial in his dad's bin and upon opening it, it releases smoke, which travels outside and sends some pokemon crazy. What ensues is Tim's first encounter with Pikachu, a freak out about being able to understand each other and then a chase from the crazy pokemon.

 
 The main part of the movie is to find out what happened to the dad after all. Who is really at fault? Could it be the son of the city's creator, who has always 'apparently' hated pokemon as his own father cared more about people living alongside the beasts than with his own family. With Tim turning into a detective himself, he pairs up with a local young reporter as they try to get to the bottom of what has happened. including the attack at the beginning. On the road, they do come under attack and we watch the relationship between Tim and Pikachu grow. This comes after Pikachu takes a hit and it isn't looking good, brought back to life with the unlikely help of Mewtwo, we realise that this created pokemon is actually not a bad one. The bad guy is still to be revealed. This comes in the shape of the guy we thought was the pokemon's savior. Bill Nighy plays Howard Clifford, the father of the lad that we though would maybe be the bad guy too but instead, this guy has a dark undertone. He has an illness that is taking him and he wants to use Mewtwo, transfer himself into his body and fuse all pokemon with their owners. He believes that this will help humans reach their next level of 'evolution'. We finally have a flashback to find out what happened with Tim's father Harry. Although he helped capture Mewtwo, Harry figured out what was really going on and helped him escape. Mewtwo never shot the car, instead, he was attacking the real pokemon who were after Harry. The fight ensues on the streets as everyone is transferred to their pokemon and Tim manages to take the headset off Howard and free Mewtwo to transform everyone back into their own bodies. By the end, Mewtwo raises his hand to thank Pikachu for everything and things start to come to life and even my hidden thoughts are alive. One major thing is that we never saw the dad Harry's face. Constantly hidden in each flashback, surely this means that it is going to be Ryan Reynolds, which is true. After the crash, Mewtwo popped Harry into Pikachu, without memories, in order to save the day at a later date.

The movie ends with Mewtwo reversing this, although I have no idea where the body of Ryan Reynolds was found in the end. The main characters go full circle as Tim finally wants to spend some time in the city with his father. As we see Tim sit there, Pikachu walks onto the screen and we once again hear Reynold's voice but this time, human legs walk onto the screen and we finally have Harry is human form. Pikachu is back to saying his own name. We see another relationship repair itself as now, father and son are once again a family.
With the nostalgia of the movie and how long I have been waiting for something like this to come about, it was always going to be good viewing for me. As the camera gave us a wide-angle to start, with Pidgeys flying in as if they were simply another bird in the world, it gave me a smile on the side of my mouth. This feeling carried on through the movie as time after time another character in pokemon form was thrust onto our screen and at no point did it feel as if it was simply for the sake of it. The storyline seemed to have a bit of everything. It had the seriousness and the strain of a family, it's loss and the coming together with forgiveness. The forgiveness had to be seen twice as Tim grew closer to Pikachu, without the realisation that it was his father. Reynolds was a great addition to the movie, simply down the quick-witted humour. Humour is a big thing for this movie and whether this came from Reynolds, the actions of the pokemon or a clever play on how the pokemon are themselves. Some humour could be missed by some of the audience though, which could be a bad point and unfortunately go over the heads but I'm glad that they didn't fall on my deaf ears. The casting was god damn decent too. We know what Reynolds brought but Justice Smith, who I have only caught in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, gave a decent account as a bumbling youngster, come serious and young detective. One bad thing is that surely you would know the voice of your father? I mean he may not have seen him in a little while but even to have a little memory of recognising the voice from a pivotal figure in his life. Nighy came back with another 'bad-guy' since I've seen him as Davy Jones and once again, gave a slimy account of himself and you could always feel something was up. The big reveal meant that the actions of the characters were a quick turn around and with the audience ages, it could have come to a bigger surprise for the younger viewers. I'm very interested to see where he head next in the universe. Although we didn't get to see any gym battles, famous names in the universe or Team Rocket, we could have them for the future. I'm not hearing whispers of anything but surely it's a moneymaker?

It wasn't just a puppy (John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum 2019)

233.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

 

5/10

We have somehow made it to the third instalment of John Wick movies and for me, this is up there with the constant rubbish from the Fast and Furious franchise or even Xander Cage movies. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and mine is that these movies are pointless. Very rarely they have a decent storyline and the first two movies prove this. This time Wick is a wanted man and we are about to find out what happens when the other assassins try to cash in on the prize of taking out Wick. All he is trying to do is clear his name and bring a truce within the assassin's league. To help him out, he turns to Halle Berry's character, who only adds to the 'fun' with her killer dogs.

The movie was completely forgettable for me, just like the first two and if there is a forth, I really don't want to waste another 2 hours of my life. The action and fights scenes were second to none but once you've spent 5 minutes watching one, they all seem to blend into one. With an endless stock of ammo for any gun he seems to pick up, the guy evens starts killing people with books in a library. He has taken down another assassin and now he needs to stay alive by any means and after the high adrenaline scenes, which lack a lot of storyline at times, we end up with Wick winning the day but being battered to within an inch of his life for his troubles. He even gets shot several times off a rooftop but the manager of his main go-to hotel. By the end, he is carted in front of another side character where he is coming back around, stating he is pissed off and ready for action. This worries me. This could actually lead to a third.

For some reason, I have never taken to Keanu Reeves as an actor. I enjoyed some of his earlier movies but he is very one dimensional for me. With a lot of head shaking, which I'm sure I've mentioned in another review he was involved in, his character gets boring and fast. There were a lot of 'oh's and ah's' within the fights scenes as people died in all sorts of ways but soon after, especially the gunfights, they got pretty boring. I do love the look on some of the shots and the cinematography, especially the shots in the rain make the movie look a lot more interesting but I could watch the movie on mute to enjoy that. Every character just ends up being expendable and when it comes to the main villain, they are pretty uninteresting. It goes over the top sometimes with its action and trying to make Wick look god-like and as if someone is playing a video game. I'm still surprised that so many people rate this movie and the trilogy so highly.



I love you 3000 (Avenger: Endgame 209)

232. 

Avengers: Endgame

 

 

 

8/10

The end of an era comes about in the shape of Avengers Endgame. We have been following the story all the way from Iron Man in 2008 and now the climax is about to take place. All of the end credit scenes, stand-alone movies and re-introduction of Spider-man into the MCU can not prepare the audience for what is about to begin. Whether you are a fan of Marvel or the superhero genre in any way, it isn't hard to know the names of these characters and even the cast who help them to come alive on the big screen. Let's get down to the bulk of it and put a lid on the last 11 years. I have some predictions, one being a major death but let's find out how right I'll be.
The scene is set a little while after everyone has turned to dust and we are finding out how the survivors are carrying on and looking for Thanos. Captain Marvel has found Tony and Nebula, bringing them back to Earth, Bruce Banner is now half Hulk half-human and is a big green gentle giant and even Hawkeye makes an appearance as he is now killing for fun after his family has been wiped out. Having tracked Thanos down to a planet which looks a lot like Earth, they confront him and Thor beheads the Titan, leaving me wondering what the hell I've just witnessed as an opening to this movie. They wanted to get the stones back in order to try and return to normality of some sort. Another few years in the future, Ant-man is released from the quantum realm but a rat and has no idea what has happened. To him, it's been 5 hours. Now, getting all remaining Avengers, everyone sets back in time to get the stones in places they have been in history, whether that is in a movie we have already seen or a lot further in the past.

 They succeed and only one man is up for giving his fingers a snap. Hulk steps up and manages to bring everyone back but there's a problem. In their time travel, Nebula was caught by the past Gamora and Thanos and even the other Nebula. The past Nebula disguises herself and manages to use the time portal to bring through Thanos and his army to wreak havoc.
Now before I head any further into the storyline, I have a bone to pick with all of this bullshit time travel crap. So they are using Pym Particles in order to travel through time and only have enough for each person to travel once, really needing to make it count. They falter a little, head back further in time where there would be more particles and finish their missions. Now then, tell me how Thanos can use one of the same tubes of Pym Particles and transfer 1000's and I mean 1000's because we'll see them later, his ship and all that comes with it, through the time portal and into the future. The Avengers could have all traveled together and made sure each grab went seamlessly. Stupid loophole.
Back to the story and we are about to have the massive showdown. The 'remainers', and not with Brexit are ready to face Thanos and his lot, just before they get a call and everyone who has come back enter through portals by Dr. Strange and the gang.
 

 

 Fighting ensues and for me, it doesn't last long enough. We get the ultimate cringe moment when the females stand together for no fucking reason what so ever other than the creators shitting their pants for not putting it in there and the movie comes to an end the only way that Dr. Strange knew it would. Tony steals the stones and snaps. Taking out the villains, Tony has given the ultimate sacrifice and now he can finally rest.

The movie draws to a close with Tony's funeral and everyone is there, even the kid from Iron Man 3 and as the camera pans further into the crowd, in walks Fury. As the team head to put the stones back into the past where they came from, Captain America is the man for the job. It should only take seconds but he doesn't return and instead, we see him sitting on a bench by a lake. He's a lot older now and chose to stay in the past with Agent Carter and live his life. He hands his shield over to Falcon, which I totally disagree with, it should have been Bucky, not this wet blanket. One other thing I think would have worked a lot better was instead of making Chris Evans look a lot older, they should have used Stan Lee is an elderly Captain America, but that may just have been me.
This movie from me wasn't as good as Infinity War and I may even feel a tiny bit disappointed. There were moments of awesomeness, for example, the reunion of Tony and Peter or Thor's moments once more. There were also moments to dislike. Majorly the Captain America moment where he is worthy enough to get Thor's hammer. Now I don't mind hat part but if the hammer is used for Thor to control his control of lightning then why the hell does Cap manage to control the lightning too! For us unreligious Marvel fans, it seemed a step too far. It was great to see the character that Hawkeye had become, which was a lot darker and the loss of Black Widow was a little unexpected but within the scene, you knew which one was going to go. This comes for Iron Man too. This was my major prediction for the movie but I honestly put Cap in the same bracket too, but he let time do the job. The graphics, once again, along with the musical score, played a massive part in this movie. The music, more importantly, adding to the suspense and the joy, especially as most of the characters returned for the final showdown. It'll be interesting to see where we going from here now. Who steps up to be the leader and from what I can see, there isn't a stand-out character I'm really looking forward too now hat even Thor has taken a back seat. The next phase looks mediocre at best. 

I have nothing to prove to you (Captain Marvel 2019)

231.

Captain Marvel

 

 

 

 7/10
 

As we were on the home stretch to the Endgame, we needed to find out the story of who Nick Fury sent a beeper message too. We know it as Carol Danvers, more know as Captain Marvel, but what is her story, where did she come from and where has she been all this time. A lot was made of when Brie Larson was announced as the role and it wasn't hard to notice that the reaction was pretty much split 50/50. I was intrigued by the choice after seeing Larson's performance in both Room and Free Fire, I was optimistic for her. We know that the movie is going to be set in the '90s, meaning that a lot of the references for the other movies may be lacking but I can imagine we are going to take a trip for memory lane for nostalgia. We are also going to be introduced to some Skrull, with Ben Mendelsohn a favourite for me as a villain right now, as their leader. Along with Samuel L. Jackson back as Nick Fury, minus the eye patch and Jude Law playing Yon-Rogg, the cast is shaping pretty well. By the trailer alone, there was something about Jude Law's character that didn't sit right. I'd be keeping an eye on him but for now, let's find out with this movie is truly something to marvel at.
With the film starting away from Earth, going through some scenes of Vers, Larson's character, combat training and going on missions, we are quickly thrust into some dreams that are troubling her and ones that Yon-Rogg blames for holding her back.

 On their mission, they are ambushed by the Skrulls and Vers is taken and put into some machine to read her mind. The Skrull are searching the same memories that she dreams about but has no idea what they actually mean. On escaping by using some of her powers, she crashlands onto Earth and into a Blockbuster Video, our first piece of nostalgia. She communicates with the rest of her team off-world as Fury and the team turn up to investigate. With this being set earlier in the timeline, even Coulson is around. The Skrull have made it down and disguised their screen skin by transforming into humans.
Now as the movie gets on, there is a lot of focus on trust and Vers finding out who she really is. We even catch glimpse of the pager from the after credits of Infinity War, which Vers takes the piss out of. In the archives, we find out that Vers name is Carol Danvers, a fighter pilot feared dead in a training exercise. He dog tag exploded at the crash and all that was left and collected by Yon-Rogg's lot was the Vers on the end of Danvers. Her memory has been wiped since. The leader of the Skrulls has now taken human shape and is in full Mendelsohn flow. He is acting as the head of 'S.H.I.E.L.D', which I have a massive problem with for the continuity of the MCU. Now in Iron Man, they call themselves by their full name and are made fun of, by the end, they are called Shield. How come years before then, they already go by Shield?

The story moves on and things start to unravel. Yon-Rogg is on a team with Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy fame. Knew there was something about his character. They are trying to wipe out planets and species, Skrull included in order to rule the rest. They know that Danvers is something special and are trying to hold her power. With Danvers looking for her old co-pilot, we are finally going to get some answers. Talos, the Skrull leader has even turned up and explains that they mean no harm. They are simply refugees. There is a black box from the crashed plane, finally revealing what caused the crash. Danvers and the woman she had been dreaming about were shot from the sky whilst attempting to make it into space. As the crashed, we always saw the scenes of a Skrull walking from the smoke to finish the job against Danvers but now, the truth and the memories flow and it was actually Yon-Rogg. They are after an experimental energy core which was created by Danvers' boss Lawson. They were trying to destroy it before it fell into the wrong hands and Danvers shot it after the crash to make this a sure thing. Instead of it simply being destroyed, her body absorbed all of the energy and she was then transported to Hala to keep her under wraps. The energy was to help Talos and the Skrull escape from the Kree and the rest of the Skrull were in Lawson's hidden station in space.
One thing we haven't mentioned is the wait for Fury to lose his eye. We've seen a car crash, which didn't do the job but since then, we have been introduced to a cat, which has been taken everywhere. On the space station, Yon-Rogg has brought his gang to kill everyone and steal the energy core, which turns out to be the tesseract by the way but things don't go to plan. It turns out that the Kree implant which was meant to give Danvers Kree powers was actually used to limit her own. Once she fights back and kicks ass, she finally gets everyone to safety and even Fury who has taken a scratch from the cat and lost his eye. The cat is also being used as a smuggler as it's swallowed the tesseract. Ronan has even turned up for support and after Danver's destroys the missiles fired at Earth, he quickly retreats. Where now where his timeline takes him, to an extent, but let's find out what happens after our Captain Marvel defeats Yon-Rogg.
 

 She decides to help the Skrull find a home. This is the reason she has been away for so long and is contacted by Fury, just before he turns to dust. As for fury, he's sitting in his office, getting the start of the team together and after seeing one more picture of Danvers, the name on the side of her plane reads Avenger, leading to the name of the Avengers Initiative. The only things left to mention would be the end credits scenes and yes, I did say scenes. Neither is relatively long this first is the remaining Avengers look at Fury's pager with intent until it stops beeping. Turning around, we seeing Danvers pop the question of where Fury is. The final scene is the cat coughing up the tesseract.
I'm a little bit torn with this movie after only seeing it the once so seeing it a second time was a must for me. The second time really helped and this MCU installment was pretty decent. I enjoyed it a lot more than Black Panther as an introduction movie and I think it had a lot more interesting factors to it. I always figured that the Skrull are actually bad and this was how 75% of the movie portrayed them. When it came to the twist and although I knew something was up with Law's character, I was pleasantly surprised as Mendelsohn's character had grown on me a lot. This leads us nicely into discussing the cast. Mendelsohn once again gave us a real solid job, playing what we thought was the villain and was actually quite deceptive to then becoming a good character. He brought humour along with seriousness when reunited with his family. Larson would be the main talking point of this movie as beforehand, a lot of critics said that she had no emotion within the movie's promotional posters. Come on, posters a simply a photo and anyone can look like a mime in one. I think she gave a pretty good account of the character as she has forgotten a little what it is actually like to be human. I had no qualms about the portrayal. Even Jude Law deserves an honorable mention as his MCU introduction again was a pretty strong one. The style of the movie reminded me of Ant-Man with the aspects of seriousness sometimes being broken up with a good amount of humour and after Thor Ragnarok, this brings about a bit of a regular occurrence now. The rest of the talking points, including the special effects, have come to a formality now but another thing I enjoyed was the number of nostalgic references. From beginning to end, they either included old shops, songs or even 'nods' towards other movies, such as Talos drinking from the same fast food cup that Sam Jackson's character did in Pulp Fiction. This is not going to be a movie that I will be clambering to buy on DVD or even rushing to the cinema to see a sequel too but it was still a decent filler movie for us to answer a couple of questions regarding Captain Marvel and experience what a pivotal role she may have when it comes to the Endgame!


Don't worry, Lucy. Everything can still be awesome! (Lego Movie 2: The Second Part 2019)

 

 

 

230.

Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

 

 

 

6.5/10

 

We have recently had some instalments of Lego movies, whether we asked for them or not. Some of them more successful than others but now we are having a sequel to the one that began it all. The first movie ended with the younger sister of Finn being allowed to play with their dads Lego, which didn't exactly go down well, bring characters from out of space, destroying things faster than they could be built. I wasn't really keen on the Ninjago movie so I really hope this one can 'build' my confidence back up.
We are sent back into the world voiced by Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks and Will Ferrell as the animated world is destroyed and we are shot 5 years into the future. There is pretty much aftermath of an Apocalypse and whilst every character is adjusting to their new surroundings by being dark and broody, the Justice League have left to fight the Lego Duplo enemies but never returned. Batman stayed to have his own side mission and now remains in a massive mansion. The only person with a smile on his face is Emmet, of course. He has recently been having dreams about a dolphin clock at the time of 5:15 and I doubt this would be the last time we see this mentioned. He has also had images of a portal opening and swallowing all of his friends. A ship drops down above the city and hires a heart at them and as the invader follows their escape, they are lead to Batman's mansion where she introduces herself as General Mayhem, needing to speak to the leader. Emmet is pointed out as the 'Special' but Mayhew disagrees and instead kidnaps everyone else. No one will help Emmet get them back as he is too immature. Could this be a movie about Emmet growing in stature with his fellow citizens?

 

 

The characters are taken to the Systar System, which isn't really an original name considering it's the sister's toys and the leader is Queen Whatever. She appears to be evil, giving an evil persona but also doing her best to persuade everyone otherwise with her song, which was completely annoying. Voiced by Tiffany Haddish, you can imagine how sassy she is. Everyone is convinced, other than Lucy and then the main plan is to unite both worlds with the marriage of Whateva and Batman. On his way through space, Emmet meets Rex, a character also voiced by Pratt, who is a galaxy defending cowboy and Raptor wrangler. In other words, he's Pratt. He gives his back story of being left under the dryer in Finn's home and managed to save himself. They head off to save the day, as Lucy tries to free herself and do the same. At a dinner, Whateva realises about Batman's insecurities are hidden within his ego, not too unlike her own. The only reason that she wants to be with Batman is to make her crush jealous and at first Batman didn't want the marriage but now knowing he is unwanted, ends up properly proposing.

 

 

Upon everyone getting to the wedding, invited or not, we catch glimpse of a few fights. Firstly we have Emmet and Rex arriving with Rex not liking Lucy, believing she is brainwashed. She has a fight with Mayhem, who reveals herself as a scared girl, not wanting to die and is then saved by Lucy before she falls to her death. She explains that the wedding is only to bring them both together as two groups but it seems a lot worse than it actually is. This leads her to think that Rex is actually the true villain, he is the one trying to keep the friends apart. She watches the wedding from afar and sees Wateva take her true form. She is the heart that Emmet built at the end of the first movie all those years ago. Before Lucy can get to Emmet, he is convinced to use his 'grown-up' power and breaks open the portal he dreamed off.
Back in the real world, all of this is taking place because Finn's sister has taken his Legos into her room to play with her own. This is making sense with the story now as Finn breaks in and smashes her toys. This leads to the mother coming in, shouting at them and in the process, stepping on a Lego with her bare feet. Now we all know how painful that is and you wouldn't blame her for losing her shit. She orders them to put everything into storage which, back in the animated world, is the black portal that swallows everyone. Now Rex is ready to reveal himself. He is Emmet from the future, who was a lost toy and after growing bitter, built a time machine from all famous one, even the hot tub and used it to go back and replace Emmet before he got lost. Rex tosses him under the dryer and leaves him for 'dead'.

 

 

Lucy and the gang start to sing about how everything isn't awesome, whilst in the real world, Finn realises how much of a dick he has been to his sister. They used to enjoy playing together and plans on making amends with her by bringing her the heart. Emmet is trying to move from under the dryer in real life and with limited movement and Rex joining him for a fight, it isn't going to be easy. Now that Finn and his sister Bianca are playing again, this frees up Lucy to help Emmet. They use a heart bomb to defeat Rex and now realising how wrong he was and as he disappears into nonexistence due to Emmet being saved. The movie draws to a close with the brother and sister playing together, joining the two worlds into one. Lucy buys Emmet the original copy of 'Everything is awesome' and on close inspection, Emmet notices Lucy on the cover. She was one of the OG's on the song!
By all means, the Lego Movie was a breath of fresh air and felt really fresh but now we wonder whether we should still ask for more. This movie had an upturn in fortune from the movie that came before it but again, it didn't feel as strong as the first or even the Lego Batman movie. There was a deeper lesson to learn for it's younger viewers with the fact that being nice to your siblings means that everyone can be happy and avoid disappointment, just like the first having a hidden message between father and son. The cast has become known for this movie and with the addition of Tiffany Haddish, it added a much sassier role to the cast, with a new song to get stuck in the head, literally and a twist towards who the villain truly was, the character worked quite well. Switching between animation and real-life again worked well and in the end, emphasised the true story that lay beneath. I felt the movie was alright at best. The novelty is starting to wear off a little now and if this was because of a recent poor instalment, only time can tell if I will really get back on board with the franchise.

It's you and me bud. Always (How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 2019)

 

 

 

229.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

 

 

 

7/10

 

How to Train Your Dragon fires back with a third major installment to the surprisingly successful and popular franchise. The first two in the series were the first two movies I watched when I decided to keep tabs on things I was watching. The sub-title for this one is 'The Hidden World' meaning there could be a lot more to come in this story. We are treated to the usual voice actors in this animation as Jay Baruchel and America Ferrara continue their steak and even Kit Harringon is back for another dose. From the trailers alone, we know where this story will lead to Toothless finding love, whilst another dragon hunter comes to wreak havoc.
The movie begins showing our heroes saving other dragons from a ship on which they are entrapped. On returning home, we see how this village has now taken on many many more dragons, sometimes leading to major accidents. One of the old heads at the village suggests that it's about time that Hiccup and Astrid speak of marriage soon, with neither ready to take the next step.
Across the other side of the ocean, we are introduced to a new villain named Grimmel the Grisly. Cracking name for our new killer. Voiced by F. Murray Abraham and looking like a vampire, it's not long until he states his intentions.

 

 

He meets with the warlords that have been capturing the dragons and learns of Hiccup and Toothless and finds himself in shock as he believes that he has killed the last night fury. The warlords reveal a dragon that was left behind at the beginning and it is another Night Fury, but white. Grimmel decides to use this one as bait to grab toothless. Grimmel is far from worried about Hiccup as a kid in over his head. From there, we have a flashback fo Hiccup with his father, talking about the fabled hidden world. Hiccup has always sought to find this place in order to stop the war between Vikings and dragons. Toothless heads off alone at night and bumps into the trap. Being called Light Fury, Toothless is quick in the chase and attempts to woo her, too many failings. He's quick to fall in love and constantly tries to catch her gaze, constantly failing and even Hiccup follows to help.

 

 

 

 One day, Hiccup comes across one of Grimmel's traps. He takes the trap to Erin, Harrington's character, who recognizes the work of Grimmel. He fears that the trap was left to be found as a means to bring them out of hiding. The night ends with Grimmel finding his way into Hiccup's home, tranqing Toothless and expressing his ideas of how Humans and dragons should not co-exist. As he makes his way to Toothless, it turns out to be some of Hiccup's mates dressed up as a trap but this does not slow him down. Summoning some acid-spitting dragons, but our gang make hast and escape. Knowing that Grimmel will not slow down, it is time to leave their home. Hiccup gives a speech that the place of Berk is where ever their people are. Reminds me of Thor and his home to be honest. Problem is, Grimmel is planning on them heading out, tracking them with the warlords and all the while, making some more venom to tranq the dragons.
They arrive at a new island for now and in the clouds during travel, we once again catch sight of the Light Fury. It knocks Hiccup off Toothless' back, thinking he's an enemy. We enter some more scenes of Toothless trying to woo her and later, Hiccup decides to fix the tail fin for good, meaning that Toothless can head off to find Light Fury. Meanwhile, Hiccup's mother has headed back on themselves in order to make sure they were not followed but they were, she narrowly avoids capture to warn everyone. Back with Toothless and he is learning about his actual abilities with help from Light Fury. He can use lightning to disguise himself and as their 'date' comes to an end, he is lead to a waterfall into the ground.

 

 

Hiccup knows of Grimmels intentions and plans on taking the fight to him but once again, Grimmel knows the game and is expecting the move. Narrowingly avoiding capture once again, they manage to make it back to their makeshift home, only to find that they have left Ruffnut behind in the chaos. Hiccup is now being pressured into another way of stopping Grimmel but his mind is elsewhere as he realises that Toothless has not yet returned. Astrid reminds him about Toothless being given his freedom to be with Light Fury, this could mean he won't be seen for a long time.
Grimmel is back in his castle planning his next move, whilst an annoying as shit Ruffnut is on his last nerve. He ends up letting her go but not before she blabs about the village's new location, leading Grimmel to send a scout with her and making his job a bit easier. As for Hiccup, he and Astrid ride to try and find Toothless, coming across the waterfall and heading down into the Hidden World of the dragons. They set sights on Toothless, acting as the alpha male with Light Fury as his mate. Hiccup makes a wrong move and is spotted, being chased by every other dragon until Toothless comes to their aid. On his escape, Hiccup realises that this hidden world needs to remain that way.
With everyone making it back to the island, Grimmel is ready to attack, taking the Night and Light Furies, along with the other dragons as they have captured their alpha. Hiccup once again fall silent, thinking he has failed as a chief but with Astrid at his side, he is ready to round everyone up and go for the throat. As Grimmel presents his prisoners to the warlords, our gang drop in and attack. With Grimmel riding Light Fury and Hiccup on toothless, they take to the sky for the main fight scene. With the acid dragons aiding and surrounding Toothless, he harnesses the lightning and then vanishes. Grimmel and Hiccup once again head towards each other, this time with both tackling each other off their respective dragons as Toothless is tranqed once again. Hiccup orders Light Fury to catch a falling Toothless as himself and Grimmel fall together, tussling in the sky. Grimmel has one hope left of dragging down Hiccup but as Hiccup loosens his own prosthetic leg, Grimmel is left to fall to his death as Light Fury catches Hiccup to save his life.
Hiccup now realises that it is time to let Toothless go and the celebrations do not last long. He bids farewell to his best friend and the two have a tearful embrace. The whole village says goodbye to their dragons as they leave with Toothless to their safe and hidden world below. The scene ends powerfully as Hiccup and Toothless share one last eye contact. A while later, Hiccup and Astrid as finally married and we then move onto several years later, as the two now have a son and daughter. They ride a boat to the waterfall we have seen before and come across Toothless and Light Fury sitting upon a rock with three youngsters of their own. Toothless notices the humans and acts to protect his family, not recognizing Hiccup at first but once the memories flow back with a slow movement of a hand towards the snout as seen in the first movie, the too finally embrace. The families take to the sky as Hiccup narrates the closing scene, explaining that humans now believe that the dragons have all gone but only the Berkians know the truth and they shall protect that truth until the dragons can come back out into peace.

 

 

This seemed like it could be the final film in the series of How to Train Your Dragon and if this is the case, it ended in a really strong way. With another strong storyline, this time revolving around friendships and relationships, it is as though the movie is of a coming of age genre. I think whilst watching, you would always know where the movie was heading and how it was going to end. Bad guy defeated and friends separating for the best and to continue their own journeys to start a family. We have come to know the cast over the series of movies and the main new addition being F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel meant we had someone else to focus our hate upon. He brought a wickedly good voice to the table, one that demanded listening to and this would always be a good trait. Kit Harrington, on the other hand, was as boring a voice as normal. I enjoyed his portrayal of Jon Snow but under the same circumstances, he was always made fun of due to his lack of expressions. As for the rest of the cast, it is always great to see side characters play such pivotal role  It is always good to see an animation away from the mainstream of Disney because it really takes something to be special and standout. We have been waiting nine years for this finale and I believe the ending that was brought to us was very fitting of the trilogy.