How Do I Love How To Train Your Dragon 2

This movie in one word: Brilliant.
But I may be a bit biased here. I love dragons. Please read my Maleficent entry for proof.

Dreamworks' How To Train Your Dragon 2 takes on a more mature, more emotional note in this sequel. The story was super tight, with the underlying theme of 'Rising against the odds' perfectly played out in David vs Goliath fashion 'til the very end of the film.

There was Hiccup vs. The War.
That's the plot trigger. Hiccup embarks on a peacekeeping talk with a guy named Drago who wears dragon skin as a fashion statement and screams bloody murder to control dragons. Come on! Who would want to chat with a guy like that?! But Hiccup was never one to listen to reason, and so the story goes on.

There was Valka vs. Berk vs. Herself vs. Her Past vs. Bad Dude.
Hiccup's mom has issues. What keeps her going is her life-long mission to protect dragons, which makes her abandon her family in the process. Okay, so now we know what her priorities are. It's like the modern day working mom choosing her career over her loved ones. But, heck, she's the Dragon Master! If I had a job as cool as hers, I'd rock the family tree.

There was Toothless vs. The Alpha.
Have I told you I loved dragons? Toothless just pushed that adoration a hundred knots higher! That part where the minute Night Fury challenged the Alpha Dragon whose like as huge as a couple of Mount Everests was just… just… intense! *swoon… slow clap… sniff*
(Yes, animated films make me more emotional than live action films. Sue me.)

Poignant to death, the film shattered my heart when Toothless accidentally kills Stoick with his laser blast brought on by mind control. Seriously mangled my heart there. Hiccup finally has his family together and then this happens. Aaaah… my poor, poor heart...

But the high point for me was the mutiny of dragons in the end. Nothing rocks my joes quite like a scaly, fiery uprising. And when Toothless was hailed the new Alpha, man, goosebumps! I got more giddy about that sequence than Hiccup being crowned the new Chief of Berk. (I like dragons more than I do humans. Sue me.) 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 is still showing in cinemas. If you have an almost unreasonable adoration for dragons like me, better catch this bit on 3D. Flying, fire-breathing dragons looks awesome in 3D! Yeah.

PS. Personal cringe moment for me: Hiccup looks weird as an adult. Puberty wasn't kind to him. :)

JOLIEFICENT!

There is no denying Angelina Jolie was made for this role. The way she did Disney's iconic dragon sorceress was just beyond awesome. And I'm a huge animated Maleficent fan so that's saying something. I'm also big on villains taking the limelight for a change so this Maleficent back story is much appreciated.

Now, a rundown of the movie's goodies and baddies!

High Points:

1. I like the whole Human vs. Magical Creatures war. Okay, Shrek did that first, but the fight scene here was way cooler.

2. That shrill, blood-curdling scream when Maleficent lost her wings. That sound will stay in my nightmares forever.

3. LOVE THE MENTAL BREAKDOWN! The dramatic transition from good fairy to evil sorceress was beautiful! From Maleficent herself to the landscape eeriefication. 

4. True love does not exist as the plot trigger was harsh but realistic. 

5. In your face, Philip! I'm not big on Prince Charming… ever. So I loved the way he was ditched here. You don't save the day this time, mister. Mwahaha!

6. Wardrobe! Maleficent sported a series of fantabulous capes all throughout the movie. Props to you, stylist!

Ultimate High Points: 

1. GREEN FLAAAME!!!

2. The way Angelina said the curse was EXACTLY the way the animated version said it. "…on her sixteenth buuuth-day!"  The nostalgic hit there was pretty intense!

Low Points:

1. The three fairy godmothers aka the magical world's version of The Three Stooges. I just thought they tried too hard to be funny. Oh well.

2. The real True Love was between Aurora and Maleficent… which we also saw in Frozen's siblings Anna and Elsa. It's not exactly that original as a plot twist, but it did pull heartstrings so I'm letting it slide, somewhat.

3. Aurora is crowned the new queen of the moors? Huh? Say what?

Ultimate Low Point:

1. Maleficent didn't transform into a dragon. DUUUDE! That's the whole magic of Maleficent --her turning into a frikkin badass dragon! AND YOU STOLE IT FROM MEEEE!!! The glorious makeover was given to Maleficent's shape-shifting pet crow. *sniff* 

That said, did we like the movie? I'm giving it 5 super shiny stars. If you're as ancient as I am, it's a brand new take on a sentimental ride. If you're as young as my sons… well, let's just say my 10-year old boy is super crushing on Maleficent right now.

The Magnificent Maleficent. On cinemas. Watch her! 

Papier Macheniacs: TF2 Metal Jaw

The Team Fortress 2 Metal Jaw (also seen on Heavy and Engineer) is one of our easier mask-making projects. First of all, it doesn't require the whole face. The details were simple enough. And the paint job was pretty much a free-for-all.

Our version, naturally, started with a paper plate --folded and taped with a bunch of newspapers and coins. The coins were for the rivets. Genius, huh? :P

The dents and breaks on the surface were fun to make during paper mach stage. The imperfection of this piece brings out a lot of your creativity.

And then, you just let loose on painting it. Miro decided on a post-battle Metal Jaw, hence, the rust and blood stains. The boy really went to town with realism here. Proud mom moment. *sniff*

Make your own paper mache TF2 Metal Jaw. Because… Just because.

The Amazing Spiderman 2: A new fangirl's review

SPOILER SHMOILER!

WE LOVE THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2!
I know that sounds pretty weird after writing a not-so-happy review about The Amazing Spiderman 1. But this time around, this all new version of the Spidey franchise floored us. Simply floored us.
The upside?

FIRST PERSON CAM
Gamer perspective! Every web-slinging feat is like riding on Spiderman's back. Sweet!

STUNTS!
Spiderman's moves are just way cooler now. The slow-fast-slow crawling, the crazy-wide leg-spread during leaps, the creativity in web manipulation, the ballerina-esque fight choreography, the jumping over speeding trucks in precise insect-like agility… *slow claps*

SCIENCE!
We're geeks. We totally dig it whenever Spiderman attempts to crack an enemy's code or enhance his web using batteries and what-nots --and then fails. Yuh.

BETTER PARKER
I'm a huge Toby fan. He was the only Peter Parker for me. When Garfield came around, I found him to be too cute and acted too cute to take his place. But then he shed that self-conscious shtick and went down to acting real. Loved how he delivered the jokes in the movie! He's actually funny now!

COOLER HARRY
Not just a pretty boy, this guy has angst. Not just avenging his dead father, he has his own inner demons. And he looks hot in a leather jacket. Good one!

THE GOBLIN DOESN'T WEAR A MASK
Instead, he wears the rotting face of a dying maniac. How. Cool. Is. That?!

GIRLFRIEND DIES
So much like the original Spidey, this lankier Spidey has issues with having a girlfriend, too. How do you solve that dilemma? Kill her off! Now that's realism for you.

COOL ENDING
That last frame where Spiderman catapulted into the air to bonk a good one right on Rhino's metal skull, and then the scene cuts to credits before impact. LOVE THAT!

Okay, okay… calm down. I'm making it sound like it's all perfect. Of course not!
Hello, downside.

ELECTRO
Sorry, I know he's the top bad guy in this story, but he just didn't do it for me. My kids liked him for the sheer electrical KZZT! AND FZZANG!, but for me, he didn't really have a focused evil plot. And you CANNOT be a villain without focus. First, he was pissed because he was being ignored. Second, he wanted to take revenge on the people who stole his plans for the grid. Third, he's just a whacked up job who couldn't deal with the fact that a) Spiderman forgot his name; b) Spiderman had more fans and more New York billboards' screen time, c) Spiderman set him up for a duel.
Dude, if you want to make it bad, find that single reason why you're mad. First lesson in Villainy 101. Look it up.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 is still webbed to cinemas. Sling yourself right over!

Papier Macheniacs: SCP-035 on a Plate

Now serving...

Our latest arts and crafts and creepy: The comedy mask donned by SCP-035 in the videogame SCP Containment Breach! *thunder, lightning, and what-not*

It's your typical theater comedy mask --which we could've easily bought somewhere online. But because we like challenging ourselves in the messiest way possible, we decided to make it by hand and glue and a paper plate. Uh-huh, the lowly paper plate is fast becoming our favorite mask-making ingredient, seriously.

Shaping is the key here. After the first layer of papier mache, we let it dry overnight while taped at the back and wedged in between two heavy objects.

When you're done with the second layer, just paint the mask death white and add lovely details like --oh I don't know-- blood trails maybe. And voila! Instead of scaring people out of their wits in a video game, now you can do it in real life! WOOHOO!
(Yeeeah... our kicks are pretty simple. Lol!)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier review, check.

PREPARE TO BE SPOILED!

Incredible fight sequences, check.
Okay... speechless. I just... can't. To the fight choreographer, let me throw petals and praise your way. Every kick and punch seriously hurt my gut.

Sexual tension between key characters, check.
I never thought Black Widow and Captain America would look cool smooching away on an escalator. But they do! I demand an affair!

Death and undeath of a key character, check.
R.I.P., Nick Fury. Or, not. Because as Phil Coulson has proven once. nobody dies in S.H.I.E.L.D.

Name dropping, check.
Casually mentioning bigwigs like Iron Man and Tony Stark. Ooh... and a Stark Enterprises logo, too! Marvel, you just know who sells, huh?

Mad scientist experiment gone bad, check.
Well... yeah.

Aerial action of the highest proportion, check.
Marvel has a thing for things blowing up in the sky. But three ships shooting at each other was amazing.

"I won't fight you... You're my frieeeend...!!!" drama, check.
Hee... this made me cringe a bit. Not because it's a tad cliche. But because Chris Evans isn't really the best let-your-heart-out actor out there. It was kinda awkward. But his pecs and biceps flexing during this scene made up for that.

Impending doom punchline, check.
An alien weapon. Yes.

It's a complete package! What didn't check out quite well with us was the fact that The Winter Soldier only came into the picture an hour into the film. We almost forgot his name was in the movie title. Speaking of names, his real name is BUCKY. Bucky, The Winter Soldier. Bucky. the Killing Machine. Bucky... of Doom. It's like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer... except they were serious.

If you're watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier, get ready to be blown away with the intense action. Oh, and the Falcon was the bomb! Catch it or lose it.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman Doggone Review

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

Busy, busy start of the month! But that didn't stop us from squeezing in a little Mr. Peabody and Sherman time one totally harassed weekend.

The low down? It... has its moments.

We liked the fact that this flick is dedicated to Dogkind. I mean, seriously, LOYALTY is a big thing people needs to learn from our canine pals.
The animation was pretty decent. I totally dig Penny's Cleo look.
But the plot... let's just say, there was just too much going on. The fact that Mr. Peabody is a talking dog who's also a genius and an inventor and an adoptive parent to a human child is already a whirlwind ride. And then, the WABAC time machine was thrown in. too? And then time-space continuum issues that had historical heroes landing in the middle of New York? Oh, and let's not forget Animal Control and Child Protection Services. Busy, busy. Just as busy as my workload (and yet, I still managed to write a review).

Memorable bit: PENNY'S "ADMIT IT. YOU'RE. A. DOG." BULLYING.
If there was a Top 20 Bullying Moments Contest, this sequence gets my vote! It was executed perfectly. You can feel the evil of Penny, and the confusion and hurt of Sherman. Slapping a sandwich and asking the boy to "Fetch it!" because "Your father's a dog so that means you're a dog, too."... absolute harshness! The theater was in complete silence! I bet some kids shed a tear, too.

Funniest bit: AGAMEMNON AND LEONARDO'S HUMAN CHILD.
Everything Agamemnon said was funny! He deserves his own sequel. Lol! Leonardo da Vinci's creepy human child invention was spine-tingling as it was hilarious, too. It's crazy how that abomination was actually rolling around town terrorizing people. Lmao!

Victory bit: LOVE THE PART WHERE MR. PEABODY BIT LADY GRUNION!
No matter how human Mr. Peabody presents himself to be, deep down he is still a dog. It's cool that he still remembered that. I actually forgot it myself in the middle of it all. This part made me want to stand up and cheer and throw great amounts of confetti!

Fail bit: "I'M A DOG, TOO!" "I'M A DOG, TOO!" "I'M A DOG, TOO!"
The one-by-one bandwagon treatment. Cli...che. We've seen this in a lot of dramatic climax scenes. Spiderman's "You will have to go through me.", "And me.", "And me.", "And me." and Peter Pan's "I do believe in fairies!",  "I do believe in fairies!", "I do I do!", "I do believe in fairies!" To mention a few. Plus, "I'm a dog, too' just isn't that catchy. Well, that's just me, dawg.

Is it worth watching on the big screen? I'd give it a YES. Because the visuals were epic in its high-techness and historical trips' hugeness. The puns were so worth the popcorn. And Happy Meal's brain twister freebies are cool!
So grab your kids and catch Mr. Peabody and Sherman in cinemas today!