How to train your Dragon

"This

is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have... Dragons [...] Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues." 

Hiccup is the son of Stoick the vast, chief of the tribe on this island. He has one problem. Well, actually a lot of them, but they can all be summed up in this: He's not viking like. Not that he doesn't want to help fight the dragons. The problem is that whenever he comes in, something bad happens. So to prove his competence, Hiccup decides to kill a dragon. Not much of a problem. Except that he doesn't want to get just any kind of dragon. He wants the ultimate prize. "But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-" "Night Fury!" "...This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and never misses.” Despite all this, Hiccup is determined to bring down a night fury. In a battle with the dragons, he manages to approximate the night fury's position, and brings it down with a net. Does he kill it? No, or the movie would probably be called how to kill your dragon, not How to Train your Dragon. And as the illegal friendship begins, both Hiccup and the night fury have many problems coming their way.

How to Train your dragons is a movie featuring lots of fire, combat, and everything from weird to cool to random and funny between the vikings and dragons. Despite a lot of violence though, there is no real damage done  by dragons or vikings, even when beating with hammers, or clawing faces. Except for that toothless loses part of a steering wing. And, (Spoilers) Hiccup ends up losing a foot.

Because of its unusual ideas, HtTyD was a big hit, and was widely loved by audiences ranging from little kids to grown-ups. And for people who love dragons - it was basically one of the best movies ever. In the movie, a lot of values are stressed, including family, friends, and loyalty. Hiccup struggles to work with His dragon, Toothless, while maintaining his loyalty to the vikings, his friends and family.  And apart from that, there his crush on Astrid, a Viking girl. All factors combine to form a movie that's half-comedy, half-adventure. And it's great, one of Dreamworks biggest hits.

Surf's Up

Filmmaker: Quiet on the set. And we're rolling. Cody Maverick interview, take one.
Cody Maverick: So why are you guys here to interview me?

 Everybody knows penguins surf, right? As he himself puts it, "As soon as there was the first wave, there was the first surfer. All you needed was a piece of driftwood or a block of ice, and you were off." Codys chances however, are slim. A colony as far north as Shiverpool doesn't usually get a whole lot of scouts except for when the annual Big Z memorial surf contest comes up. And when Cody gets his chance to go to the big surfing contest on the tropical island of Pen Gu, he does everything to go.

His first friend among the penguins who are going is in fact - a chicken. Chicken Joe. And as soon as they arrive, the two hang out together. However, when Cody challenges the infamous Tank Evans, it turns out he's not really that good at surfing. Okay. He sucks. Fortunately Lani, the lifeguard, takes him to a surfer named Geek who lives in the Jungle to heal Cody's injuries, and it turns out Geek is not only a pro surfer, he'll even help Cody make a board.

Two sides clash in this movie. On one hand you have Cody, the young energetic, ambitious Penguin who wants to win more than anything. On the other, you have a cool pro surfer, trying to show Cody that winning doesn't matter. What matters is that it's fun, and friendship is more important than trophies.

While this movie is made as a family movie and for small kids, teens can really enjoy it. It's packed with humor, as chicken Joe goes to search for Cody instead of just asking, and action with surfing. After watching this movie, you're also likely to have an almost uncontrollable urge to become a surfing pro yourself. So if you like sports, comedy, and random animals (from penguins and small birds to porcupines) Surf's up is for you.