I received this today and watched it just now. Watching both presentations, then the extras, I have came to my conclussion on this product.Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury Review:
I'm not going to give away the story, only what I liked and what I didn't. First, I'm a huge fan of the movie, I actually enjoyed Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (contrary to other reviews on here), and I think it's the most original family flick to come out in years. So when I heard that they were releasing two new features, I was excited, but can I say that now?
The Good:
The first movie I watched was Gift of the Night Fury and in the previews they made it look like that Dreamworks really pinched the penny on the animation, but looks are deceiving, and in all reality it actually wasn't bad. The story, though short, was enjoyable and had a lot of good comedy parts as well as some good action. I like it how they gave Fishlegs a bigger role than in the movie. Oh and yeah, I do got to admit, the baby dragons were cute...there I said it.
The Bad:
(Updated 11.17.11):
Too short! I know they have a budget though, but come on guys, two movies (one 22 minutes/one 18 minutes...correct me if I'm wrong), but it just feels a bit too short.
I rewatched it again and now I really don't mind Toothless appearance. I thought he looked weird, but after I watched it again, they were only a few parts where I thought he looked kind of odd, but I take back what I said. If anything, I didn't like how they had a lot less of Toothless, but it makes sense considering the ending.
Astrid was another problem. She didn't have the girl power like she did in the movie and seemed more like a very watered down version. She didn't have the attitude and seemed to me she was brainwashed by Disney. Yeah, she just acted way too happy for my taste. *Update* After watching this a few more times, meh, it's actually kind of cute in a way, but I still miss the girl power Astrid.
Final Rating: 4/5 Stars I actually found myself laughing a lot more watching it the second time. There were some problems, but it's worth a rewatch.
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Book of Dragons:
The Good: It was basically profiling all the dragons that live among the people of Bourke which made it seem fun. The dragon ideas were creative and hopefully some of them will make an appearance in the sequel coming out in 2014.
The Bad: Although some parts were amusing in humor, they weren't laugh out loud funny. I really can't say more about it, because it was more of a movie profiling all the dragons that are known in Bourke and nothing else really.
3/5 Stars: It did what it was meant to do and that is tell you the different species of dragons. Nothing too special.
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Extras:
This is probably the main reason why I gave it one less star was because I was dissapointed with the extras. They were okay: they had deleted scenes for Gift of the Night Fury, they had Gobber's Dragon Training, but other than that the rest wasn't really worth it, I guess. I'll be honest, I haven't checked them all out yet, but the rest seem more generated towards kids, and that's fine. But I think something on the sequel would be cool, maybe an interview with one of the directors or what have you talking about the upcoming sequel. An interview with the actors would've been great as well.
Dreamworks could of done better, but it wasn't all that bad I suppose. I'm going to rewatch it tonight and see if I can see something I didn't before, but for right now that's the first review out there on this.
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I've heard some people say Astrid was out of character in the short, but I disagree. Astrid's still hardcore. The thing is, there's not a lot of actual conflict in this short. Hiccup gets the real angst, and Astrid is sort of the harborer of cheer. I don't think that necessarily makes her out of character. She did call the other Vikings out on their crap several times. And there's Astrid/Hiccup! Really ADORABLE Astrid/Hiccup, in fact.Not sure where the confusion comes in play -these are movie shorts; not full-fledged movies; one could easily check out the time duration posted on the back of the DVD/BD. The material adds to the universe; and I'm thankful for the releases. "The Gift" has top notch production, just like the theatrical movie; it's set up like a 22 minute Christmas special, if one were to add in 7 minutes of commercials as network television, I could easily see this being played down the line on TV as a yearly holiday special, and I hope it does. I thought "Dragon" in general was robbed of it's Oscar last year; and I'm just happy more material is being released. There's a plethera of special features, and all combined easily makes up for a short animated movie in ways. Well worth the $15 it is being sold for.I had previously loved the original "How to train your Dragon" Since I had seen it number of times, I have not
checked new one ordered. BUT I expected the new double pack to be movies. Instead they were around 20 minutes each
& one did not even seem to have continuity. I seldom return things because it is too much trouble but should
probably return these.Everyone loves Toothless. These two shorts were awesome and I can never seem to put them away becuase I'm always watching them. The Gift of the Night Fury is a cute movie and sure brought tears to my eyes in certain places. I can't stop watching it. Book of Dragons is also a good short. Good humor as usual. Has a fantastic end.
I think I have dragon fever becuase I have now started this pak to own as much as I can that's dragon themed.
This was an awesome purchase and you'll enjoy them too!
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