Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Welcome back everyone. Today Jeffrey and I will be reviewing another movie sequel from this summer: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Let's get to it.

This movie was, in a word, awesome. Having watched and liked the previous film, we went to the theater with great expectations; and it did not disappoint. This movie has so many good things about it that I'm not sure where to begin. It's got good characters, good graphics, good pacing, and at the heart of it, a great plot.

For starters, I really like that the story didn't take place immediately where the first one left off, but it also wasn't in the distant future. If it had followed directly from the first film, it would feel more like the second half of a two-parter than a proper sequel. If, however, it was too far into the future, then the original protagonist would either be in his old age or dead; thus removing the movie too far from its predecessor. Instead, it struck a balance between the two and took place around 10 years after the events of the first film. Caesar (from Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is still around, but much has changed since we last saw him and his apes disappear into the forest.

Now let's talk characters. There were plenty of interesting and multi-layered characters (both apes and humans) throughout the film. Chiefly among these, of course, is Caesar himself. Now that he has become a leader for some time, his demeanor has become quite different from his younger, less experienced self. However, even though he has taken on a more menacing or hardened appearance, we also get to see his gentler side coming up once in a while throughout the movie. As for antagonists, there were not one, but two troublemakers that caused much of the conflict in the movie. What I really liked about it is that one was human while the other was ape, which was a clear message from the film makers that not all humans or all apes were the bad guys here; the apes were as morally diverse as their human counterparts. One thing I didn't like about the human baddie was that he felt like a one-note character, and that note was "I hate apes". It would have been better if that note had actually made sense, but it doesn't even do that. His hatred for apes was illogical and unwarranted. If he had, say, a tragic backstory which involved apes doing some personal wrong to him, that might work, but the character as he was presented really had nothing going for him motivation wise. Conversely, the ape antagonist was mistreated by humans in the past, so him hating on humans makes perfect sense to the audience, even if they can't condone his actions.

Besides having great characters, this movie also delivered when it came to the plot. It's a rather simple one, really, and one that's probably been done more than a few times, but the pacing of it was done just right so that you didn't feel like you've seen it all before or that the movie was dragging on for too long. Jeffrey and I both thought that they did an especially good job in building up tension, in individual scenes as well as generally throughout the movie. The apes and humans were striving to maintain a fragile peace, and any misunderstanding or hostility could very well break it. As the audience, you knew that it was coming, you just didn't know when, and the film did great work in making you stay on the edge of your seat and wonder: Is this it? Would this time do it?

All in all, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a delightful movie to watch, from beginning to end. There were no stall moments, but there were plenty of interesting characters plus an engaging storyline. We highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes movies.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Welcome to the first ever post of Movies, Music, and More! Today I will be talking about and (unofficially) reviewing the movie How to Train Your Dragon 2, which I had the pleasure of seeing a few weeks back. Today I also have a special guest with me, and who will be with us for the remainder of the month; my brother Jeffrey! Our opinions on movies are rather similar, but any differences in our views will be noted here. I suppose it would make more sense to review the first movie first, but I wanted to start with the sequel while it's still relatively fresh in my mind. So without further adieu, let's get started.

Simply put, this movie was everything a sequel should be, and more. It not only built on the universe that the first movie had introduced, but it did so without contradicting or otherwise ruining what came before. And it wasn't just the fictional world that got expanded; in terms of story, graphics, and emotional depth, this movie clearly took everything that was good about its predecessor and improved on them. One of the things I liked most about this film was that it visibly matured, as if alongside the fans and viewers of the first one. Unlike most animated sequels (that I've seen), the characters in this actually aged physically; think about that. Instead of the film makers merely telling us that it's been 5 years later, we actually get to see the evidence that shows us it's been 5 years since the original movie. Besides graphically, the film has also matured in terms of emotional content.

When the first movie came out, it had a fun-and-games kind of atmosphere to it. Of course, there were moments when things got a little serious, but overall it was a happy little story. The second movie kept the same kind of silly funness, but it also added a more mature tone to the franchise. On more occasions than one, I found myself getting teary-eyed during the movie, and let me tell you, I don't tear up easily. And by not easily, I mean it doesn't happen for years at a time, so that's a clue as to how much the sequel has evolved emotionally. Jeffrey doesn't quite agree with me on this, as it didn't draw up a lot of strong emotions from him (though that didn't make it any less enjoyable for him). I suppose some of the 'emotional' scenes were pretty standard stuff, but something about them touched me in ways that most movies haven't in a long while.


One of the things I found the film to be weak in was character development. The main character and a few prominent ones underwent enough change, but most of the supporting cast, including the main character's girlfriend, didn't really have anything going for them aside from the roles they were given in the first film. In their defense, Jeffrey says that the events in the film did not garner character growth from the side characters, so fair enough. I guess when I said character development I also meant character depth; a lot of these characters seem to be a bit one-dimensional, with one or two traits defining their whole identity. The real lack of development though, was actually with the villain. His back-story was vague and his motives were so forgettable that we're already having trouble recalling them. His powers/abilities went largely unexplained in the film (though the film's official website explains some things, that's really not good enough).

The other thing that was a little weak was the final battle. The way that the hero resolved the conflict was so cliché that we saw it coming a mile away. But given that it was cliché, I think the film makers did a good job with the actual execution of that scene.

One last thing deserves mention. The voice acting in this film was as superb as if not more so than the first one. The voices of the actors really brought the characters to life, and it made what could have been a good film into a great one.

So there you have it. How to Train Your Dragon 2 was a fun, enjoyable film that stayed true to its predecessor but also improved from it in quite a few ways. Jeffrey also found this film to be thoroughly entertaining, but doesn't see it as an improvement from the first one. As far as sequels go, this one is probably one of my top ten, and definitely top five for animated sequels.