Now that we're in 2019, I get to watch a whole new slew of movies. And still, I can't review everything, so here is part five of my ongoing series where I talk about movies I either missed the window to make a full review of or didn't have enough material to make a full review. In the case of this addition, it's all the latter. Sorry. Click here to view the last one. Anyways, here we go!
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Release Date: February 22
Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, F. Murray Abraham, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harington, and Gerard Butler
Score: 7/10 (Good)
While I don't think it's as good as the previous two movies, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a really good conclusion to this trilogy. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, giving us the best visuals of the series. The dragons are all entertaining and wonderfully designed, the flying scenes are incredible, and the action is quite good. There is a good mixture of innocent and playful fun and emotionally potent drama. I will say that the focus on the comedic side characters do bog the movie down at parts. They were in the previous two films, but they felt more relevant to the story and their presence wasn't there too much. For this one, there was a little too much time spent with them, and the comedy that came from them wasn't particularly funny. I also found the villain to be very weak. He wasn't particularly threatening or charismatic or funny. He was bland and not interesting to watch. Besides that, this is a worthy end to the series. I compare this trilogy to the original Star Wars trilogy. The first two are fantastic and the third is really good, but it doesn't stack up to the previous two. That is the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy in a nutshell. I highly suggest you check this out. It didn't blow me away, but it is very enjoyable, and you might like this one even better than me. Go see it for yourself.
Captain Marvel
Release Date: March 8
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law
Score: 5/10 (Average)
This movie isn't awful, but it is very dull. The story was boring, with an origin story that did not do much for me. The script was weak, with a lot of the drama and comedy not working. I also found Captain Marvel to be a very uninteresting character. She was written in such bland, personality-less way. The writers seemed to try and make her a cross between Iron Man and Captain America in terms of personality, but boring. I know this is one movie with her, but as an introduction to her, it was pretty underwhelming. The directing was flat, the action scenes were not very impressive, and the cinematography was very inconsistent. Plus, the villain is among the worst in the MCU. If Captain America is bland, then the villain is tofu. However, despite all its flaws, there are some positives. The special effects are incredible, in particular the de-aging stuff they did with Coulson and Fury. Samuel L. Jackson was very charming, and his interactions with Captain Marvel made for the best moments of the film. When the film hits earth, there are a lot of entertaining character interactions. Plus, the film does some really cool things with lighting that I liked a lot. This movie also has one of the best uses of an animal sidekick I've seen in a while with Goose the Cat. Captain Marvel was pretty uninspired and forgettable, but it wasn't a snore-fest like Thor: The Dark World and Ant Man and the Wasp, so I guess things could have been worse. It wasn't awful, but I certainly have no plans to see it again. Hopefully Avengers: Endgame will use this character to the best of her abilities and make an excellent movie watching experience.
Shazam!
Release Date: April 5
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Djimon Hounsou
Score: 7/10 (Good)
In my opinion, Shazam is easily the most fun movie in the DC cinematic universe. There's a great youthful energy about it, and it pulls it off quite well. All of the performances are great, the chemistry between the family is excellent, and the action scenes are very entertaining. The script is full of hysterical comedy and surprisingly genuine emotion. The characters are all likable, specifically the family, and I loved hearing about their stories. If anything, I would have liked to have seen more of the family. They are all so unique and fun, and seeing them interact is genuinely heartwarming. I wish we got more of them. As for negatives, the story involving the villain didn't grab me. There's a nice setup, but the way it's executed seemed pretty ham-fisted, to the point of being comical, at least in a different sense from the rest of the movie. The main story like is genuinely funny, while the villain story is unintentionally funny. I would have liked to have seen more of a balance there. I also think that the storytelling is a little choppy. The plot is so energetic that the pacing tends to feel rushed, especially in the second act. Spending more time with the characters could have benefited the film, making it more focused. And finally, there are moments when the special effects are garbage. Sometimes, they're pretty good, specifically when it comes to the powers of Shazam, but other than that, a lot of the CGI looked quite fake. It's not the worst in the DC cinematic universe, but it's still pretty bad. Besides that, I highly enjoyed Shazam. I think Wonder Woman is the better movie, but Shazam was more fun. If you like super hero movies for the campy fun, then you'll highly enjoy this film. Go out and see it for yourself.
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