Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of June 9, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon
Rated PG for sequences of intense action and peril
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
In Theaters
In 2010, Dreamworks and filmmaker Dean DeBlois blew us away with the spectacular animated film How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. Fifteen years later, they are teaming up again to bring the story with a live action version. The movie takes place on the island of Berk, where a community of coastal Vikings are at constant war with dragons, who seem to love to attack their village and steal their livestock. The son of the chieftain, Hiccup (Mason Thames) longs to be a dragon fighter like his father, but he lacks the strength and skills necessary to do the job. But what he lacks in physical presence, he more than makes up for in brains. Designing a tool to snare dragons, he manages to capture a beast that none of his clan has ever seen: the elusive night fury. Unfortunately, he can’t stomach the thought of killing it, so instead he befriends it and comes to the realization that dragons don’t have to be their enemies. This remake, unsurprisingly, is almost identical to the animated version, which completely makes sense since that film was absolutely brilliant. Replacing the stunning animation here is breathtaking CG and cinematography. But most of the elements from the original didn’t need to be tinkered with, and they very adeptly left those things alone. While the opening felt a bit like you were watching a stage production at Universal Studios (the characters are a little silly for live action), once you get to the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless, there is an emotional pull that is hard to describe. Just as it did fifteen years ago, the tears started streaming and I was hooked. Much of the credit for this belongs to composer John Powell who creates a gorgeous variation on a theme with this new but familiar score which lifts the entire film on its wings. Was the film necessary? Probably not. But that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. I’m actually jealous of the folks who didn’t see the original first as I wonder what it would be like to have this as your source material. A-
The Life of Chuck
Rated R for language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
In Theaters
Taken from a Stephen King novella, The Life of Chuck takes place in three parts, told in reverse order, about a man named Chuck. From the very start, things are weird and kind of scary as Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a schoolteacher at what appears to be the end of the world. California has fallen into the ocean, the internet is gone, and life is rapidly changing for the worse. And we are slowly introduced to Chuck (Tom Hiddleston). But never fear, the second and third parts make sense of the whole thing, and by the end we get a beautiful tale, full of life, love and dance. It sounds weird, I know, but this is a truly great little film that you will find difficult to describe to others without giving everything away. So don’t. Writer/director Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) seems to understand really well how to bring King to the big screen, which is no small feat. Sure the whole thing is a bit odd, but some of the best art is. A