mmk4725's review against another edition
5.0
Always fun to read the thought and effort that went into creating an animated movie
alexauthorshay's review against another edition
4.0
The book was a lot thinner than many other art books for films I've read, but it included a lot more information than I expected given that it's a kids' movie (that that kids would necessarily be the ones looking at this title). In addition to character and setting art, they talk about adapting things from book to movie, why they made certain changes, difficulties with getting the animation style and programs to do what they wanted—a lot of things that don't get discussed in other art books, even cartoon ones. It was actually really neat, and a surprisingly quick read.
livres_et_sortileges's review against another edition
(Not an appropriate book for ratings)
Gods the illustrations in this are stunning. Everyone involved in the movie loved it so much and payed so much attention to details... which is what makes it so perfect in so many ways. But people will say I lack impartiality.
Gods the illustrations in this are stunning. Everyone involved in the movie loved it so much and payed so much attention to details... which is what makes it so perfect in so many ways. But people will say I lack impartiality.
wanderlustlover's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first of two art books behind all the art and animation for How to Train Your Dragon. It's gorgeous and I found myself breathless while turning through a lot of the pages. I like seeing how the images of the character origins, with the books, shifted to become who they each became in the books. I like all the details about the dragons and how they chose what to display in locations, both that worked and had to be retooled to work better before producing the movie.
Definitely gorgeous and recommended to any fan of the series!
Definitely gorgeous and recommended to any fan of the series!
panda_incognito's review against another edition
4.0
This brought back a lot of good memories. I was obsessed with this movie and the soundtrack in the winter/spring of 2010-2011, and since that was the worst period of my life, it's encouraging to have a few mental spaces from that time that I can look back on with such joy. This story was a huge part of my life back then, and reading this transported me to what it was like to watch this movie, listen to the music, and feel glimmers of light and beauty when everything seemed awful and unendurable. I'm so thankful for how well my life turned out, and got a little bit choked up as this book inspired me to reflect on all of the unexpected joys and new friendships that followed that seemingly hopeless time in my life.
However, even though I enjoyed this book for subjective, nostalgic reasons, it's also a great glimpse into storytelling and animation. I enjoyed the concept art and information about the film-making process, and since I always mention How to Train Your Dragon as an exception to the book always being better than the movie, I especially valued getting further insight into how the creators selectively, wisely changed major elements of the story to add a meaningful character arc, tension, drama, and secondary character development to this movie. They did a phenomenal job, and I'm very grateful, since their work brought such consolation and joy to younger me.
However, even though I enjoyed this book for subjective, nostalgic reasons, it's also a great glimpse into storytelling and animation. I enjoyed the concept art and information about the film-making process, and since I always mention How to Train Your Dragon as an exception to the book always being better than the movie, I especially valued getting further insight into how the creators selectively, wisely changed major elements of the story to add a meaningful character arc, tension, drama, and secondary character development to this movie. They did a phenomenal job, and I'm very grateful, since their work brought such consolation and joy to younger me.
trike's review against another edition
3.0
One of my favorite parts of this book had very little to do with the book itself. I was listening to music as I read it and just as I got to Craig Ferguson's introduction talking about how the movie explained his love of flying, which he discovered after becoming a pilot to combat his fear of flying, Phillip Phillip's song "Fly" started playing. It was a nice little coincidence.
As to the book itself, I want to like it more than I did, but it feels strangely lightweight to me. I think part of the problem is that Cressida Cowell's introduction is really terrific and is a hard act to follow.
My favorite part of the book was the discussion of how the character of Fishlegs evolved. He went from a skinny, bespectacled dragon nerd to the overweight final character. Originally intended as Hiccup's sidekick, they decided that the story was more powerful if Hiccup did his journey alone, and so they changed Fishlegs to better distinguish him visually from Hiccup, who is also a skinny nerd.
Which clarifies what is bugging me about the book: there's very little of this process on display. Perhaps Fishlegs was the most dramatic alteration, but four-plus years of development surely resulted in a huge number of changes in every aspect of the production since it is apparently a huge departure from the source material. Instead we mostly see final designs, with early sketches thrown in here and there.
I also really liked the Viking iconography designs, which are really just incidental things to populate the background of scenes, but the look is cohesive and fun. I could see some of these becoming popular in the vein of garden gnomes, because they combine Viking aesthetics with a Mayan/Aztec visual flair for a peculiar yet whimsical North/South fusion.
Which is kind of weird, since the movie itself is simply jam-packed with interesting stuff. For some reason the book doesn't show them off to their best advantage. I did like the factoid that dragon designs on the Viking houses indicated which dragons those Vikings and personally slain.
Anyway, there are a lot of great pictures here, but I merely liked the book rather than loved it.
As to the book itself, I want to like it more than I did, but it feels strangely lightweight to me. I think part of the problem is that Cressida Cowell's introduction is really terrific and is a hard act to follow.
My favorite part of the book was the discussion of how the character of Fishlegs evolved. He went from a skinny, bespectacled dragon nerd to the overweight final character. Originally intended as Hiccup's sidekick, they decided that the story was more powerful if Hiccup did his journey alone, and so they changed Fishlegs to better distinguish him visually from Hiccup, who is also a skinny nerd.
Which clarifies what is bugging me about the book: there's very little of this process on display. Perhaps Fishlegs was the most dramatic alteration, but four-plus years of development surely resulted in a huge number of changes in every aspect of the production since it is apparently a huge departure from the source material. Instead we mostly see final designs, with early sketches thrown in here and there.
I also really liked the Viking iconography designs, which are really just incidental things to populate the background of scenes, but the look is cohesive and fun. I could see some of these becoming popular in the vein of garden gnomes, because they combine Viking aesthetics with a Mayan/Aztec visual flair for a peculiar yet whimsical North/South fusion.
Which is kind of weird, since the movie itself is simply jam-packed with interesting stuff. For some reason the book doesn't show them off to their best advantage. I did like the factoid that dragon designs on the Viking houses indicated which dragons those Vikings and personally slain.
Anyway, there are a lot of great pictures here, but I merely liked the book rather than loved it.