I have to thank The Mad Hatter for writing a review that inspired me to watch this movie. The trailer didn’t get my attention at all. It made it look like a somewhat cute kids movie but nothing special. But it is quite the opposite: How to Train Your Dragon is in fact the first new movie to make it onto my “!Must See!” list since A Single Man (which I saw in January).

I’ve been trying to put my finger on what makes this movie so special and I think it is the writing: it’s a very funny script. I found myself laughing quite a lot, usually at the little side lines. The story itself is not that new: boy is trying to fit into society but just can’t until he finds his own way and becomes the hero. We’ve all seen that one before. But How to Train Your Dragon is told in such a sweet way that it feels like it’s the first time to see this story told. It’s just so damn cute that you have to love it. The animation is really well done and it’s a great use of 3D. It feels a bit like you are flying on a dragon yourself. The dragons are surprisingly cute, especially the main dragon Toothless is adorable. They are very cat-like and I really wish I could get one.

It is a real adventure story and I didn’t feel bored for one second. The characters are very likable. I loved the cranky Viking father (Gerad Butler, I’m sure RTM will agree with me on this). The main character, Hiccup, was nerdy enough to be likable and at the same time he wasn’t a cliché. His love interest, Astrid, was also very cute and wearing an awesome outfit with little sculls on her skirt. I highly recommend watching this film, especially in 3D. It’s the first film in a long time that really entertained me.

Since I can’t find anything wrong with this movie, I simply have to give it a perfect rating:

Wanting an evening of light, fun entertainment, we decided to have a Tomb Raider “marathon” yesterday. I had seen both of them before (a few times, actually) but I still really like the films.

In the first one, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara (Angelina Jolie) finds a mysterious clock that was hidden for her by her now dead father. When she finds out that the clock can control time once placed together with two pieces of a broken triangle at a certain time on a certain day at a certain place when all nine planets align (which only happens every five thousand years), she just has to go and find this hidden temple. She is not the only one looking for a way to control time, as the sect the Illuminati also want to have the device.

Best scene: It has to be the scene where she is doing some sort of relaxation workout on bungee-cords in her house, which suddenly gets invaded by the Illuminati. She is up against hundreds of men who really don’t stand the chance against her.

In the second film, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, there is even more at stake. Here, Lara is looking for Pandora’s Box, which was supposed to have created life itself. She is working together with the British Intelligence and her ex-lover Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) to find the box before a scientist finds it who wants to sell it to the highest bidders to release a plague onto the world to rid it of, in his eyes, unwanted people.

Best scene: Lara needs to get to the surface of the ocean, so she cuts her arm to attract a shark, then punches the shark and holds onto the shark’s fin. Very impressive!

Both films are action-packed and full of mystery and intrigues. I have only ever played the game once, at my godfather’s place, a really long time ago, but I think the films do the game justice. I love the character of Lara Croft. She is so rich that she doesn’t have to work and archeology is her main hobby. She is a tomb raider, not because she needs money or anything like that. It just seems to give her a kick. She is living in a huge mansion with her butler and a geek who takes care of the electrical equipment. As far as action films go, these are two of my favorites. It is really nice to have a woman as the main character of an action film. And she is a lot cooler, tougher and better looking than most of her male counterparts. Somehow the stories in action films are never as important to me as the main characters. But I do like intrigues, so the stories of the Tomb Raider films suit me just fine .

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft: I personally think she is perfect for the role. Angelina can really pull off the female Indiana Jones. She looks exactly like the computer game version and I can easily believe that she can do all those crazy things she is doing in the film (well, if anyone could do them, I think it would be her). She also has a certain arrogance in her appearance that fits perfectly for this rich, spoiled British woman who is risking her life just for a bit of fun. It is quite sad what is happening to Angelina Jolie lately…she used to be so cool and rock’n'roll (especially in Gina, Girl Interrupted and Gone in Sixty Seconds) and now she has become boringly mainstream. What a pity. But in Tomb Raider she definitely kicks ass!