where: EDWARDS FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfield, CA
when: Tuesday ( Dollar Popcorn Day ), March 30th, 2010
show: 9:30 p.m.
costs: $17.50 Ticket + $0.00 small Diet Coke ( Free Drink Loyalty Reward ) + $1.00 small Popcorn = $18.50
auditorium: 12, with the I-Max 3-D screen
seat: 5th row, seat 6
synopsis: A runt of a Viking, Hiccup, by sheer luck, captures the most elusive and mysterious of all dragons: The Night Fury. When Hiccup decides to spare the dragon's life, whom he later christens with the name, Toothless, a strong bond of friendship, loyalty and trust develops between the two of them. And Hiccup gradually learns that what he and his people know about dragons are all based on wild speculations.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) New Viking village; 2.) Night Fury; 3.) Planning a sneak attack; 4.) Crash site; 5.) Dragon training; 6.) Missing tail; 7.) Dragon guide book; 8.) Second dragon training; 9.) Peace offering; 10.) A downed dragon is a dead dragon; 11.) New tail rudder; 12.) Today is about team work; 13.) Grass; 14.) Scratch; 15.) Spot light; 16.) Blacksmith shop; 17.) Defeated Vikings; 18.) Free fall; 19.) Little dragons; 20.) Everything is wrong; 21.) Half a breastplate; 22.) Elder's decision; 23.) You scared him; 24.) Let me show you; 25.) I'm sorry; 26.) Dragon swarm; 27.) Dragon queen; 28.) That's for everything else; 29.) Tournament; 30.) Captured; 31.) Nest; 32.) You throw your lot in with them; 33.) All-out battle armada; 34.) The crazy plan; 35.) Dragons' lair; 36.) Angry queen; 37.) Surprise attack; 38.) Proud to call you my son; 39.) Crash landing; 40.) You're in my house; and 41.) New Viking village life.
audience reaction: It was the last show for the day and, as such, no children were present in the audience for me to have a better feel for the viewers' reaction. But I would safely say that all the people who watched this movie with me liked it, at the very least.
recommendation: I love the I-Max 3-D animation in this movie! The perfect attention to detail is simply amazing, i.e. the hair, the fur, the clothes, the underwater scenes, etc. And I love how they put barnacles on the viking ships. Kids would love to see this movie.
spoiler alert: Somebody forgot to put scales on the fish--'must be the new CGI guy! ( Hey, Hollywood, can I have the new guy's job since I'm quite detail-oriented? ) At high speeds, the artificial tail rudder would get twisted out of alignment, making the flight erratically dangerous. How was Toothless able to fly to the rescue without somebody controlling his tail rudder?
fyi: In some parts of the Philippines, if a kid hiccups, it means that the kid is growing. Obviously, I didn't hiccup enough.
Whenever I would get a hiccup, and nobody would be around to make me feel self-conscious, I would raise my right hand above my chest and stomach to send calm, soothing energy into my body to get rid of the hiccup. It works almost instantaneously every time. I learned this trick on my own when I realized that I could manipulate my body's energy field--just one of the perks of doing meditation.
word of advice: Size does not always matter.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
tidbits: I needed to see this movie to unwind after a stressful and hectic day at work: Someone in my department called in sick, we were shipped too much of too many, the big bosses were making their rounds with the manager, and there were too many customers. And I didn't get enough sleep beforehand.
I was scheduled to come in to work today at 4:00 p.m. So, the night before, I went to see HOT TUB TIME MACHINE. And I blogged about it as soon as I got home and after I had eaten a late meal. At around 3:00 a.m., I decided to meditate first before going to sleep. By the time I finally went to bed, it was already after 4:00 a.m. No problem, my shift doesn't start for another 12 hours. Then, at 7:45 a.m., my answering machine kicked-in with a message from a co-worker asking me to come in early because we were a man short. But I needed my sleep. So I tried to catch more ZZZs until just before 11:00 a.m. After I dragged myself out of bed, I called my department and told them that I still had one errand to run before I could be at work by around 12:30 p.m.
But had I known what was in store for me, I wouldn't have voluntarily shown up early for work!
