According to Variety Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig will reprise their speaking roles in How to Train Your Dragon 2, which is currently in pre-production at DreamWorks.

As well as overwhelmingly positive reviews (98% on Rotten Tomatoes) How to Train Your Dragon became a surprise hit by taking nearly $500 million at the worldwide box office. With that kind of response a sequel was guaranteed.

After sharing writing and directing duties with Chris Sanders on the original, Dean DeBlois will take over both tasks on the sequel, with Sanders remaining as an executive producer. The current aim is to release the sequel in 2013, and as Cressida Cowell’s book series contains 8 books in total there will be a wealth of material to draw from.

How to Train Your Dragon will be released on DVD and Blu-ray October 15th, and you can pre-order it from Amazon via these links:

- Single Disc DVD
- Two-Disc Edition DVD
- Blu-ray

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A new trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has Youtubed its way online. Despite only lasting 1 minute and 2 seconds it contains a lot of new footage, including new special effects shots and scenes featuring the film’s villain Maxim, played by Alfred Molina. We also see more of Teresa Palmer who plays Jay Baruchel’s lady friend in the film.

For me Nicolas Cage redeemed himself from all of his past duds with Kick-Ass, and I am now once again a Cage fan.

At the moment I’m not sure how The Sorcerer’s Apprentice will fare at the box office, as it could go either way. Opening the same day as Christopher Nolan’s Inception certainly won’t help Cage to kick-start a potential new franchise, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently said the box office battle “is going to be interesting”. Inception will be going after a more mature crowd, so Disney may aim their marketing towards the younger demographic.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice will be released on July 16th and is directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure and its sequel).

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An international trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has made its way online. It contains quite a lot of new footage not seen in the first trailer, including more shots featuring the film’s villain Maxim, played by Alfred Molina. We also see more of Teresa Palmer who plays Jay Baruchel’s lady friend in the film.

It definitely has that Jerry Bruckheimer vibe to it, which means it will probably be a fun ride. With both this and Kick-Ass Nicolas Cage may have a very good 2010, and we may finally be able to forgive him for The Wicker Man (if people haven’t already).

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice will be released on July 16th 2010 and is directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure and its sequel).

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When I saw the first trailer for How To Train Your Dragon, I must admit it didn’t pique my interest. A non-Pixar film is automatically fighting an uphill battle in the animation industry, and Dragon just didn’t seem that interesting to me. So I practically surprised myself when I decided to check out an advanced screening (in 3D, no less) at the Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Thursday night. I was also surprised with how much I ended up enjoying the film.

How To Train Your Dragon shares plot elements with a lot of stories we’ve seen recently. The plot follows Hiccup, a young Viking living in a culture that thrives on fighting dragons. His dad is the chief of the village and wants nothing more than for his son to grow up to be a hard-nosed Viking like the rest of the tribe. That’s what Hiccup wants, too – but the problem is he’s kind of clumsy and seems to be more of an inventor than a warrior (he’s the apprentice to a blacksmith). When Hiccup uses one of his inventions to take down a Night Fury (the most mysterious and rare of all dragon classifications), he finds he doesn’t have it in him to kill the beast and instead befriends it. As the rest of the story unfolds, Hiccup attempts to convince his tribe that dragons may not be as bad as they thought.

So why did I like this film? First off, aside from the overly-cartoonish characters (admittedly a Dreamworks style that I don’t particularly care for), the animation was phenomenal. There were a few sequences in which Viking ships were travelling over water where I literally whispered “wow” in the theater because of how beautifully the water was rendered. I know it’s a small detail, but it was some of the best CG water I’ve ever seen. More than the water, though, I loved the actual “dragon training” sequences. Remember the scene in Avatar where Jake Sully’s Na’vi flies through Pandora on the back of a dragon? This film does that same sequence, but better (and about half an hour longer). You can practically feel the wind on your face as Hiccup and his dragon soar through the air, coast above the water, and dodge through rock formations. It’s genuinely thrilling filmmaking, and I had an insane amount of fun with those scenes.

I mentioned before the film shares plot elements with a few other films. Besides the Avatar similarities (which are too blatant to ignore), How To Train Your Dragon also borrows a bit from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, one of my favorite animated films of the past decade. The protagonists in both films are “different” from societal norms; they are outcast inventors trying to impress their fathers and score their first girlfriend at the same time. They both get in over their heads, but eventually prove that not only is it OK to be different, but it’s ultimately necessary for the well-being of their respective towns. Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the (slight spoiler alert) huge monster dragon that appears near the end of the film bears a striking resemblance to the Kraken from the upcoming Clash of the Titans. The animators must have been pissed when they saw that Titans trailer.

Rising above the shuffle of filmic references and breathtaking visuals is a solid cast featuring Jay Baruchel (She’s Out of My League, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) as Hiccup, Gerard Butler (300, Gamer) as Stoic, Hiccup’s father and village chief, and late night talk show personality Craig Ferguson as Stoic’s right hand man, Gobber. Butler and Ferguson relish in their Scottish accents, while Baruchel mercifully plays it straight and avoids any annoying vocal tricks. America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig round out the cast in supporting roles, all to fine effect. (Hill plays a character clearly based on Jack Black.)

The film tries to introduce a romance that didn’t work for me, partly because Astrid’s (Ferrera) transformation from “badass alpha-female” who wants nothing to do with Hiccup to “instant girlfriend” was rushed and didn’t feel natural. There’s even a scene reminiscent of Aladdin‘s famous “A Whole New World” montage where Hiccup and Astrid fly for the first time together, but it isn’t enough to make their relationship believable. With that said, the visuals during that sequence were spectacular. There’s one shot in particular that stood out as something I’ve never seen before. The camera stays locked in a side profile view of the pair flying atop a dragon as the dragon goes into a flying flip, with the background around the camera rotating but the trio staying right-side-up for the duration of the shot. It’s a cool little touch; add that to the training sequences I talked about earlier and I think we have one of the most gorgeous films of the year so far. It’s no surprise that Academy-Award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins was a visual advisor on the film.

Speaking of visuals, I haven’t mentioned the 3D yet. Like Pixar’s Up, this movie uses 3D as a means of adding depth instead of bringing things out into the face of the audience. I’m generally not a fan of 3D, but this felt totally organic and didn’t distract from the story at all. However, if you’re not willing to part with the extra cash for the more expensive 3D ticket, I’m confident the film will look just as dazzling in the standard two dimensions.

My last point comes with a brief disclaimer: I’m fully aware some people are going to accuse me of reading too far into a “kid’s movie,” but I figured I’d bring this up anyway. At one point, Astrid disgustedly looks at Hiccup (who has just failed a training mission in Viking Camp) and says “our parents’ war is about to become ours. You better figure out whose side you’re on.” Poignant words from a movie geared towards kids, especially today. Later on, Hiccup and his father argue over the merits of saving the dragons or fighting them. “They’ve killed hundreds of us!” Stoic yells at his son. “But we’ve killed thousands of them!” Hiccup replies. “They’re just defending themselves.” I’m not going to use this review as a platform for my own political beliefs, but it would appear someone was trying to slide a little current affairs into this movie. For those who would argue with me on this, let me offer a bit of defense: I think the aforementioned points are just as relevant as the political references in The Dark Knight. How To Train Your Dragon was based on a book written in 2003, so it’s probable that if those specific bits of dialogue were in the text, they were written with the War on Terror consciously or subconsciously in the author’s mind.

Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois co-wrote (with a few others) and co-directed, and overall I had a really fun time with this movie. The characters aren’t as fully rounded as I’d like, but the breathtaking visuals and fun tone of the film more than made up for any missteps along the way. While I haven’t seen many of Dreamworks Animation’s films outside of the Shrek series, How To Train Your Dragon definitely ranks up there next to the first Shrek film as my favorite of their work so far. Unlike the Shrek sequels (and, from what I hear, other Dreamworks Animation films since), this movie does not rely on pop culture gags AT ALL and instead chooses to focus completely on the story and the characters. Obviously this was a great decision on their part, one I hope they repeat in the future. I’d recommend this movie to anyone of any age. How To Train Your Dragon hits theaters on March 26th in the United States and March 31st in the United Kingdom. Until next time…

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Apple got the first trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which is a re-imagining of the 1940 animation which saw an inexperienced Mickey Mouse getting all Harry Potter on a broom to fetch water for him. The only problem was that he didn’t know how to stop it, so he hacked it into pieces with an axe. All this did was create even more brooms and the place became flooded with water. Thankfully the Sorcerer came back and sorted it out, otherwise Mickey Mouse would have drowned and that would have ended Disney right there.

Jerry Bruckheimer is the man behind this modern version and he’s got his National Treasure friend Nicolas Cage to play the Sorcerer, who has been searching the world for Jay Baruchel as he is ‘the chosen one’ and the apprentice.

From the trailer it looks like it will be a fun ride, and i’ll probably see it next July to kill an hour or two.

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The full trailer for DreamWork’s How to Train Your Dragon has just been unleashed over at Yahoo! and can be watching using the player below:

It’s common for DreamWork’s to hire well known actors to fill the voice cast, and they’ve done the same with this film. While it will help during the marketing it doesn’t always work on-screen, and I think that may be the case this time. The main guy’s voice doesn’t really ‘fit’ for me.

How to Train Your Dragon, which will be released next March, is co-directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders who both worked on Lilo and Stitch, and features the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and America Ferrera.

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Filming for Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is currently taking palace in New York City, and some snappers managed to get our first look at Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer on set. Cage in particular looks a bit…different. However I’ll save negative judgement until we get a trailer.

Click the image below to see 8 more images!

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Seth Rogen – The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and the soon to be released Pineapple Express – makes an internet video with his friend, fellow actor Jay Baruchel (also of Knocked Up), in the form of a movie trailer for an apocalyptic comedy called Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse. Funny funny, ha ha, whatever. It’s cute, good for a good laugh, but surely nobody takes it for anything MORE than that, right?

Wrong.

Mandate Pictures saw something in the little clip and decided to turn it into a feature film. Again, not kidding. Here’s the premise of the movie:

The story revolves around two guys who, with the end the world unfolding and the planet invaded by monsters, are ready to kill each other after being cooped up together for too long.

Rogen is a busy man, but hopes to start filming this newest project in the summer of 2009 for a 2010 release. Want to see the “trailer” that inspired the movie? Check it out below…

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