How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

It’s quite unfortunate for the team at Dreamworks that How to Train Your Dragon came out around the same time as Avatar. They’re not the same movie, to be sure, but they both have the whole theme of taming some flying beast so you can ride it into battle.

The plot, realistically speaking, is fairly formulaic in nature. You get the social outcast (Hiccup) who doesn’t quite live up to the Viking way of life and he manages to befriend a dragon, rather than slay one. Through this friendship, he learns that there is a lot more to these flying beasts than their insistence on burning down their homes and stealing their food.

At the end of the day, I found myself enjoying Despicable Me a fair bit more than How to Train Your Dragon. The comedic elements aren’t particularly strong and the end result is yet another animated movie that blends in with all the rest. It’s no Toy Story 3, that’s for sure.

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Karate Kid (2010)

The Karate Kid (2010)

I went in fully expecting that this remake would be bad. And it completely lived up to those expectations. How can you have The Karate Kid when he’s actually learning kung-fu? And Miyagi has been replaced by Jackie Chan? And the flat, contrived performance of Will Smith’s son leaves you with so much to be desired?

I give credit to the movie makers for attempting to recreate many of the legendary scenes from the 80s original, but so few remakes ever live up to the source material. For my part, I’d rather spend the time re-watching how to wax on, wax off, and sweep the leg than put up with this brutal facsimile.

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Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

You have to go in to Resident Evil Afterlife with the right set of expectations. You’re not going to get character development or deep plots, but you’d hope for plenty of zombie splatter and bullet-time combat scenes. There is some action in there (the Axeman scene is fun) and some decent fan service (Wesker, Chris Redfield, etc.), but it’s still lacking. Better cheap thrills can be found elsewhere, even if this is available in 3D.

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Grown Ups (2010)

Grown Ups (2010)

Despite having a premise that is anything but original, I was hopeful that the cast of Grown Ups would bring some comedic genius. With so many SNL alumni, including guys like Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, you’d expect some good laughs. Sadly, they’re mostly cheap shots and they’re few and far between. And you can’t just blame Rob Schneider for this failure either.

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