Too much of everything

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This one had been languishing on my netflix queue for the longest time for reasons that I never could quite pin down. It's not Pixar. It's not Disney. It's not anime.And the story seemed so simple. A lot of people seemed to comment on that. Just the same, I didn't erase it from the queue.So finally, I clicked on it.Just the opening Graphics alone held me spellbound. A world of floating islands, drifting ruins, flying forests, castles high in the sky with darkling clouds below. . .and a dragon. A hero and his friend, a spunky Princess and. . .a very strange dog.The story is straightforward-- a standard Slay-the-dragon quest with the usual lessons about Responsibility, Friendship and Bravery. We've all seen it done many times. But this one has a soulful elegance to it.The big shouldered Hero warrior has simple lines, but the expressions on his face speak volumes about honesty and gravitas especially when he remembers his childhood.His friend Gwizdo is the perfect fulcrum of adult humor, sarcasm and Guilty Conscience. His laugh inducing lines were never out of place.And the Princess is just adorable.I loved this as an adult. And its simplicity speaks with wordless directness to children.To call the storyline 'simple' is unfair: Call it 'Uncluttered'. And the visual vistas are simply astounding in their detail and majesty.Whether you have Children or Not--Just Watch it.

Although the story line was simple I felt that it was appropriate for this children's film. The beauty and rhythm of the movement and backgrounds, the expressions on the characters faces, the gestures and poses and postures of the bodies, all the details were enough to captivate me for the entire length of the film. Since the film is of European origin it is understandable that some US viewers might find it too simplistic without complex plot twists or escalating violence, etc. Sadly a lot of American viewers just won't "get" this film or appreciate it after a diet of American movies which have little of the subtly of French films.But I was not the least bit bored. I found the nuance made up for any lack of "action". It had a beautiful zen quality that was restful, dreamy and entertaining all at once.The brief snippets of background material about the main warrior and his childhood were poignant and effective in rounding out the story. I found it refreshing to have the story line fairly straight forward and the wealth of visual detail made up for the simplicity and the few characters in this amazing grand floating world.It reminded me of the French Classic version of Beauty and the Beast from 1946 by Jean Cocteau. in that mood and nuance was so beautifully created that there was no need for complexity or a lot of clever dialog. This is also a timeless work of art with a lot of amazing art and animation and research to create the visuals.This is a film that animation buffs and fairytale buffs will want to watch again and again... It was the kind of movie that made you want more, and wish you could stay in this world forever.It would certainly be nice to see this wonderful world revisited in another film about the same environment and find out what the characters did after the end of this film.

We rented the movie on a lark while on vacation at the beach and were dumbfounded that we did not know about it sooner. The animation is truly gorgeous and very surreal. The use of what seemed like real film footage with animation was very well done and added to the believability of the other-worldliness. The story is a very fun play on good and evil, stereotypes/misconceptions, and if you have a daughter(s) there is a little girl-power subtext going on. I loved the knitting references. It has become one of my family's favorite movies and we are waiting to do an outdoor movie night to see how it plays in the open. I imagine it will be stunning.

My 3 year old loved it. I loved it, my wife loved it. So 10 out of 10 from our family. As for violence level? Not really that violent, mostly of the slap stick variety. Nobody truly dies, no gore, no blood, no torture, so it certainly is appropriate for children, much more so than many Saturday morning cartoons.This movie really takes the idea of CG movies where it should go.First of all beautiful graphics, textures wonderfully done, with true depth, not trying to be realistic, but forming an artistic whole. The moss on the stones, the rust on metal, the reliefs on the wood and the stone, everything adds to the whole.Character modeling, unlike many contemporary CG movies, is quirky, not cute, again within an artistic whole. The faces may look less malleable than in some other movies, but the characters are more puppet-like than human-like. I think that is a good thing, it lends veracity, how strangely it may sound, it is easier to suspend your disbelief.Hair, fur, clothing, on par, at least with the likes of Pixar. Just note in the opening scenes when Lian-Chu is fighting the giant slug; Gwizdo is in front of some farmers, and all of them have detailed clothing which caused me to pause the movie just to admire it.The setting. Far beyond the likes of Cars, and even Wall•E. Space has been done many times, but the fantasy environs of Dragon Hunters are only comparable with some scenes in Never Ending Story and Lord of the Rings, but again it is an artistic whole, and with lots of good ideas thrown about effortlessly. Magnificent vistas like the scene in Monsters Inc. where they ride all the doorways through its storage facility, or Wall•E where we see the immense trash towers he made, abound in this movie, everything is grand, yet never dwelt upon; it is just the background the whole way! The interlude where they walk through the area with the fantastic falls. The Chinese wall, the islands floating in the sky. The Broccoli in the sky? That is truly where I believe CG should go, make something which takes your breath away, and do it again and again.The sound is good, the music is varied and not only epic, and thankfully without any vocals, and purely original for the movie.Animation is quite good. Lending its inspiration to cartoons, especially some good use of stretch and squeeze. Sometimes not that realistic, but the 3d models are not realistic either.Characterization is well done too. Lian-Chu the gentle and uncertain giant is gradually growing in confidence basking in the attention of little Zoé.Gwizdo the wily manager of Lian-Chu redeems himself in the end, while Zoé isn't really changed at all, but who wants that cute child to change anyway? I at least loved Lian-Chu more than any other recent character since Sulley in Monsters Inc.The internal strife in the group gets ironed out by the external pressures, just as it should in a proper fantasy story.The story is mostly reminiscent of the Never Ending Story, especially how the world brakes apart. The monsters are pretty standard fare, except the flocking one. It lacks the emotional impact of Wall•E, which is the really strong point of that movie, but it is a much more fun ride, and lacks the annoying musical scene replaying in the former one, and has action from the first scene. This movie is what you want to watch for a fun and exciting time.The whole movie has, as I've mentioned a whole vision, which seems to have been followed rigorously throughout.It seems, that the setting is ready for more adventures, and I for one would hope so.One side note, the French actor doing Lian-Chu sounded a bit like Jean Reno at first, but I'm happy it wasn't him, though he is one of my favorites. Nice to hear a new, to me, voice.I give it a max rating, a bit surprised at the mediocre and low ratings by some; I have tried to address some of the concerns made by two of the reviews with the lowest vote. Approach this movie as an adventure, and as a European movie, not opposed to Hollywood, but different.