Earlier today, I attended a DreamWorks Animation event at the Pacific Design Center here in Los Angeles. The purpose of the event was to showcase what DreamWorks will be releasing in 2010 to an audience of journalists from around the world. While some of the footage was not complete, the studio showed us the opening thirty minutes of Shrek Forever After, a few scenes from Megamind, and all of an almost-completed How to Train Your Dragon.
How to Train Your Dragon
Finally, we were shown the almost completed How to Train Your Dragon in its entirety. The film features the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, and T.J. Miller.
If you’ve seen the preview (click here to watch it), you know it’s about a teenage viking named Hiccup who doesn’t fit in with the rest of his tribe. Instead of wanting to kill dragons, he gets along with the creatures and wants to teach his tribe that killing isn’t the answer. Of course he needs to overcome a number of obstacles before his tribe will listen to him, and you know where the story is going to end.
Saying that, I really enjoyed the movie. Jay Baruchel is great as Hiccup and the story is timeless. Since we’re not supposed to review the film, I’ll just say that DreamWorks delivered something worth checking out and, like the other movies, it looked great in 3D.
How to Train Your Dragon is set to hit theaters on March 26th, Shrek Forever After on May 21st, and Megamind on November 5th.
Final Words
After the presentation ended, there was a meet and greet with some of the filmmakers and Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, and Craig Ferguson. For some reason I thought we weren’t allowed to bring recorders to the event, so while I was able to speak with everyone – including Jeffrey Katzenberg – I have no quotes. Saying that, everyone was incredibly nice and these kinds of meet and greets are a definite perk of the job.
Since these films will all be doing a lot of promotional stuff throughout the year, expect plenty of interviews with the filmmakers and cast as they are getting ready to come out. Until then…I hope you’re a bit more excited for all three animated DreamWorks films. I know I am.
Read the entire article http://www.collider.com/2010/01/14/collider-attends-dreamworks-animation-event-watches-footage-from-shrek-forever-after-mega-mind-and-how-to-train-your-dragon/ here.