Alright, it's been a little while since I've posted one of these, but my internet has been trying to kill me! These entries take a little bit more time and a little bit more thought to create, but I believe I have gotten my thoughts together and my schedule in order! This will be another entry on the medium of HTTYD, not the heart of it. As I said before, the heart of the movie is what really matters, but the medium expresses it, and the medium of HTTYD is stunningly moving and beautiful! I can't just overlook it because it is really such a huge part of why I love the film even if it is not the main reason.
This entry will be on animation. Now, I need to define that term. Animation in CGI movies is really just making things, particularly characters, move. So that sounds pretty simple, right? Well it may be a simple thing, but it INCREDIBLY important! If the animators don't do a good job making the characters move, then you wind up with a movie that is dead and lifeless. If you get good animators, you can practically read a characters mind just by their hand gestures or facial expressions! HTTYD had GOOD animators! It is often subtle, but it is incredibly human. Hiccup, Stoick, Astrid, Gobber, all these characters have a certain human feel about them because the animators did their job! They were not sloppy, each character has a way that he or she expresses themselves. Wether it is Gobber throwing a sarcastic look or Hiccup pleading with his tight and then flailing hand gestures, all the animation is ridiculously brilliant! It makes the characters feel real, feel alive! You don't want to connect your emotions to a robot, you want to connect your emotions to a person! A big part of being a person is expressing yourself through your movement, wether you notice it or not!
I particularly love Hiccup's mannerisms in the film! If you will note in the image above, Hiccup can actually pull some gestures that his mentor and father do as well! Realism! You think he just comes up with these on his own. His hands, his face, there is such a depth and range of emotion that he displays in the film! It really is brilliant, and it brings him out as such a great character! You feel like you know the guy! You can connect with him because he acts so much like a real person! He uses his hands to talk, he uses his facial expressions to convey emotion. Animating is a TOUGH job! One slip and a perfectly human character comes across as being robotic. No such slip for Hiccup. He is wonderfully fun to watch, and I love even the way he moves!
Next, Toothless! Good grief! If ever there was an award for character with the best animation, that dragon would win hands down! Why? Toothless cannot speak. Hiccup can talk, and even though we often feel his emotions through his facial expressions and gestures, he does eventually tell us how he feels. Toothless is not so lucky. The dragon's mood is only able to be expressed by his animation. He is an animal character and does not have many humanoid traits. This makes it all the harder. He must remain bestial while conveying humanish emotions. Complexity heaps upon complexity! How on earth are you going to get the audience to know what this dragon is thinking, feeling, wishing, dreaming!? Then into this fray jumps Gabe Hordos! He was Toothless's head animator, and he did a spectacular job! Toothless has many traits of common pets like dogs, cats, and even horses. Why? Because people know how those animals express themselves, they know what it is like to bond with that kind of animal. Now take out all of the less pleasant pet traits, toss in some epic dragonish ones, and you get Toothless! The result is stunning! There is no question about reading Toothless's emotions! The audience can see them like an open book! His movements remain realistic and animal like, yet he can express emotions that are deep and human! His range of thought is not just, happy, angry, hungry, sad. He can come across as thoughtful, curious, compassionate, caring, loving, grieving, teasing, and many, many more extremely deep emotions! He is not just a surface level character, and his animation allows him to express himself in a truly open way! It is really quite something, and I have yet to see any animated animal be handled better!
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