by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
I’ve always had a soft spot for animation. More years than not, at least a couple of animated features find their way onto my top 10 list. So with Animation Celebration, I’m setting out to shine a light on some films that may have passed you by. The idea here is to take a look at some underseen gems—so no Toy Story or Frozen here.
Let’s get started.
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I suppose the live action rage monster comes for us all eventually.
I’ll be the first to admit, while obviously unnecessary, I haven’t harbored a lot of anger for the recent spate of Disney live action remakes, even if I was uninterested in checking them out. However, the first two films in the How to Train Your Dragon series are in my top 100 of all time, and the third is still really, really good. So ever since the live action remake was announced, I’ve been brimming with barely controlled rage (and am currently coming to terms with the fact that it’s allegedly actually pretty good).
So allow me to use this column as some HTTYD therapy and talk about the surprisingly good Netflix series Dragons: Race to the Edge.
I grew up in a time when popular animated properties getting spinoff TV shows were the norm. Aladdin, Hercules and Lilo & Stitch were just a few such examples. I’m not going to pretend I remember enough about those to recall if they were actually good, or if my nostalgia is blinding me, but Dragons is one spinoff I can vouch for.
The idea behind the show is pretty simple: It’s just a vehicle to give us more adventures from the crew. It may sound simple, but it’s executed well. The series produced six 13-episode seasons between the release of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Hidden World, and just provides some ancillary materials for the intervening years. It’s not something necessary to be able to enjoy the third movie, but it gives you an extra dose of the beloved characters.
It feels like a throwback to those aforementioned spinoff series that you’d get on the Disney Channel, and does have the actual production company behind it as a DreamWorks Animation project. As a result, it doesn’t feel cheap. The animation is solid, and that really helps you get sucked into this being the same world you’re used to seeing on the big screen.
In addition to the resources behind the actual animation, the show is also helped by the fact that many of the voices from the films (Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, Christoper Mintz-Plasse, and T.J. Miller) return. It really helps the episode feel like a true continuation.
While I haven’t watched all six seasons, I can say if you’re looking for something with the feel of the HTTYD animated films, this can more than do the trick.
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I’m excited to continue to geek out on some great animated work you may not have had a chance to catch. Next month, while I still haven’t quite figured out what to explore, we might see if we can find some actually good Smurfs content to talk about.
You can read more from Jake Bourgeois, and follow him on Bluesky and Letterboxd