20 replies to this topic

[Catamount]

I'd only ever be able to meaningfully come up with maybe a top 100 list to definitively answer that, since it's asking a lot for one too choose one film, across all genres (even one film in a single genre's asking a lot!).

I love some of the answers here, especially the Beverly Hills Cop mention, but if I had to pick one, offhand, that would at least go very high on any list?


I'd say How to Train Your Dragon, which landed in a lot of RT's "top" lists.


Why?

First off, any film who's basic premise is using curiosity and reason to question stereotypes, especially if that stereotype is one so long-ingrained in western culture -going back literally as far as our records of English literature extend- as dragons being villains, gets serious points in my book. I like stories that challenge long-held assumptions, especially ones about good and bad guys.

Secondly, the film was just done well. It wasn't the most epic, like 2001, or the off the wall (Stranger than Fiction?), or anything like that. But this film took what it was going to do, and did it about as right as it possibly could. Any film that lives up to the potential of its basic story is a rarity.

Third, the main character as a hero completely lacked the anachronistic nonsense that continues to bog down too much of our fiction. He wasn't some destined-for-greatness, genetically superior Anakin Skywalker type who ran around being the main character because "only he can save us all". In fact, he was the antithesis of that in almost every single way, save being a slightly more enlightened human being. That also earns big points in my book.

Four and last, dragons!