How to Train Your Dragon (2010) / Glengoyne 15 Year Single Malt Scotch

0:00 In 2010, Dream Work Animation Studios gave the world a plucky adventure about a misfit who cracked the draconic code. In 2025 we returned to the Scottish Highlands along with apparently half of the Scandinavian Vikings in this movie. The film is How to Train Your Dragon the. Whiskey is Glen Goyne 15 year. And more. View them both. This is the Film and Whiskey podcast.

0:49 Welcome to the Film and Whiskey podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad Gee. And this week we are looking at the 2010 DreamWorks animated classic How to Train Your Dragon. Brad. I'm pretty pumped for this one, man. I'm not going to lie, I've been waiting a long time to talk about this movie. This has long been one of my favorite animated movies, and I go back to it more often than I kind of would have expected myself to. And I got to say, man, every time I go back it's a freaking banger still. Yeah, I remember seeing this movie in theaters being absolutely blown away. Like the action sequences, the storytelling, the relationship between Hiccup and and Toothless. Like there's just so much to absolutely love with How to Train Your Dragon and I'm with you, man. I, I found myself, you know, I have this vast library of physical media that you know, you, you think that the beast library is big from beauty and the beast man. You should see how many movies I have. And with with that vast collection, for some reason, I bought both this and the second movie on Blu-ray. I'm.

2:08 Going to be honest with you, I know that I've seen the 2nd and the 3rd installment of this trilogy, but I don't remember anything about them They're and they were both pretty good as I remember. Yeah, I remember the second one being very impressive. I don't remember much about it. I never saw the third one even though I wanted to. There you go. But the first two were so good that you bought them and then just said, you know what? No, I don't need to see the third one. I'm done. Yeah, I'm. I'm. Absolutely. I mean, does it, does it surprise you at all, Bob? Not not really. Honestly, Brad, I I've come to know you pretty well that that tracks. So folks, hey, welcome in to film and whiskey. If this is your first time joining us, what we do on this podcast as we talk about movies and we talk about whiskey this season, what we're doing is we're looking at movies from the last 20 years and we're asking the question, does this deserve to be considered a modern masterpiece?

3:02 We are in the last, I believe, 3 episodes of our season. Brad, what do you think our hit rate on masterpiece versus non masterpiece is? Now, I know I asked you that a few weeks back, but we've been in the nose category more than I would have expected. I mean, it feels like we kind of stacked the deck, right, Like with the categories that we gave for inclusion, you know, we weren't, we weren't picking any schlubs here. I feel like we have given every movie an honest shake. And in my opinion, the term modern classic is like, that's a bar. That's that's not a low bar. Bob, You, you got to, you got to have a little bit of hutzpah to really, you know, make it over that that Cliff. So I I am OK with the nose that we have given. I think so too, for the most part. Like we definitely split the vote a couple times. I think what would be really fun is during the offseason, you know, after we wrap up this season and before Season 10 starts, we should get a like a full list of every movie we reviewed from the last 20 years, even beyond this season and do like a once.

4:12 And for all. What is the 21st century Canon according to Film and Whiskey? I think that's a absolutely great idea. Well, there you go. Coming your way in the coming months, folks. But before we get there, Brad, we got to talk about How to Train Your Dragon. Like I said, one of my favorite animated movies from the last 1520 years and one of the few non Pixar entries here. I mean, I think that those who love animation love Pixar and love Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Like that's kind of the two poles of animated film love. I've never been a big anime guy, so I've kind of hung my hat on Pixar in the last 20 years. And I feel like DreamWorks, for a long time really struggled to find their footing. Like, you know, my thoughts on Shrek are on the record here. But then they really started hitting their groove with movies like, You know, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda. I've talked at length about The Wild Robot and how much I loved that movie last year.

5:10 So they are slowly but surely building for themselves a library of bankable IP that is now kind of starting to rival Pixar and I think How to Train Your Dragon, it's kind of the starting point of that. Obviously the Shrek movies are even more popular than these movies are, but these were the first set that that DreamWorks really did that. I feel like critics kind of took note and audiences responded to how good they were as well. Yeah, this movie did extraordinarily well at the box office in 2010. I'm pretty sure it pulled like 270 domestic and like 220. So it didn't quite hit half a billion dollars, but you know, 490 is pretty good. And critics overall gave it really good scores. And I think it's for good reason, Bob. Like you take the hero's journey, you put it in the hands of an awkward teenager and you give him a really interesting sidekick that makes the world come to life. And it like it makes for a really compelling movie. I think so too, man.

6:18 Yeah, I'm, I'm excited. I think most to talk about the movies that I feel like influenced this movie and the films that came after it that were influenced by it. But before we get into all that, we need to get to our first segment of the day, which we call, Brad explains. Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds taken on the clock, so let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen, often for the first time. Brad, this is obviously not your first time watching this movie if it's in your vaunted collection of Blu rays. How many times do you think that you have seen this movie though? Man, I, you know, I saw it in theaters probably once or twice in the interim and then absolutely randomly and with 0 forethought on my part, I watched this like 3 or 4 weeks ago with Haley.

7:15 Like we just kind of wanted to watch a movie and she didn't want to pick. And I was looking at my my collection and I was like, you know, we haven't watched How to Train Your Dragon in a while. That's a great movie. We should watch it again. And then like a week later, I was looking ahead at the next few movies and was like, ha, look at that. How to Train Your Dragon. So I watched it again yesterday because it's a fun movie. And that probably brings me up to like, I don't know, 5 viewings. I don't, I don't want to stereotype or typecast this movie, but I kind of feel like this is right in line with our favorite genre of films, which is dad movies. This is like a dad movie in animation. Form I thought you were going to say the the the beautiful 90 minute film.

8:05 It's in that genre too, our two favorite genres. It checks both boxes. But like what I've noticed about this movie is that when I want to watch a kids movie with my kids, I've gone back to this one and it is kind of a very stereotypical and male dominated film about men doing men stuff. So that certainly has something to do with it. But it's also just like it's a kids movie that doesn't talk down to kids and it also captures the adult audience without pandering to them either. Like it's not just full of pop culture references or dirty jokes to appeal to the grown-ups in the crowd. It's actually like here you get your coming of age story and you also get really, really good filmmaking, especially in that last half hour. And it you kind of forget you're watching an animated movie for a good stretch of it because it is so well made. It's like watching a live action action film. I think that it draws in viewers of all ages so well in ways that even really good, you know, other animated movies don't do. There are sequences at the end of the film that really reminded me of Avatar, like the action sequences of these aerial creatures.

9:22 Whatever they are in Avatar or the Dragons in this movie, you just get really great shots of flying creatures doing really cool things. And like, that is our favorite sign to watch. Yeah. So this movie comes out in 2010, the year after Avatar. And one of the big promos about this movie was that it was one of the first animated films released in 3D when the 3D craze was reintroduced post Avatar. Like I remember the poster for this movie and even like the DVD having 3D as a thing that you could buy. And you can tell there's a couple shots in the movie that are kind of like 3D pandery.

10:07 Like there's one shot where one of hiccups little buddies is hitting the big bad dragon at the end with the hammer in the eye and then the thing like moves its head and he goes to hang off of it's like like antler horn type thing. And the way the shot is set up, he's in the foreground but out of focus and everything that is like falling towards the ground is in focus in the background of the shot. And I'm like, oh, that was a shot that was only created for 3D 'cause it does. It doesn't make visual sense otherwise. But I will say that like 99% of this movie is not made that way. And I still am kind of kicking myself that I never saw this in 3D because you can tell how purposefully made it is both for 2D, but also like when you make a good 2D movie, you can make a good 3D movie out of it.

10:56 And I think that that that's what kind of sets this movie apart. You can see where they would add the 3D elements. And I kind of wish I'd gotten the chance to check that out. Hey, Bob. Yeah, 3D sucks. It does. It does. It's the it's the worst. I'm so glad I. I've enjoyed a couple of my 3D experiences like when they when they re released Titanic in 3D and The Lion King in 3D and Jurassic Park in 3D. Like I was there for all three of those. You can like watch Jack fall into your lap as he fades into the icy oblivion the. The icicles hanging off his nose where I felt like I could reach out and touch them.

11:38 Dude, I, I don't know if I've ever, we've never really talked about 3D in, in nine seasons of the podcast. I really hate 3 DI. Like I've maybe seen six or seven movies in 3D once because they were re releasing the Star Wars films in 3D and I was like, wow, when do I get a chance to see The Phantom Menace in theaters again? Dude 3D ruins a movie have. You ever considered that it was maybe just the Phantom Menace that you were reacting strongly to and not the 3D? What a great. Movie like, hey, what if we had these guys sit in chairs in a room, but in 3D? That dude with the big conehead, he could really. It really felt like the Conehead was in the room with us. Hey, layoff, Chiati Mundi.

12:30 First off, second off, The Phantom Menace is an incredible piece of filmmaking and if you really want to dive into that, I would be more than happy to do with you, Bob. Do you know what I just realized, Brad? What's that, Robert? We never actually did, Brad explains. Oh, we should probably do that. We intro might be helpful. We introed it and then never did it. So here's the deal with Brad. Explains. Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he's watched often for the first time. He gets 60 seconds on the clock to spoil the events of the movie. So as he said, if you have not watched this 93 minute movie, you should hit pause here and go watch it. It's an incredible movie.

13:10 Then come back and join us for the rest of the episode. Brad, you have 60 seconds and go. How to Train Your Dragon is a film about a definitely Scottish version of Norway where you have some Scandinavian looking people with Scottish accents talk about Dragons. There's Dragons invading invading their little village that are fighting them off all the time, and poor little Hiccup is the Chieftain's son but is absolutely useless when it comes to killing Dragons. He is an inventor though, and he his invention shoots down at Night Fury, the most dangerous dragon of all, in the middle of a dragon attack.

13:51 He slowly befriends it as his father goes off to fight the Dragons in their home island and his friendship with the night fury helps him become the best trainee in the camp and they go off to the big dragon battle fight place and destroy them all and they they kill the big bad dragon. I don't think you've ever ended, Brad explains with a roar before. I have ended it with a witness man. That is true. All right, so that's how to train your dragon. Brad, where do you want to start talking about this movie?

14:32 I honestly think it might be better for us to kind of get our nitpicks out of the way first, because it sounds like we both really like this movie, so maybe we lead with the few things that didn't work for us so that we can just praise the movie for the rest of the episode. Yeah, the the dragon animation is like chef's kiss. Incredible. The humans suck, bro. They they are really rough. Wait, what do you like 2000? They, they just look lifeless, kind of like a doll, like their eyes don't really come to life. They it feels kind of like early Pixar humans.

15:16 Got it. So it's on being real. It's not Even so much a question of like character design as it is like the limitations of how they could render the people. Yes, yeah, the honestly, the character designs are pretty good. Like I I like how distinct all of the at the very least speaking characters are, like the the twins have a very distinct look and you got the chubby smart Viking and then you know, Hiccup is a great design. I think. What's stoic? Gerard Butler's character? Dude, what a like just the most perfect dichotomy to Hiccup. Like great character design.

15:59 The rendering is just a little bit terrifying. And I was a little sad. Like I got into the movie and I was like, oh man, the humans in this haven't aged very well at all. I can see that I do have like. If there's one little issue I have with any design of any creature, it's that one dragon that he fights at the very end of his training that can like light himself on fire, which is the coolest, like the coolest powers that any dragon has. But then when you see the thing like close up, they've designed it in such a weird cartoony way that it looks like a, it looks like if you've made a praying mantis into a dragon with those big bulbous eyes. I've always hated that one dragon. I don't know why.

16:42 I just have like so much animus towards that thing in my heart. Dude, I see I I love all all of the Dragons and part of it is my love of world building that, you know, whoever wrote this movie gave you enough of those like artifacts of the world that made you fascinated with what's going on in a world where Dragons exist, but humans are still pretty much just humans, except for stoic. It's, it's such a great like, like the whole Dragonomicon or whatever they called it, the Book of Dragons and the, the way that the kids almost treat it like a game of like, yeah, this one does this thing and this one does that thing. And it's such a fun world to inhabit. And a a huge part of that is the character design of the Dragons. I think that if there is anything else that I would pick, you know, nitpick a little bit, it's that the voice work can be a little bit much for me at times in this movie. And I don't just mean like the the over the topness of the characters, because that's kind of like to be expected with what they're going for here.

17:56 But like, so Jay Baruchel is the main voice of of Hiccup, and that is really pretty much how his voice sounds. But it's almost like every actor in this movie was instructed to sound 10% more like themselves than they normally do. Like every, every feature of everyone's voice is overemphasized. And so Jay Baruchel has the like, I mumble and I'm sarcastic and like, that's his voice. And, and he overdoes it so much, especially in the early going of this movie, that I thought that the 1st 1520 minutes were kind of rough for me this time around. Like they they work on paper, the script is pretty good.

18:39 They really rely on the narration a lot. And I think because there's so much narration while you're trying to get to know Hiccup, it's it's almost like they're pitting Hiccup against Hiccup. Like you want to know and like this kid who's going to be your protagonist, but then you hear his inner monologue and he's so sarcastic and so like dismissive and flippant. And I don't want to be in this place that like the Hiccup you here talking to you kind of turns you off from the Hiccup that you're watching. I don't know if that makes sense. It does. I think there is a place to argue that there. It shows character growth by the end of the film that he kind of goes from this sarcastic character to somebody who feels confident in who he is and doesn't need the sarcasm anymore.

19:26 But I'm kind of with you that like I'm arguing for something that maybe I'm projecting onto the film a little bit. Like, you know, at the end of the day, does he really grow that much? Who's to say there? There might be a little bit of it. But do you know who really does grow? Brad. Who? Who's that, Bob? Stoic played by Gerard Butler. Gerard Butler. Dude. He of 300 fame. He of Den of Thieves fame. I love me some Gerard Butler. He's kind of terrible and kind of great at the same time and. What's the one where he dies of cancer but he sends his wife to get banged by other dudes? Oh yeah. PSI Great movie.

20:08 Yeah, I I'm not gonna lie dude, I like me some PSI love. You, based on your description of it, it sounds like you're into some weird stuff, my friend. But we will leave that aside for a second. Let's talk about Gerard Butler because first of all, perfect choice for Stoic and Gerard Butler actually able to use a European accent in an appropriate way for a change in his movie. So, you know, good for him, good for him. Yeah, congratulations. I. Love what they do with the father son dynamic with Hiccup and Stoic and like Brad. It is no secret on this podcast that your boy loves a good complicated father son relationship movie, but I feel like this one kind of toes the line of falling into every father son relationship. Cliche.

20:54 And it still finds ways to make it a little bit more poignant than you think it's going to be. Like there's that one scene where, you know, hiccups whole plot to train the Dragons or to get to know and befriend the Dragons has made has has given him advantages in the dragon training or dragon fighting ring. And he gets all the way to sort of the finals and then his dad comes to watch and everything hits the fan. And so his dad's publicly embarrassed. He has to rescue Astrid and Hiccup from the ring. And then he takes Hiccup aside and tells him, like, you're not a Viking, you're not my son. And I was like, oh, man, like that is it?

21:35 It's really getting at, I don't know, man, like I think kind of like generational things. I, I've like, I've heard people say that kind of thing before, right? Like where, whether it's in a movie or whatever, it feels like the boomers really like saying stuff like you're not my son, which is a crazy thing to say. Like I, I don't know that I would ever think, no matter how mad I ever got at my children, to like, not just disown them, but to like deny and reject your lineage. And I think watching it in this movie is like it. It's getting at this idea of Stoic's character. Where do I think he means it in that moment? Absolutely.

22:19 But like the way that he defines himself through the successes of his son, but only if the successes of his son can mirror his success because he's so deeply insecure. It's a really good, I don't want to call it subtle, but like, how many children's movies do you know that go that many layers deep with their kind of antagonist? You know what I mean? Yeah, the the reality is his entire identity is externally based and he expects his son's identity to be based in the exact same external place. And his son's just kind of like, hey, man, I don't know if you noticed, I'm about 5 foot 8 and weigh 120 lbs soaking wet.

23:07 Like, I'm not going to be able to do the things that you do, right? Not to get like all biblical on us, but it really reminded me of like David and Saul when David's going off to fight Goliath. And Saul's like, hey, man, here's all my armor and my sword and all the things. And David's like, bro, I'm like 13, This is this is armor for a grown man. What are you doing? You actually made reference to Beauty and the Beast in a joking way a little bit ago. And I actually thought that the stoic character reminded me so much of the characterization of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, especially in those early scenes where he's really trying to be kind to Belle, but he just doesn't know how to talk to people.

23:50 And he also is like let. Alone, let alone a woman whose name means beauty. Right, but then like anytime she rejects him, he just he just shuts down and his way of shutting down is like, I'm going to push you away in the meanest possible way. And it, it, I think by doing that, they make, they never make Stoic seem like you're just a Dick, like you're, you're you're a guy who doesn't understand how to communicate to his children and who is feeling like deep senses of loss over the loss of his wife and now his fear of losing his son. And I think that both the way they animate that character and the way that Gerard Butler voices it add really subtle shading to the character, where in other hands it could seem like a really one note character. Yeah, he has so much depth to him. And I I think it's because Gerard Butler has a great voice and really puts a lot of effort into this role. So at the end of the day, I, I found myself sympathetic for him as he was disowning his son of like, man, this dude's got a lot on him.

24:56 Like he's, he's trying to keep this village from burning to the ground and he has lost his wife and he feels like he's losing his son and that, you know, there's all of these things burning through his soul that I, I felt myself feeling pretty deeply for Stoic throughout the entire movie, even even as he's being just cruel to his son. Yeah, but then, like, how good is that moment where he grabs Stoic by the hand as he's climbed on top of Toothless and he's about to fly away and save the day and he's just like, I'm proud to call you my son. Immediate waterworks. Immediate.

25:37 Yeah, it's so good, man. Like it's the thing every, every, every young boy needs to hear for sure. Masculinity, fatherhood passed down from father to son. Like, let's go, dude. All right, Brad, let's talk about the visuals of this movie. I don't need to like steer us away from the cast because there are quite a few pretty famous people in this cast. But I think some of the drawback of this movie is that like the non main characters are not fleshed out at all. And I would even argue that like Astrid, who is probably the third biggest character in this movie, is also not fleshed out very well. And I think America does fine, but like, there's not much there, dude. She is a nothing burger of a character. Which is crazy because they set her up as like the Furiosa of the Kingdom of Burke.

26:28 You're like, oh, this is going to be awesome. And then she's just kind of like there for most of the movie. Dude that. That's two Mad Max references in one episode. Thank you so much. Thank you. We should, we should watch that. We should watch that movie again. Bob we really should. Brad, I want to talk about the visuals because yes, I think that some of the character rendering is a bit dated. But I was, I pulled up the Wikipedia for this movie and I was looking at some of the concept art that they've embedded on the Wikipedia page. And it's like gorgeous kind of watercolor. There's diffused light everywhere. And I think that they took the moments like that where it's a, a, a wide shot or an establishing shot. And they use those moments to paint these really artistic images where you could like pause the movie, take a still frame and like put it on your wall.

27:20 There are so many moments, especially I would say in that last 2025 minutes, where the way they compose those shots is like, Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that they had this in them. Dude, the movies are a visual medium and when you're able to create like atmospheric scenic vistas and shots that that stick in the human soul, it will take almost any movie and make it so incredibly memorable. Like, you know, out of all the movies we've ever watched for the podcast and even, you know, things that I've seen outside of the podcast, it's it's moments like that scene in gold rush when every single human being in the bar has gone onto the dance floor and Charlie Chaplin is standing there alone.

28:14 And I I like paused it and was like damn that is the most perfect depiction of loneliness I've ever seen in my life. I think that's such a great example. I don't mean. To interrupt you either, but I was just thinking about like this movie is visually great in two ways and one of the ways that is what I'm talking about, those kind of painterly moments. But even in those moments, it's this really great blend of things that are still and things that are subtly moving. And that Chaplain shot you're talking about, everybody in the background of that shot is twirling and spinning and moving around and Chaplain standing completely still. And it's the juxtaposition of those things that makes that shot super profound.

28:55 And I think the same thing with a lot of the shots in this movie. Like, there's this great shot where at the end of the film, Stoic thinks that Toothless and Hiccup are dead, and he goes over to their bodies on this sort of like, pebbly beach, and he's kneeling there. And they cut to this wide shot of him kneeling over their bodies. And then kind of off to the side, the rest of the Vikings watching on. And the way that's lit and you can see like soot and ash falling to the ground as the lights diffused, It is such a great example of the combination of stillness and movement that make that shot just perfect dude. Yeah, and that's where they really nail a lot of the animation is in the fire and the ash and the smoke and the Dragons in flight. Like they they do movement incredibly well in this movie. And even just in all of the individual ways in which Dragons can move and interact it, they really nail the the the action, the movement, the, the physicality of the universe they're creating.

30:09 We talked about this a few weeks ago, but when Pixar came out with Ratatouille, they started using the like, quote UN quote camera as a camera, right? It wasn't just like a pane of glass that we were observing through. The camera didn't really move a lot in in some of their earlier films. And then in Ratatouille, it's like, not only is the camera moving, but like we can replicate shaky Cam. We can do like a, there's that one shot in Ratatouille where the the waiter comes back into the kitchen and they're arguing about like, should we serve them the soup? They requested the soup. And it's like whip panning back and forth between three different people. And you get some of that in this movie. And in that last battle when that dragon emerges out of the side of the mountain, there's like quick zooms in, there's whip pans, there's shaky Cam.

30:57 It's really brilliant action filmmaking and they're cutting to a lot of different cutaways of what's happening on that beach, and I think they do a great job of establishing the geography of the battle that you're watching. I I said it before, but I really did forget that I was watching an animated movie for a good stretch of that time because it's super compelling and really tightly made action filmmaking. And it makes sense, right? Like they hired Rodger Deakins to come on and like, advise on the film. Like I, I don't know if I've ever heard of animated film going to such lengths to make sure that the action is done well in the movement, that it, it, it has a kineticism to it.

31:40 And I like money well spent. You can tell. This is now the third week in a row that we get to talk about Rodger Deakins working on a movie. My guy has been busy and he is making movies better where he goes. Absolutely dude, Deke is just nailing it. All right, man. Well, in the spirit of the randomly Scottish voices populating this Nordic island, I think it's time for us to take a return trip to Scotland here, Brad, We've got a new whiskey to try that. I have never heard of this brand until it showed up for us to review. I'm super excited to dive into it. So what do you say we get to this Glenn Goyne? Let's get to it. All right.

32:24 Today we are trying a new line of Scotch, new to us at least. It's called the Glenn Goyne. Brad, This is one that I can't tell if I've heard of it before or if it just sounds like such a quintessential Scotch that I just assumed that I've heard of it before. You know what I mean? Absolutely, dude. Yeah, whiskey like this is. It's always been in your soul somewhere, Bob. Yeah, Glenn going just like it kind of reminds me when I see it spelled out of like gargoyle. So I'm like, oh, this would have been a cool and a pair with like Hunchback of Notre Dame or something. I'm very excited to dive into it, man. This is a Highland Scotch and we're drinking the 15 year version of it. It's, of course, 100% malted barley.

33:04 Being a single malt Scotch. It clocks in at 43 percent ABV or 86 proof. I don't really have many stats beyond that, Brad. I don't really see anything about like the type of barrels that it was aged in or anything like that. Do you have any stats on your end? Yeah, the they would use 20% first fill bourbon cast, then they put it into a 25% was first fill Sherry and then 55% of the time was in refill casks. Oh, OK, nice. So there's just. A a plethora of. Things we heard before. Yeah, I know. I feel like we've only come across refill casks a couple times and I can't think of many of the big players that are doing it at least publicly.

33:46 In any case, I'm super excited to dive in, man. I don't really think we need to give much more in terms of statistics on this one. Let's go ahead and dive in. Yeah, so this is really beautiful on the nose. It reminds me of like a nice fall apple cider nutmeg. There's almond nuttiness to it. It's got that nice barley note on the nose. I like. I'm absolutely just in heaven with this. I think it's an 8.5 out of 10. Yeah, Brad, I like, I'm not really picking up a ton of complexity here, but it has a brightness to it that is reminiscent of, for me, like a little bit more of like a space side kind of knows.

34:27 It doesn't remind me of like what we typically get on our favorite Highland Scotch brand, which is Glenmorangie. I'm not picking up very much spice here. There's quite a bit of citrus. There's a little bit of melon It it operates in that sort of lighter, brighter category. I'm interested to see where it goes on the pallet, but just as kind of a baseline I'm going to give it a 7.5 on the nose. I think the palette here has an apple peel, honey. There's a little bit of a banana fruity vibe going on. It's got white grape and for me the the spiciness of the nutmeg on the nose turns into like a cinnamon stick on the palette. I really like this whiskey Bob it.

35:10 It has like all the things I want out of a Scotch. I'm going to give it a nine out of 10 on the palette. Brad, I like this, like, fine. You know what I mean? I don't like, I'm just not blown away by this one. It's pretty thin on the mouthfeel. There's like really hardly any ethanol kick to this one, and it is like a lower ABV, so that's to be expected. But there's a honey sweetness up front that kind of blossoms into like a really nice rounded malt flavor, but there's not much beyond that. I'm not picking up a ton of fruit here. I know that you had said like apple, but I'm not really getting that. I think this is kind of like a standard Scotch whiskey. I don't even know if like if you set this in front of me and we're like, how many years old do you think it is?

35:54 I don't really think I'd be able to pinpoint anything here. It's just a really light, you know what it, it kind of reminds me of like how Canadian whiskey uses like refill barrels and you just never can extract quite as much as you can with the first, like a, a new charred oak barrel. It's like that but in Scotch form. It's fine. But I'm going to give it like a 7 out of 10 here. Oh, dude, we are on opposite ends of the spectrum like that. Like for being, you know, 86 proof. I think that there's a lot of flavor here. The finish for me, it turned back into nutmeg. The spiciness, it reminded me of Cheerios. The the fruitiness kind of turned a little dark. It got a little bit of a plum flavor for me. And like the honey felt fruity, like almost like a honeyed apricot type of feel.

36:48 I I'm still sitting with the finish here just really enjoying it. It's a nine out of 10 for me on the finish as well. Oh, man, yeah. See, I'm just, I think that it's a really pleasant drinking experience. I just can't really pinpoint specific things in the notes here. It's like fruit. Then I start asking myself, what fruit is it? It's like, I don't know, maybe like a canned fruit cocktail they used to give you with like your school lunch. It's like it's in there somewhere, you know? Your your palate is full of ennui today. It certainly is man, full of confusion. At least it you know, like I said, it's nice, but it's just there's nothing really distinct about it. The finish is pleasant and long lasting and I think like a what you would come to expect from a standard lighter Scotch. Once again, I'm going to give it a 7 1/2 here. I think balance wise this this has all sorts of flavors that I really enjoy on a Highland that have a richness and a depth that drew me in.

37:49 This is a 9 1/2 on balance, Bob. Wow. Oh my gosh, dude. I don't think that we're going to be so far apart on this. It is a well balanced whiskey that just did not do it for me. So I'm trying to decide exactly where you set the, the numerical score for that. I think that I'll just give it a 7 1/2. Again, I'm sure that this is going to be appealing to some people, clearly to you, right? But for me, it's just, I, I want a little bit more distinctiveness here. And this just kind of feels like a canned fruit cocktail in that like you kind of get some notes of specific fruits, but it's mostly just simple syrup that all those fruits have been floating in for a couple months. And and so like it just diminishes any distinct character.

38:37 Yeah, I'm at a 7 1/2 bread. The way you're talking about it sounds like you're going to come out to like a 26. No, it's pretty good. And I think I'll be, you know, I actually don't know how much this is selling for. So why don't you hit us with that price point and I'll tell you exactly where I'm coming out on this. Well, this is kind of in a weird place. It costs £93.00 in the UK, which is about $125.00, but I am seeing it at a variety of distributors for anywhere from like 88 to $120.00. All right. So I like it feels like it's in the 95 to $100 range. I was going to say let's start it at like 100 or one O 5 at 100 bucks. I don't think this is a bad value. Like it's a 15 year Scotch, of course it's going to be a round triple digits.

39:28 So, you know, like would I still pick a Quinta Reuben 14 over this 15 year? Yeah, any day of the week. There's a lot more depth and complexity of flavor, especially because of the kinds of barrels they're using to to age it in. I'm going to give this a six out of 10 on value. And for me, that brings me out to a 35 1/2 Brad. Wow, we're not going to be 10 points away, but we're somewhat close. I think it's an 8 out of 10 on value at 100 bucks. That like this fits the profile of $100 Highland whiskey that has been aged for 15 years. I'm at a 44 out of 50, Robert. Wow.

40:10 OK. So that takes us to a 79.5 on average or I guess total and on average a 39.75 out of 50. So it's just shy of that 40 mark. Thanks largely to me. Thanks. Actually, entirely to me, And I will say, like I would give this a tentative thumbs up, like it's not a bad whiskey. I find it to be very pleasant. I don't know that I would run out and spring triple digits for it just because there's not enough kind of distinct character to me. But if somebody offered me a pour of this, this is a delightful little whiskey for me. And Brad, it sounds like it's much more than that for you. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I I wouldn't call it one of my top scotches of all time, but it is in that 40 plus range that is a absolute easy recommend. 2 thumbs up.

41:00 All right, man. Well, what do you say we get back into talking about How to Train Your Dragon, a movie that we are much more in unison about? Absolutely, man. Let's get to it. All right, everybody. That was Glengoine 15 year, a single malt Scotch that has a singular place in my heart, Bob. You are a true lover of Scotch man I'm happy for. You oh dude, I just, it like for a long while there I had 0 bourbons that I enjoyed for like months and this season we have had a few that I'm like, oh Dang, This is why I like bourbon. But it's always with like triple digit bourbons. So like I, I know that I'm getting very Snooty that that is apparent to me in the world of bourbon. However, in the world of Scotch, man I man, I'll drink just about anything because it's going to be better than almost anything made in America.

42:03 A bold statement. You have really staked your claim here, man. So I think I disagree with you on that, but that was a darn good whiskey and I think that's as far as I'm willing to go on that one, Brad. Similarly, we will be at odds with each other when it comes to our next game, which we call 2 facts and a falsehood. Brad is going to try to stump your ball. 2 are right and what is wrong 2. Facts and a Falsehood 2. Facts and a Falsehood is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete lie. I'm still crawling my way back from the two game hole that Patrick Williams put me in a few weeks back.

42:46 Brad, I think I have finally canceled out that horrible loss, but I would like to get back on top here. So hit me with those two Facts and a falsehood. Fact #1 The name of the village Burke is a British derogatory term derived from the Cockney rhyming slang Berkeley Hunt. Burke is commonly used as an affectionate put down for a fool by people unaware of its true origins. Fact #2 The Night Fury dragon species was originally going to be more wolf like in appearance. Instead, a DreamWorks employees computer screensaver of a black leopard inspired the film's creators to make Toothless more feline in appearance.

43:29 Fact #3 Foley artist Denny Thorpe and Jana Vance created the various dragon roars and shrieks through a combination of vacuum cleaners, angry cat sounds, and food processors. I hope #3 is true, so I'm just going to pretend like it is. I did see something I told you. I read the Wikipedia page, so I, I read something on there that said something about them mimicking a Black Panther for Toothless. So you know, I'm, I'm going to assume that it's similar to the one that you, what did you say? Black Jaguar or something? Black Leopard. Black Leopard. OK, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you didn't just make that up because it's pretty much true. And I don't think you'd be that nitpicky to change just that little bit, which kind of leaves me with #1 as my falsehood here. However, that's a lot of detail for you to go into to make up Brad like that.

44:28 That was an excessive amount of made-up detail. Never once made-up lots of details for a fact or a falsehood. I know you haven't, that's why I'm saying that. Yeah, definitely, definitely didn't do it this time, Bob. But I'm going to say that the what's it called when you eliminate things, the process of elimination has led me to say #1 I'd I'm not super confident in this, Brad, but I'm going to lock in #1 because of my Sherlock Holmes level deductive reasoning skills. And I will point out that your Sherlock level deductive reasoning included, I want #3 to be true.

45:08 So we're just going to move on. Which one was false, Brad? #3 was the falsehood, Bob. Your flawless deductive reasoning has failed you once again. Damn, I hate when I pair my deductive reasoning with my wants and needs and desires. It's terrible. Being human is rough, man. Man, I really wanted that to be true because it's, it kind of reminds me of, you know, the stories about how they made the T Rex sounds in Jurassic Park and like the the random things. And I just think that's so cool. Like when you watch Foley artists make something so on, on that note and on the note of like things being made-up and borrowed from IMDb. Brad, this is a movie that is based on a book series, which I had no idea about until yesterday. Like, I've watched this movie 567 times. I had no idea this was based on pre-existing IP and it was based on a pretty popular children's book series. But I, I, you know, I went and clicked through to that link on Wikipedia just to read the synopsis of the plot. It's super different than what they came up with for this movie because Toothless was like a, it wouldn't like the, the tiny little Dragons that are like nuisances. I don't know if he's actually one of those, but they, they talk about him being undersized and disobedient and actually Toothless.

46:30 And so like, that's his endearing quality. And Hiccup does train him and they end up killing a bad dragon at the end of the book. So like, maybe the broad strokes of this the story are still there, but like they've changed pretty much everything else about this story. Yeah, and I, I think it was a good thing because what you just described sounds like nothing that I want to watch. I, I mean, I was reading the, the Wikipedia as well, or, or maybe it's on IMDb. And basically they were like DreamWorks had Pete Doctor in place to direct the film of Animaniacs fame, Pinky and the Brain. I don't know if you've ever heard of those, Bob.

47:11 I love me some pinky and the brain. What a great theme song. Have you rewatched Pinky and the Brain since you got into watching Orson Welles movies? No, I haven't. It it explains so much once you've seen like Citizen Kane. Yeah, I, I'm going to go back and watch an episode now. The thing with Pete Doctor was he wrote a script that stayed extraordinarily faithful to the books, and DreamWorks saw it and was like, yeah, nobody's going to come to this unless they're like 7 or younger, and we want more broad appeal. So they brought in Dean de Blois. I think that's how it's pronounced. And he nailed it, man.

47:51 How do you say this guy's last name? De Blois. De Blois Yeah, I think you nailed it. Listen, we may make fun of his name. I will not make fun of his work. He did a really good job with this movie. Brad, you know, I don't really have a lot of notes here. Like, obviously I I took down some movies that I think kind of inspired this one. But I think that might be better saved for us to go ahead and get into our last segment, which we call Let's make it a double. We're near the end of the episode, so thanks listening to the film and Whiskey show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's struggling. It's the final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's make it a Double is presented by Blackwood Distilling Company. It's the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature. Brad, I'd like to hear your double feature first because I think there's a couple obvious directions we could go with this one.

48:46 But you know, sometimes you throw me a curveball, so I'm excited to hear where you go with this one. Yeah, I I mean, I do want to share my my one note that I wrote down when I finished Better Than the Iron Giant. No Boo Boo. That, that, that was my one note. I'll probably write it down for every single animated film I ever watched. Sure, sure, sure. I think that I am going to pair this with a a little bit of a strange pairing. I'm going to go live action. I think I'm going to pair this with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

49:30 Dude, So I will let you explain your reasoning. One of the films that I wrote down that would be kind of obvious pairings for this was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because of the dragon sequences, which I think pretty clearly influenced the way they did the training arena in this movie. Yeah, sure. Anyway, Sorcerer's Stone, I'm sorry, I don't need to step on your. Let's make it a double. Now the the thing that I found myself enjoying this time through, you know, twice in a month on how to train your dragon was like getting lost in the world and just like enjoying how cool this scandal Scottish dragon world that's being created around me. And it really reminded me of what Chris Columbus does in the first Harry Potter and how he brings this magical world to life.

50:25 And even if it, you know, is the most childlike movie and the movie most intended for younger kids, even as an adult you still feel the magic coming to life. And it just hit me. I was like man, How to Train Your Dragon really reminded me of that vibe. Honestly, do you know what it is for me? Because I thought about Sorcerer's Stone at 1.2. It's the couple shots they have where they're like flying into Burke at night over like the water because it looks so much like when they're first approaching Hogwarts on the boats. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I, I think there's definitely some influence there. OK, for mine, I'm going to go a little bit less obvious. Like I said, I think you could go Harry Potter. I think Braveheart would be a pretty obvious choice here, too. I'm going to pair this up with another personal favorite of mine.

51:14 It's a movie about a young man who rides on his valiant steed. He's counted out, and so is the steed. They have to work together to overcome injuries, including a debilitating leg injury to the young man where they don't know if he'll ever walk again. And yet, together they save the day and they ride off into glory. I'm talking about the great 2003 horse racing film Seabiscuit, one of my personal favorite movies. I freaking love Seabiscuit, dude. The the more you're talking, I was like, is is he talking about Seabiscuit? I sure am dude, what a good movie. Oh honestly dude, I saw it when it came out and I don't I don't think I've seen it since I freaking. Love it is corny and wonderful and I cry like a baby at the end of that movie.

52:06 I feel like I've shared this story on the podcast before, but, you know, who knows if we're ever going to get to Seabiscuit. So when I was in middle school, I was reading the book Seabiscuit and I had that moment of like the real world entering the fantasy I was engaged in in in a wild way where I literally read the words the bell rang and they were off in study hall. And the, and the, the, the bell rang for me to go to the next class. And it shook me bro. I was like a matrix kind of a thing. Yes, absolutely.

52:46 I was so shook. That's hilarious, dude. It's it's What's more funny is that you remember it so vividly still to. This vividly, man, it was. It was intense. All right, so those are our picks for let's make it a double Harry Potter number one and sea biscuits. I think, I think that's the technical name. Harry Potter number one, yeah. NO period one. But no matter what you choose to pair this up with, you can always make it a double with Blackwood Distilling Company. And if you go to bourbonoutfitter.com/film Whiskey and use our code Film Whiskey at checkout, that's film whiskey with an E you 2 can save on your bottle of Blackwood. Brad, let's get into final scores here. Now go ahead.

53:31 Dude, it's been a long day. I worked for like 9-10 hours and I put my kids to bed and then I mowed my lawn and mulched a little bit of my front flower bed. You know what I'm going to do after we record this episode? Bob going. To drink some Blackwood. I'm going to drink some Blackwood toasted one O 5 rye. It's really good stuff, man. It is like a it's a fantastic nightcap whiskey. Yeah, it is, dude. All right man, let's get into final scores here Brad. I really, really like this movie and I thought that I was going to come down in my score pretty significantly in that first 25 ish minutes. I was like oh man, this is a bummer. This is only like an 8 out of 10. I thought it was like a nine out of 10 and then the end of the movie happened and I think that I'm going to come all the way up to a 9.5 out of 10 on this movie. I think this is one of the best animated films of the century, Brad.

54:26 It's super, super good and it's deserving of a nine and a half. Oh, I I'm not quite as high as you on it. I like, I really like this movie. I think it's really fun, well written. I think that there's enough issues with all the secondary characters. The animation hasn't aged perfectly and at the end of the day at I've found myself at a point where there is something about like introductory movies that I, I struggle to put them often in the category of like all time classic or great. Where it's like so much of this movie is spent like introducing stuff and it's good and it's well done, but it keeps it from being like a modern classic for me. I guess I'm answering that question right now. I'm going to give it an 8 1/2 out of 10 Bob. Really fun, really enjoy it.

55:27 I will return to it, especially as my kids, you know, get older and might enjoy it. But for now I I'm sitting in an 8 1/2. I think that's totally fair because 8 1/2 kind of seems like the ceiling on. I think this is a really great movie that just isn't a classic, you know what I mean? Like every movie that I feel that way about where I'm like, Dang, what a great movie. Doesn't quite hit classic marks for me though. That makes it an 8 1/2. I don't know what it is, but that's kind of what I always default to. Yeah, absolutely. I could maybe give a movie a nine and say it's not a classic, but 8 1/2 does feel like that ceiling. All right, so we've watched a couple animated films this year, Brad.

56:09 We've done Ratatouille, we've done Into the Spider Verse now we've done this one. Did we do any other Pixar's Inside Out? We did Inside Out. Oh, we did, yeah. So does this one fall short of those other three or like where would you kind of rank them so far? That's interesting, I didn't want to like Into the Spider verse but I found myself really liking it. I think I gave it an 8 1/2. Ratatouille is great. Really love that movie. I might have given that an 8 1/2 as well. Maybe a nine. An Inside Out is is a classic that that would be my favorite of the four. I think I would put How to Train Your dragon probably in 3rd or 4th place, leaning towards fourth among those 4.

56:58 But I don't know man, I I might return to it more times than the other ones in my life. Like, like, it really is just a fun movie. It's a super entertaining movie. That's The thing is like Inside Out is a really good movie that I'm almost never in the mood to watch. You know what I mean and. Like. Sure. How to Train Your Dragon is a movie where I'm just like, yeah, this is in dad movie territory. Like if I catch part of this on cable, I'll probably stick around and watch a lot of it. And that's saying something for an animated movie. So all right, it's a nine from us on average, but we'd like to know what you think. Have you seen How to Train Your Dragon? And I guess the real question is how many times? You can find us on all of our social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube at Film Whiskey. Or if you want to join the conversation, you can find a link to our Discord server at the end of every single one of our show notes.

57:50 Next week, a movie that is the spiritual cousin of the gigantic dragon that bursts out of a mountain at the end of this movie. We're talking about 2023's Japanese classic Godzilla -1 cannot freaking wait for you to watch this movie, Brad. I am so jacked like this. This is a movie I truly made an effort to go see in theaters. It never worked out. And I and then I, I held on to it because I knew we were doing this season. So I I am so pumped to do this man. All right, join us for that one next week. But until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time. The.