DreamWorks Animation announced this week that ti would bring the epic-adventures of Toothless the dragon and Hiccup and the Vikings on the Island of Berk back to the big screen with a 3D sequel to “How to Train Your Dragon” in 2013.

The first film has grossed some half a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, TJ Miller and Kristen Wiig are already signed on for the sequel. Dean DuBlois will be back to direct.

“Nothing could be more exciting for me than being charged with carrying this story forward, into the unknown reaches of Hiccup and Toothless’ ever-expanding world,” DeBlois said. “Ambitions are high with this epic next chapter, and together with an incredible team of filmmakers, we plan to build upon How to Train Your Dragon’s originality, boldness and heart, in hopes of once again touching audiences around the world.”

“How to Train Your Dragon” is the tale of a young Viking named Hiccup who defies tradition and befriends a dragon. It is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Friday.

They say never judge a book by its cover, but there’s something about the title “Monsters vs. Aliens” that brought to mind a mediocre children’s movie with crude fart jokes and lots of epic clashes between monsters and aliens. DreamWorks’s latest animated feature film did not disappoint me.

Once again, DreamWorks sacrificed creating a quality script for putting together an all-star cast. Using the voice talents of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson and Stephen Colbert (oh, and Paul Rudd, Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Poehler, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinksi), this would have been the crƒ¨me de la crƒ¨me of live action movies. But even Seth Rogen’s token stoner laugh was not enough to save a film that was all glitz but no substance.

The film follows Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), an unfortunate woman who gets hit by a meteorite on her wedding day and promptly grows ginormous – hence the US Government dubbing her Ginormica. Thus she is locked away in a secret government facility with other “monsters”: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a genetically altered tomato gone wrong; Dr. Cockroach Ph.D (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who decided to clone himself after the world’s most durable creature; and The Missing Link (Will Arnett), a monster who just likes to terrify the ladies. Then there’s Insectasaurus who I will let you discover for yourself.

Susan is heartbroken after the US Government tell her she will be locked away from her fiancĩ (Paul Rudd) and family forever. That is, until General W. R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) realizes the best way to battle their new alien threat (Rainn Wilson) is with the monsters they have been containing. Thus, like its title so subtly suggests, the most is about the monsters versus the aliens.

Writers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky seemed like they were trying to find a happy medium between child and adult humor but instead alienated both. Themes like Susan’s fiancƒ© only wanting to marry Susan so she could live in his shadow and jokes about global warming seemed too mature for a children’s animated movie, but the “adult humor” never was quite as funny as previous DreamWorks films “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda.”

Rogen was the stand-out voice actor of the bunch, though maybe that’s because his voice is funny unto itself. B.O.B. is like a monster version of Brick (Steve Carrell) in “Anchorman,” with some of the jokes (not knowing what his name is) being taken straight from that character. Brick was funny though, and B.O.B. is too. It’s some of the best humor in the movie, even if it’s not original.

Visually, “Monsters vs. Aliens” looked great. While no other animation studio has been able to master the depth of detail and realism that makes Pixar the master of the craft, DreamWorks has come leaps and bounds from “Shrek.”

It also was my first time experiencing a film in 3D, which I had the good fortune to do at the IMAX Theater at Jordan’s Furniture’s Reading location. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it any other way. Even though some of the shots were created solely to look cool in 3D, they did, and that made watching the film somewhat more bearable.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is the only new animated film out in theaters after last month’s “Coraline.” Go take the kids to see it – they will love B.O.B. (Seth Rogen being family friendly and a kid favorite? Will wonders never cease?). But go in expecting something to keep you entertained for two hours, not something worthy of its cast or that’s going to leave a lasting impact.

Paramount Home Entertainment, which includes Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, has announced its decision to use only High Definition DVD, over competing Blu-ray technology.

The decision was made after company research said HD DVDs had the necessary technology on the market, low manufacturing costs and best value and quality for consumers, they said.

On August 28, Blades of Glory kicked off this new program as the first release. Transformers and Shrek the Third follow.

These three movies represent more than $1.5 billion in worldwide box office sales, and company executives believe the sales will keep increasing.

“The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD,” said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, the leading studio in domestic box office revenue. “I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount.”

Regular DVD players are hardware-based, while HD DVD and Blu-ray systems rely on software. That means updates and movie extras can be easily downloaded from the web. Even with this similarity, many movie and technology powerhouses support Blu-ray technology since it offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs while still having great image quality.

The price between HD DVD players and Blu-ray players, however, is what interests consumers the most. The cheapest HD DVD player retails for approximately $300, while the cheapest Blu-ray devices sell for at least $599.

“We decided to release Shrek the Third and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg CEO of DreamWorks Animation. “We believe the combination of this year’s low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home.”

Paramount Home Entertainment will issue new release dates for upcoming films and will also sell catalog titles in the future. Steven Spielberg films remain uncommitted to either format.