How to Train Your Dragon

Vikings versus dragons, it is a story as old as history, a tale told countless times, a war that rages ever onward. Hiccup just happens to be the worst viking to have ever been born, trying to make himself fit into a mold that doesn't suit him. Then the boy discovers a dragon and learns that everything he knew about these beasts was wrong. Can Hiccup grow up to be the viking that he has always emulated or will he discover a different path to take than his fellow warriors?

What I Liked:
I really enjoyed this film, from the presentation to the story to the animation, this film is a solid effort from top to bottom. Loosely based off the children's book of the same name, it tells the tale of Hiccup the most useless viking to have ever been born. He is the embarrassment of the clan and in particular, his father Stoic, the villages chief. All his life he has wanted to be a viking but being to weak and inept he has had to amuse himself with his mind more than his brains. Hiccups story of learning to be who he is and not what others want him to be was brought to life beautifully by Dreamworks team of animators. Little touches like breathing chests, stray course hairs and fur rustling in the breeze are just a handful of the wonderful techniques the animators used to bring the characters and the story to life. Movement is fluid and natural, while the expressiveness of each characters body language really brings out who they are. The same attention to detain was applied to Toothless the dragon as well. He doesn't say anything throughout the whole film but he is still very much one of the lead actors. Hiccups dragon reminds me a lot of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, in both his design and his overall impact to the film (not surprising as Chris Sanders previously worked on Lilo and Stich as well). Had the animators slacked off even a little bit Toothless would have been much less of a character and to the animation teams credit, Toothless's scenes are some of the funnier and more touching ones of the film. The characters who do speak are all very well done, not terribly deep mind you, as most of them are there for comedic effect and they mostly achieve this with ease. Hiccup and Stoic's relationship in contrast, is a strained one and this comes across very well, thick enough to be rather obvious but not heavy handed and overly burdensome. All of this, the animation, the characters and the setting which is bold and beautiful, all make for a compelling tale, one that I enjoyed from beginning to end. The script is very well written the pacing is excellent and the design is one that is pleasing and coveys its meaning. The dialogue is fast and witty and while there are a few missed lines here and there the overall performance was excellent.

What I Didn't Like:
While the overall story is very good, some of the elements of the plot, especially towards the end are overly simple. Everything comes together at the end rather quickly and is wrapped up in a neat little bow and the world is right again. Everything (almost) is back to the way it was before. Many of the plot points and characters are likewise pretty shallow but we will never get much exposition from a voiceless dragon and some things are left unspoken because they simply can't be expressed. However in light of the rest of the films strengths these are really a minor points.

In Conclusion:
From beginning to end the film takes off and never looks back with a dizzying spectacle of dragon fights and breathtaking set pieces. The comedy and dialogue keep the pace of the film light and quick as well, even the more serious scenes are expertly written and voiced, meaning that they don't drag the mood down to low. All this means in the end is that that the film is rather bubbly and a bit carefree, when the vikings and dragons are not trying to kill each other that is. I was surprised by the intensity of the fights, which are action packed. Dragons sweep overhead, catapults fire boulders and vikings jump around swinging axes, it was all very intense, no blood or gore mind you, just nonstop action. While I really enjoyed these scenes myself and thought they were very well choreographed, I know that some of the kids in the audience did not appreciate it as much. To be honest I am a bit surprised at the films PG rating if simply because of these scenes, the film itself is pretty clean of anything crude or vulgar. That said the film is action packed, full of life and brimming with humor and the time spent with the world and the characters is one that is much to short. This is not because the length of the film was to short but because the film is fun and entertaining and I wanted to stay. I believe I was smiling from the opening scene all the way to the ending credits and that is how you can tell if a film has done it's job correctly.