How to Train Your Dragon Review

There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns that the dragon world is not the way he was taught to believe.





THE GOOD: Story. I can honestly say that I was not looking forward to How to Train Your Dragon. First off, the title is horrid. Then you have DreamWorks Animation. Out of all of their CGI animated films, I only really like Shrek. Shrek 2 and Monsters vs. Aliens were semi-entertaining. But, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, and Shrek the Third are all terrible. DreamWorks has disappointed me many times, so I'm always weary when their films come out. But, when I saw that How to Train Your Dragon had a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, I just had to see it. Now I can safely say that DreamWorks finally got one right. For me, it's right up there with Shrek. The big reason is the great story. It's adapted from the 2003 children's novel written by British author Cressida Cowell. There are many differences from the book, but the spirit of the characters and setting remains intact. It's a great zero to hero tale. You can compare it to Lilo and Stitch in how it's an unconventional way of telling a story about a boy and his dog. One last thing, I think part of enjoying the movie was not knowing everything about it going into the theatre. If you read the plot line above, that's only 50% of the film. There's a whole other side to the story that's just as entertaining.

Voice actors. Jay Baruchel is an actor that you want to see succeed. He has this face that always makes me feel bad for him. I think it's all about finding his place and it just so happens to be in this animated film. Baruchel plays Hiccup, the young Viking who befriends a dragon. He kind of has that nerdy and uncertain tone in his voice, but at the same time a likable demeanor. He's the underdog. One thing that makes me curious is why all of the adult characters in the film have Scottish accents, but the kids speak with American accents. Anyway, Scottish actors Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson provide their voices for two of the adult Vikings in the film. They fit their roles perfectly.



3D. There have recently been a couple movies where skipping the 3D versions would have been okay. But let me say right now that if you are going to watch How to Train Your Dragon, you must ensure that it's in 3D! There are at least three flying sequences that are absolutely breathtaking to watch. I would even venture to say that they are better than Avatar's flying sequence. While watching it, I was immediately transported back to when I saw the special edition theatrical release of Star Wars. The scene where the X-Wings are diving into the trench of the Death Star is mimicked a lot in How to Train. I saw the film in IMAX 3D, but any 3D will do.



Sound design. The sound in the film is well done. They were mostly created by Skywalker Sound. The sound of Toothless is a combination of various sounds, including supervising sound designer Randy Thom, elephants, horses, and tigers. The growling and other sounds of the Terrible Terror is actually based on a purebred Chihuahua.

THE BAD: Message. My big beef with the film is how straightforward it is. This is something that I think DreamWorks struggles with constantly. Even Shrek slaps us directly in the face with its "Beauty is on the inside" message. Look at Pixar's last three films, Ratatouille, WALL�E, and Up. Great stories with complex multiple messages. How to Train Your Dragon deals with father-son relationships to the point that it's screaming at you. It's an important message, I guess, but not very well played out.





THE END: How to Train Your Dragon is already one of my favorite films of the year. It's fun, energetic, and visually pleasing. It could be that I expected so little from this movie, but I think it'll stand strong among CGI animated films, and certainly of DreamWorks. See this movie in 3D soon.





DISCUSS: What did you think of How to Train Your Dragon? What DreamWorks Animation films do you like? Which do you dislike?

Reference: http://camknows.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-train-your-dragon-review.html