A great film but better than "Toy Story 3"? Really? - 82%

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2011)

I remember reading, with growing anger, about some dissenting voices during the last Oscar ceremony who were whinging about Pixar claiming the Best Animated Feature yet again with "Toy Story 3". They reckoned that this should have got it instead but having seen it, I can't really see what the fuss is about. Don't get me wrong - it does give Woody and co a good run for their money and this is probably the best Dreamworks animation produced so far. But by sticking too closely to the usual story lines these films adhere to, it just falls short of greatness.
Young Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has a problem - actually, he has a few. He is a constant disappointment to his father Stoick (Gerard Butler) who is an enormous Viking warrior. He finds the love of his life Astrid (America Ferrera) is way out of his league. But worst of all, his village is plagued by dragons in all shapes and sizes. But after an encounter with a deadly Night Fury dragon, Hiccup quickly finds himself becoming friends with the beast. As time goes on, Hiccup discovers that everything he thought he knew about dragons is wrong but can they work together to combat the village's prejudices and an evil far greater than anyone imagined?
Dreamworks do things a little differently to Pixar - for example, they get a stellar cast to do the voices whereas Pixar get the best voices to fit the part. Thankfully, "How To Train Your Dragon" has a fairly small cast and they all do justice to the film. With the small cast, they probably had a few more pennies to spend on the animation which is truly beautiful. This is possibly where Dreamworks have the edge over their bitter rivals and honestly, this looks better than some non-animated movies. Water and fire look much wetter and hotter than they did in "The Last Airbender" (which damning this film with faint praise) and I understand that the 3D is also much better. For my money, this is the best looking animation I've seen since "WALL·E".
My gripes, in truth, are fairly trivial but they still distracted me somewhat. As my Scottish wife eloquently pointed out, the Scottish accents shouldn't have anything to do with Vikings from Norway and while I'm on the subject, the fact that adult Vikings spoke with a Scottish accent instead of a Californian accent like the children gave the impression of half-heartedness. The other let-down is the story which is yet another tale about a unlikely hero trying to be something they're not but after being true to himself, finds that he's more powerful than anyone supposed. In short, this is "Kung Fu Panda" in a Nordic setting and if that's what you're looking for then great. This is a really good family film, full of all the fun and excitement you could wish for and comes highly recommended. However, I just wanted it to move me like Pixar can and it didn't. But like I said, this is still a very good movie and one which you'll enjoy if you catch it.