A disappointingly weak story, but an acceptable kids film

Rating: 5/10 (5 April 2010)

Went to see this with my kids, 8, 6 and 4. They loved the superb animation, the great variety of colourful dragons and the breathtaking flying sequences and all the fireballs, but they only understood the story at its simplest level - i.e. a rather sweet story about a sensitive teenage boy called Hiccup, a weak, "underdog" Viking, who befriends a dragon against the wishes of his father.
This film must come with two warnings (1) It is far below Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and other "classic" Dreamworks output. (2) Apart from the names of a few of the main characters, Hiccup's underdog rise, and the mythical location of the Viking island of Berk, the film bears little resemblance to the series of 8 brilliant Cressida Cowell books (which I highly recommend for readers aged 8-12).
There is an attempt at humour, but it is quite weak, mainly because the supporting characters are all incredibly flat (and its a double shame because the Cressida Cowell books are hilarious). Hiccup, his father Stoick and the dragon, Toothless, are well portrayed, though. Also missing is the sort of modern pop soundtrack and pace that made Shrek stand out. Indeed, the film has a very slow start, largely because there are just too many device seeds to sow in order to make the all-action climax work. Although the climax is a brilliant visual spectacle, it all feels rather forced - the feeling I got was that they went through so much trouble to set up the climax, but it still didn't make sense. And to top it all Hiccup has an unnecessary love interest, Astrid. She is great as a Viking girl character, but there was no need to force the romance between her and Hiccup - it added nothing to the story except for schmaltz - something we'd expect from Disney rather than Dreamworks.
Overall, this has to be one of the weakest scripts Dreamworks has produced. It will keep the kids entertained for a couple of hours and its probably even worth getting on DVD, but its most definitely not a classic.
As a post script to the review, I'd also like to rant about all of the voice talents as well. Why does Hollywood think its okay to give Scottish accents to the adult Vikings? Do they not know that there is a difference between Vikings and Scots? And why, having given the adults Scottish accents, do they think that its okay for the teenagers (Hiccup, Astrid, etc) to have American accents? And if they're going to have American accents, why not have them voiced by teenagers, rather than by adults. Hiccup in particular I thought sounded far too much like the adult American that voiced him, nothing at all like a teenager, let alone a Viking one.