Surprisingly spectacular use of 3D

Rating: 9/10 (6 September 2010)

Oh this was surprisingly more enjoyable than I expected, especially since I had to either watch it in 3D or not at all. But at least the movie's landscapes scenes looked really good in 3D - I saw in the credits later that Roger Deakins, the cinematographer for No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (ain't that a mouthful), amongst others, was the visual consultant.
The main story itself was trite, but then it's based on a children's novel, and most of those are structured rather the same way. The characters were fortunately quite endearing, and the dragons were cute and looked unique. More importantly, there was good flow to the movie - I don't recall being bored at any time - and the action sequences were spectacular. I can't say for sure if I should credit it to the 3D or the directors but watching the characters zoom around on their dragons was quite thrilling. I'd probably give this movie credit for being the second movie that makes good use of 3D (the first being Avatar of course).