Suspension Of Disblief ,A Pre Requisite

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2010)

As most school children know,the Vikings were originally from Scotland, and spoke fluent English,with a dense Scottish accent. That bit of beefing aside,'How To Train Your Dragon' is a fun time at the cinema. The plot:Hiccup is a young Viking lad who wants to hunt & kill a dragon, just like his brave Father,Stoick. Problem is that Hiccup is something of a screw up who just can't get things straight. One day when the village is being attacked by a horde of dragons,Hiccup manages to land one with a crude sling shot like device. When Hiccup goes to claim his prize (and try,one and for all to impress his dad),he finds out that dragons aren't as evil as they are made out to be. This causes Hiccup to do a radical re-think of dragons & study their movements. In the interim of all of this,Hiccup manages to form a bond of friendship with the dragon (which he even assigns a name:Toothless),all the while he is in training on how to kill a dragon with the other youngsters in the village (under Gobber's tutorial). It's now up to Hiccup to try & go on a one man (boy?)campaign to change the Viking's anti dragon bias. Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch,Heima)& Chris Sanders (also Lilo & Stitch,both the feature film,as well as the television series)co direct,from a screenplay by DeBlois,from the best selling novel by Cressida Cowell. As this is an animated 3D-CGI feature film (released in both digital 3-D,standard 3-D,as well as flat 2-D formats),the voice talent include Jay Baruchel as Hiccup,Gerard Butler ('Rocknrolla','300',and most recently in 'The Bounty Hunter')as Hiccup's father,Stoick,Craig Ferguson ('The Late,Late Show With Craig Ferguson')as Stoick's best friend,Gobber,America Ferrera ('Ugly Betty') as Astrid,Hiccup's adversary,with Jonah Hill,T.J.Miller,Kristen Wiig, Kieron Elliot & Ashley Jensen. This is fast moving fun for one & all. Rated PG by the MPAA,for some intense sequences that may frighten the very young & a bit of rude humour.