A fun family film adults can also enjoy.

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2011)

How to Train Your Dragon is a fine animated excursion into mamby pamby land for children but it is not so inane as to drive adults nuts. Those less critical of movies will certainly enjoy the film a great deal more than I did, but it is a fine movie none the less.
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a scrawny and geeky Viking whose father is chief dragon slayer of the clan. Try as he might Hiccup can't seem to do anything right and his attempts to prove himself backfire and make things worse for everyone. He reminds me very much of Flik, the main character A Bug's Life. Both are misfits looking for approval and eventually they win acceptance by having a series of adventures where they learn to be themselves and teach a valuable lesson to the rest of the clan/colony.
Hiccup's adventure involves a dragon he manages to bring down with one of his quirky inventions. Nobody believes him so he sets off in search of the dragon so he can slay it and win approval from his father and the rest of the village. He finds himself unable to do the deed and ultimately ends up befriending the dragon, which acts in much the same manner as a house cat. His experiences with the dragon allow Hiccup to gain valuable insights into the nature of the ferocious beasts, it turns out they are more like dogs and cats than flying lizards. The story is rather formulaic but it is cute, which is pretty much what you are looking for in this type of movie.
There are several animated movies of a similar nature that I liked more than How to Train Your Dragon, Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles come to mind, but it is still a movie that is probably worth watching, especially if you have children. I promise they will love the film and it won't leave you wanting to claw your eyes out, in fact, you will probably like it too.