Charming, sweet and an all-round entertaining adventure for everyone to enjoy!

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2016)

Released at a time when many of DreamWorks Animation films were either receiving negative or mixed responses from critics and audiences alike. How To Train Your Dragon finally brought the studio back into the spotlight and returned them back to form, with their greatest hit in years and to the opinions of some as their greatest film ever (this is disputed with Shrek 2.) How To Train Your Dragon, is set during an fictional Viking setting, in a land plagued by dragons and the Viking's desire to finally wipe them out once and for all. Here we are introduced to Hiccup, a shy, awkward and weak son of a great viking warrior, struggling to find his place in this world with men fighting for survival. After an attack on the village, Hiccup injures a dragon and begins to track it only to find himself bonding and connecting with the dragon on an emotional level, completely outside the realms and depths any Viking had gone before. How To Train Your Dragon is beautifully animated, with the animation being smooth and crisp and having a unique style for itself. The characters are likable, relatable and their motivations and actions clear (while some may seem a little stereotypical.) The emotional scenes between Hiccup and Toothless the dragon are charming and sweet and the two serve as the story's unlikely companionship, especially the flying sequences which may be some of the greatest looking and heartfelt moments in an animation film ever. The film flows well with the distinct first, second and third act and never looses steam, neither containing unnecessary scenes or wasted screen time. Despite a few exposition and an unfortunate flaw in the accents of the characters, the film is close to perfect- while it may be nit-picking, the mix of Scottish and American accents just don't seem to fit the setting very well and can come off as a bit annoying. As a summary, How To Train Your Dragon is gorgeously animated, charming and sweet to the core and has a very well developed plot as well as being a great return to form for DreamWorks Animation. 8/10