Dazzling dragon delight

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2010)

"How to train your dragon" is based on a humorous fantasy novel of the same name. I cannot compare the stories of the two but where the book has rather ugly pictures, the movie dazzles with amazing visuals. I think they would be great looking even if you didn't see the movie in 3d. It's not only the quality of the renders, it's the quality of the animation. I think it works best when the young viking Hiccup starts to interact with the fallen dragon. They are very lifelike and expressive even though the dragon does not talk. Later on, the flying sequences are not only spectacular but exhilarating. I had my doubts about the look of the main dragon (the one on the posters) but it managed to win my approval in both looks (a bit small though) but mostly personality wise.
There's lots of very dynamic exciting action in this movie and it's mostly done with a cheerful fun tone most of the time even though there's still danger. As I recall, there's no visible gore, dismemberments or even blood, making it very family friendly. However, despite that lack of "realism", I do think that adults will enjoy it a lot too. The story is not the most original (except for the original premise) but it's very well told, with good character development and has a fairly good morale for those into that. I think Gerard Butler voicing the viking chief is a natural for that kind of stoic warrior role. However, I would have preferred another voice for the teen hero as I found it sounding too old (the actor is in his late twenties). The rest of the voice cast is fine. My only other criticism is that there's a part of the ending that we've seen a hundred times before especially in kids movies and I would have preferred a little more originality there or at least see it better done because I didn't really buy into it. So, all in all, provided you still have a little bit of a kid's heart in you and are not allergic to dragons, it's likely you will have a great time watching this very entertaining movie.
Rating : 8 out of 10