Toothless

Rating: 6/10 (26 April 2010)

Rubbish title. Let's just get that out the way right now. It sounds like a working title that no one ever bothered changing.
Dreamworks Animation Studio hardly provide intellectual competition for Pixar, but with the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, they certainly give kids a lot of what they want. With its comparatively sullen hues and a largely bodily function-free range of jokes, How to Train Your Dragon is likely to appeal to slightly older children. Not teenagers, but the bright brand of tweens who'll drool over the scene in which our bumbling hero, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), scans through a Book of Dragons, which acts like a kind of Dark Age movie merchandise catalogue.
There's nothing drastically wrong with re-imagining the Vikings as victims defending their villages. But perhaps the film's closing pacifist sentiment comes across as a little disingenuous, given how much fun we've had watching arena battles and hundred-foot reptiles tear down mountains. I mean, after 90 minutes of rucking, will a child really want to put aside their plastic axe? Heavens no (or, indeed, Valhalla no) – he'll collect the toys, with their meticulously-moulded beards and scales, and play Dragon Massacre at Viking Village.
But an enjoyable adventure nonetheless. The cast is excellent, once you get over the fact that the 28 year-old Baruchel sounds exactly what he is, which is fifteen years too old. And the 3D is dynamic and arresting without being distractingly self-referential.