Despite the predictable storyline, this is hugely enjoyable

Rating: 8/10 (18 April 2010)

Like all of Dreamworks' animated films, you can pretty much predict every moment of How to Train Your Dragon from the film's opening sequence. In particular, the whole relationship between the father and son in this picture is so banal I had to roll my eyes every time the father character (voiced by Gerard Butler - for some reason, the major adult vikings in the movie all have Scottish accents) appeared on screen. So I have to admit that I enjoyed this movie a heck of a lot. And even after several days, my happiness with it has not diminished. I think most of that has to do with the relationship between the protagonist, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), and the dragon, Toothless. What can I say, I'm a sucker for any story about a person's relationship with their pet, and with the dragon so cat-like, the film was pretty much irresistible. The dragons are all fantastic, and the film truly comes alive whenever any of them (and especially when Toothless) is on screen. But, really, Dreamworks has never done better with their film-making. They've created a nice little world here. It has a texture and a beauty not before seen in Dreamworks animated features (though still a good deal below Pixar's last two films). Their last few films have had really well done action sequences, and Dragons keeps up with that quite nicely, putting the similar dragon flying sequences in Avatar to shame. DeBlois and Sanders previously directed Disney's Lilo & Stitch (pretty obvious when you compare Toothless's design to Stitch's), which has a similar charm.