The Best Dreamworks film since 'The Prince of Egypt'

Rating: 10/10 (24 August 2013)

Ever since 'Shrek', Dreamworks have been giving us the standard "hip, pop-culture savvy" type of animated film. It was fun for a while, but the trope got really old after a couple of years. It wasn't until 'Kung-Fu Panda' did we get an almost-serious animated Dreamworks film again, then came a little film called 'How to Train Your Dragon'. When I first saw the teaser for this film, I just rolled my eyes and said, "Pfft, no one will take this film seriously, the dragons look too silly and the Vikings seem boring". Guess what? I was dragged to the theater with my mother and grandmother to see this thing, and I didn't like it........I LOVED IT!!!
This is the kind of movie I've been waiting for! A refreshing callback to the classic fantasy films, namely 'E.T.', 'The NeverEnding Story', and 'The Iron Giant'. It's got everything I love about those films: drama, tasteful humor, intense action scenes, a sympathetic main character, and above all...HEART! It's not the most original fantasy film, but once you get sucked into the environment, and attached to the characters, you'll hardly notice.
Toothless is adorable, Stoic and Gobber are pretty cool, and the Rookie Vikings are very funny. Now, Hiccup and Astrid are very basic when it comes to characters. Astrid is the typical tomboy love interest, and Hiccup is your standard rookie/underdog hero, but once you learn their backgrounds and their motives, you'll start to enjoy them. So, while it might be a generic story, it's still a very beautiful, touching, thrilling adventure that I DID NOT regret seeing in theaters (and the 3-D was totally worth it)!
My Overall Score-- A solid 10!