A fairly good movie.

Rating: 7/10 (28 February 2018)

How to Train Your Dragon is a breathtakingly animated movie which deserves high praise for that, but even though it has a couple of really good elements it also has noticable drawbacks. I'll explain
One of the best aspects of HTTYD is the animation. The flight scenes and the discovery of the dragons are highlights of the movie, because the creativity put into making every dragon unique is wonderful, and when you see those landscapes from above your jaw will drop. Just amazing work of animation. Another great thing is this very real and organic build-up of the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless, because it's not an easy task, and that leads to the later conflict which is clichéd but is well excecuted
No wonder Chris Sanders had a directoral role in this moving story, after all he was the writer of Disney's Lilo & Stitch which also had touchingly dramatic scenes. Toothless reminded me of Stitch, and it isn't hard to guess why the writer of that that movie could make a character with similar mannerisms.
But many of these characters are pretty weak in their characterizations, because they either come off as one-note, mean-spirited or both. Hiccup's co-students in his training to become a viking warrior are easily described with simple tropes with almost no depth to them. Well, Astrid has some dimensions to her, because she discovers Hiccup's secret as the story progresses, but the others are kind of annoying one-trope characters. And Hiccup's father kept on being so mean to him that I found him pretty hateable, because even when his son has proven his worth he still makes less blatant mean comments. That aspect of the movie just got on my nerves.
The sequel is better in my opinion, because its focus is more on the world around them rather than on the characters and bigger consequences happened and added a less predictable feel to its story, but HTTYD started it all so therefore I can't deny it's worth.
So all in all: Breathtaking animation and a well excecuted start of a beautiful friendship between two characters are highlights in an otherwise predictable story with many weak characters.