Good voice acting, Great Animation, and a Wonderful Score

Rating: 9/10 (10 September 2011)

"How To Train Your Dragon"? Really? Come on! You can sense my skepticism about this feature by simply mentioning its title. It sounds quite ridiculous, yet it fits perfectly. The story is simple. With a Viking setting, a boy who wants to be a warrior befriends an injured dragon and develops an unlikely friendship with it. The plot does not provide anything new, yet the animators do a swell job of making the audience fall in love with dragons. The combination of character's facial expressions and animation makes this feature among the best I have seen. The voice talent is exquisite, especially Jay Baruchel as the lead protagonist. What adds another flavor to this animated feature is John Powell's score. I knew it was not going to win at the Oscars, yet I was hoping it would. I have listened to all of the scores nominated at the 2011 Oscars and this was easily the best. Though a seemingly a simple tune, the music erupts into a fantastic orchestra, which takes the story to a whole new level; like what John Williams did for "Star Wars". When watching this on a DVD player, I just had to crank up the volume as I found myself conducting to the musical composition. Sorry for sounding absurd, but John Powell has created a gem that cannot be topped and it has truly touched the essence of my heart.
My rating: 3.5 out of 4
If you have not seen this animated feature, you are really missing out.