Good but just missed for me

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2010)

Boy wants to go off and fight dragons but he generally causes more harm then good with his inventions. He randomly fires off one and the next day finds he's downed a dragon. While his dad and the other vikings head off to kill the dragons the boy and the dragon he caught bond opening the way for human dragon friendship.
Why don't I like this better? Its got great characters, great writing, great sequences, wonderful animation....and yet it just missed for me.
Was it the fact that the plot is too waiver thin that you can mostly fill in the blanks? Maybe partly, but then again it constantly surprises you.
Was it the wildly uneven character design that runs from realistic to Looney Tunes? Maybe. I knew the silly faces were coming from the trailers but when you finally see them its kind of a let down.
Mostly I think its the pacing which is a bit lax, thanks in part to too many beautiful flying sequences. The flying stuff is great, but there is almost too much of it. And several other sequences seem to go on too long. The sequences, say the training sequences, are great but they go on and on.
Its a solid movie, but where the whole thing should have been great to match the bits, the whole is just good.
I will give the film points for being ballsy enough to have the finale cost our characters something.