Well-done animation

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2011)

I probably should have watched How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. As it was, on my hi-def 2D television, the effects were a real joy anyway. And, as it was, it turns out that the movie is a heck of a lot better than your average blockbuster kidflick – Pixar notwithstanding – that's terrific fun.
The aptly named hero of the story, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a Viking. Seriously, try to imagine Jay Baruchel as a Viking warrior, and you can't. He's basically the runt of the litter, and he's always kept indoors when his remote Scandinavian village is attacked by flying dragons. Hiccup is small but not without some courage; he often sneaks outside just long enough to cause trouble for the humans. And so it goes.
One night he accidentally wounds a Night Fury, the kind of dragon that's so stealthy it's practically invisible, the kind that spits lasers out of its mouth instead of regular fire. The kind, in other words, that ends battles quickly. Hiccup, after some awkward moments, befriends the young dragon but keeps its existence a secret from the town, knowing they'd just as soon put it out of their misery.
Meanwhile, young Hiccup is being trained to be a Viking along with the other of-age kids (including America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse), because all the manly men are out looking for the dragons' hive. Hiccup learns he has an ability to empathize with the airborne reptiles, which enables him to defeat them during his training, thus making him the toast of the town. And then, of course, his dad (Gerard Butler) returns and thinks his formerly nebbish son is now the one who will save them all.
At its core, this is a movie about acceptance. The humans must accept that the dragons have a perfectly good reason for raiding them; the dragons must accept that the humans aren't so terrible after all; and Hiccup's dad must accept that his son will never be seven feet tall, weigh 400 pounds, and be able to wield several double axes at once. Everyone has his part in society, and papa Stoick comes to realize that mindless violence might not be the ultimate answer. (It's a kids' movie, after all.)
The story is wonderfully told, but even better is the terrific animation, on par with – dare I bring them up again – Pixar. The movie is, naturally, up for Best Animated Feature this year, and it deserves to be. The voice roles are well cast, for the most part (it's easy to accept Butler as a Viking, but Baruchel's nasal whine gets a little tiresome). The action scenes are a pleasure to watch, rivaling (and even copying) Avatar, and the attention to detail looks impeccable. Interestingly enough, the end scene isn't quite what you expect. It's not a bad thing, and it's certainly not implausible. In fact, it's a heck of a lot more believable than what you'd get out of a typical animated movie. That unpredictability sort of buttresses the charming characterizations by Butler and (yes) Baruchel as father and son and earns this movie high marks.