From no expectations, to high expectations and then exceeding them

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2010)

I have to admit, I didn't know anything about this movie until it started showing here in Manila around a week ago. The 3D version had just opened (if I'm not mistaken) a couple of days later and I invited my niece and nephew to watch with me (and my wife). Seeing how this was a Dreamworks movie (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar), it was likely that I'd watch it anyway... the question is, will it be another Kung Fu Panda (which I rated a 10), or a Monsters Vs. Aliens (entertaining, but not a classic for years to come; or good enough to watch over and over again on DVD; let's face it, for every excellent Dreamworks animation like Shrek or Madagascar, there's a Shrek 2 or a Bee Movie).
So I read up on reviews on a local website and on IMDb, and I was blown away by their reviews, both from critics and regular movie goers. People were generally pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed the 3D as well. So... I got all excited and had higher expectations all of a sudden.
Now on to the movie. There were so many great things from this movie ---
Entertainment - from a storytelling standpoint, this was up there with the best of Dreamworks animation; there was decent character development whether you empathize with the classic protagonist that's different from the rest of the Vikings or just appreciate the father and son relationship as it goes through the awkward years. The build-up from beginning to the climax was well done. There was much enjoyment all around with acceptable (and only occasional) lulls, and the lessons that can be learned were good and appreciable both from a child's standpoint and an adult's. Overall, How To Train Your Dragon (or some call it HTTYD) is a good blend of comedy, action and sprinkles of drama. After all, don't you want your animation to be a pretty good mix of everything?
Animation - Breathtaking; the aerial movements, the battles, the effects were all very good; not over the top, but released in appropriate doses needed to make every scene effective, memorable and entertaining. Watching in 3D adds more texture to the surroundings, puts the right amount of action at the right times, and was so generally well done that I hope this would be the benchmark of the perfect blend of cinematography and action using this technology (okay, this is not up there with Avatar's 3D but Avatar is technically live action, not animation). 3D doesn't have to be in-your-face like the old 3D's of Jaws or the more recent not-so-impressive 3D of Ice Age, or sometimes useless 3D used during the otherwise-touching and memorable movie "Up"
Voice actors - Okay, that the children/teenage protagonists didn't have the requisite Viking (Scottish- or Irish-like) accents was strange, but if you wave off the inconsistency and suspend your disbelief there, I can understand why some reviews said that the choice of voice actors was just right, and not over-the-top overwhelming that they begin to define the humor, and effectively take over the movie (like Robin Williams in Aladdin or Eddie Murphy in Mulan/Shrek). I was half expecting Gerrard Butler to shout his famous line from 300, but he was all right, too. So I enjoyed that, hahaha.
Dragons - maybe I was half expecting the dragons to speak but then again, that would have placed it into a box... a box of the usual Hollywood animation (or even non animation in cases like Dragonheart) crap. So this was good. You could still see it in the actions and expressions of Hiccup's dragon friend, "Toothless." Plus they did a bang up job in portraying many different kinds of dragons. I thought that was quite intelligently conceptualized and implemented perfectly, from the wart-hog looking ones, to the two headed variety, there were plenty of dragons for everyone's enjoyment.
Overall, this is a must-see movie for children and those who, like me, are children at heart. I enjoyed it enough to write a review again, hoping that those who are undecided will be convinced to watch it. Please do watch it, and look for that touching scene near the end between our young Hiccup and Toothless (made my eyes welt up just a little). No regrets in watching this. Even with heightened expectations, HTTYD still blew mine out of the sky. Or should I say dragon-blasted it? :-) Now to try watching it in Imax 3D before Clash of the Titans starts next week.