David O'ConnellHow to Train Your Dragon
March 29th 2010 06:31
In the Viking village of Berk, a lone figure stands apart from the crowd of beefy, hirsute warriors: scrawny Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), a young man whose father Stoick (Gerard Butler) rules the roost with an iron fist in an effort to quash the rampaging legion of dragons regularly swarming down upon their isolated township. Hiccup is an outsider in every sense, repelled by the prospect of battle and taking the lives of dragons for some specious cause.
He’s more surprised than anyone consequently when, taking in aim in the heat of battle, he strikes - more through pure fluke - a dreaded Night Fury. Traveling into the distance he comes across the wounded dragon and is determined to prove his credentials to his father and the village’s faithful by taking its life. Naturally he weakens at the crucial moment, sensing a mirror image of his own fear in its eyes. Over time he secretly tames and befriends the dragon, even naming it Toothless. Whilst discovering its true nature he begins to grasp the bigger picture of how futile their Viking quest for dragon extinction has been all along.
How to Train Your Dragon, co-directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, and based on a series of books by Cressida Cowell, is many things: a spectacular adventure, a coming-of-age tale, a pursuit for independence and an appeal for acceptance; there’s even a romantic sideline tossed in to complete the satisfying mix. Amazingly, this isn’t a case of many shallow parts coalescing into an insubstantial whole; with great care, the directors and their co-writers have made certain that all the narrative elements are finely tuned to a perfect pitch.
The story is engaging, the action exhilarating, the messages digestible, and the love interest tempered so as to never be a cloying distraction. It's also pretty damn funny. And I liked the fact that there’s no lazy delineation of good versus evil; the greatest dilemma faced by Hiccup is pacifying his inner demons whilst simultaneously working to counteract the age-old ignorance of his tribe as he prevents harm befalling his unlikely friend. The flying scenes, as Hiccup puts his theories about Toothless into action, are genuine highlights, evoking awe and wonder with their combination of thrilling visuals and John Powell’s majestic score which, over the course of the film, introduces a multitude of melodic highlights, breathing life into scene after scene.
Hiccup protects the very lovable Toothless.
Though it may seem like tame stuff compared to Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon literally soars and has a charm all its own. You could argue it utilises 3-D as well as any other recent exponents of this visually immersive technology. Though they may seem hackneyed on paper, there’s a fresh appeal to the more substantial themes that will undoubtedly give the film its staying power - especially the troubled father and son relationship, in which the expectations of a man are constantly betrayed by the inadequacies he sees embodied in his boy. The combat with the dragons - perceived one-dimensionally as nothing but ferocious predators - is a niftily enclosed metaphor for our intolerance of dissimilar people and their ways.
The voice cast is uniformly excellent and without the distraction of big names. Baruchel, though playing somebody much younger, ensures the wimpy Hiccup is a sympathetic hero. Thankfully, even Gerald Butler regains some of the grunt and masculinity he established in Zack Snyder’s 300 (2006) as Hiccup’s fiery old man, a staunch Viking warrior if ever there was one. Butler has been making a mess of his once promising career of late, dipping into the shallow end of moronic action films and romantic comedies, but even in the form of his voice alone he displays a sturdier constitution than those other performances combined.
It actually surprised me how much I liked How to Train Your Dragon by the end; in fact I more than just liked it - I loved it! For me, it’s easily one of the most enjoyable animation films of recent years. There’s enough pure entertainment value here that you wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to both adults and children alike.
Trailer can be viewed here.
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Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by quatro
Secret Writers Business
I saw this one. Loved it in 3d IMAX. Totally agree with you it is a fantastic movie in so many ways.
We agree on this one and my son sat through it without complaint.
Alex
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Paul Martin
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Paul Martin
We generally avoid 3D also - I find the glasses an intrusion to the joy of cinema - and only discovered the film was 3D when we bought the tickets. I think the 3D on this film is not too bad and it didn't intrude too badly, or perhaps the intrusion was countered by the positives of the technology.
Post-Avatar, everyone is trying to jump on the 3D band-wagon, but if it's not used carefully, it's just going to turn people away from the technology.
I saw Avatar three times, first in 3D, then 2D, then 3D. The first time, the 3D was great, because the glasses were brand new light-weight versions. The last time, it was with older and heavier glasses, and it was a bummer.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
JD, don't know about what the best dragon movies might be but How to Train Your Dragon is above average and a justifiable diversion, especially if you have a youngster to take along. I've never seen Dragonslayer.