How to Train your Dragon
By Molly Yarnevich


Often times I find animated features to be much finer films than their life-action counterparts. Perhaps the attention to detail in the art of animation makes the filmmakers more mindful of the need to also keep the dialogue meaningful and the story tight and the message clear. This is certainly my take on “How to Train Your Dragon”, a delightful new animated feature from DreamWorks.

Let me start out with a note of caution: this film is not for the very young. It is at times very fast and loud and, after all, it’s all about Vikings and dragons. I think tots under the age of 7 or so have a good chance of finding it fearful, as one did in the screening I attended. That being said, I think those from 7 to 97 have a good chance of finding it absolutely enchanting.

The story centers on Hiccup, a lad whose father is the Viking Chief, Stoic the Vast. Hiccup is nerdy and small and not on his way to becoming the warrior his father had planned on. Hiccup and his father engage in a few heartfelt and realistic exchanges about this situation. Ultimately, Hiccup takes a chance and tries to become the dragon-slayer his father desires, but, as you can imagine, it does not go smoothly. In an effort not to give away too much, suffice it to say that Hiccup ends up with a dragon named “Toothless” to either kill or train. He chooses to train him. And it’s charming to watch.

I have only 2 criticisms to levy here. One is that the dialogue is sometimes incoherent when the movie gets loud. Oftentimes I can overlook this, as with a live-action action movie, because the dialogue is mediocre at best. In this movie, however, I really felt that every word counted and was carefully chosen and I hated to miss any of it. The other criticism is that the younger characters in the movie have American accents while the adult characters have a thick Scottish burr. I think the actors portraying the young characters here (among them: America Ferrera; Jonah Hill; TJ Miller and Kristen Wiig – all adults themselves) could have easily donned some form of Celtic accent that would have blended well with the adult characters and would have made a cohesive movie even more so.

This film boasts a broad spectrum of folks in its writing credits for story and screenplay. From Cressida Cowell (virtually unknown) to Chris Sanders (whom we know from Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King), with Dean DeBlois, Adam F. Goldberg and Peter Tolan nicely filling in the middle.

I would be remiss if I didn’t remark on the brilliance of the animation itself. Absolutely first-rate. This movie will be released in 3D Real, IMAX 3D and 2D. I saw it in 2D, but imagined many scenes would be greatly enhanced in 3D. In whatever format you have available to you, I highly recommend you see this movie and savor every one of its 98 minutes.
Running time 1hr 28 min rated PG

4.5 Tubs