Let me start by saying: Wow. Every aspect of this movie was great – the story, the visuals, the music, the characters, the whole package. This is DreamWorks Animation’s best work yet. The title of this movie, How To Train Your Dragon, does not do it justice as there is so much more to the movie. You go in to the movie not knowing what to expect, which may be a good thing, because by the end, you’re blown away. It’s a story about a young Viking unlike all the rest of the Viking town since he’s not blood hungry for dragon slaying. Where he’s from, hunting and killing dragons is the way of life and everybody expects each other to do the same. To make things worse, his dad is the head honcho in town who is a bit embarrassed that his son hasn’t turned out like himself: all muscles with guts and glory on the side. Instead, Hiccup (yes, his name is Hiccup) is a small toothpick with a brain on his shoulders. He likes to tinker and make things; he’s an engineer at heart. He doesn’t fit in with everybody else but that’s all he wants – to be like everybody else, or at least that’s what he thinks.
As a group of Vikings set off in their boats to rid the world of these vicious dragons, Hiccup is left with a small group of newbies to learn the ways of their people in dragon training. The class in training adds a lot of fun and comedy to the movie. There’s a too cool for school character called Snotlout (who I thought was voiced by Jack Black, but it’s actually Jonah Hill) who tries to impress everyone by overcompensating. There’s Fishlegs, a chubby blabbering kid who can’t keep his mouth shut but knows all the numbers and strategies of the dragons. Rough and Tough are twin brother and sister who constantly try to outdo one another which usually ends up with them getting in each other’s way. And then there’s Astrid who is the embodiment of Girl Power. She is what every Viking hopes to be and wants to be top dog in everything she does. Together they make a motley crew which doesn’t take kindly to Hiccup at first since he’s pretty much the joke of the town and not cut out for killing dragons.
The 3D in this movie is amazing and really adds to the experience. There are scenes where you follow the dragons in the air and you really feel like you’re flying with them. There were a lot of jumps and gasps from the audience in my screening, everybody really loved it. As you whirl through obstacles of rocks, land, and water, you can feel yourself swaying left to right trying to avoid them with the characters on the big screen. When you’re caught in front of a dragon right before he blasts his fire, you want to turn away so you don’t get hit! The music is incredible and accompanies each scene really well. You experience the feelings that the characters are going through with them.
The subplots of the film are very strong as well. It’s a great film for kids and educational at the same time (without them even knowing). It touches on some serious issues like the single father/son relationship, treating animals and pets right, and that being different is ok – sometimes even paramount. There are some scenes that may be a bit strong for the younger kids and some might be afraid of the dragons at times (there were some crying babies in my screening) but all together it’s definitely safe for the younger viewers and parents don’t have to worry about that or that they’ll be bored during the movie. It’ll entertain young and old alike. So, take the kids or if you want a quiet theater, you may want to wait for the 2nd or 3rd weekend (or go during the week) but you should definitely check out this movie and see it in theaters for the full 3D experience. It pulls off some effects that no other movie has done yet.
Tags: America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, DreamWorks, Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
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