Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Movie Review:How to Train Your Dragon


Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a young Viking who missed all the Viking traits...he is slight of built, slender, wiry, weak, and creative.
His father, Stoick (Gerard Butler) is quite disappointed in him since he is not a "real Viking". Hiccup, in the course of trying to prove he is a Viking, brings down a dragon with one of his inventions.
The story then follows his developing friendship with Toothless the dragon as they figure out the "hereditary enmity" between dragons and Vikings is actually an acquired taste. The story follows a predictable arc ending in reconciliation and new friendship.
That is no indictment of the movie, however. The joy in this movie is broad and rich.
It comes from the beautiful animation, the heartwarming story, and the entertaining story.
Sometimes those of us who have seen a vast number of movies and/or read a wide range of literature tend to get a bit jaded. Sure, the story arc here is familiar, many of the jokes have been seen before...but that has more to do with the number of flicks I have seen than the quality of this movie.
The story is good...that is why it has been done before. The fun comes in the slight tweaks, the cool animation, and the way Toothless will remind you of the coolest dog you ever had.
I loved this movie and walked away smiling. Love the animation, the story, the jokes. It will be coming to my house in DVD form.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Awesome! You never know if the hype for these cartoons are simply built up by the media and others who have a stake in it's profitibility. It's always nice to hear reviews from ordinary down to earth folks. Now I really can't wait to see this flick!