Genre: Family
Directed by: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Staring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig
Released: March 26th 2010

THE GENERAL IDEA

Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesnt exactly fit in with his tribes longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccups world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

THE GOOD

Jay Baruchel is once again typecast as the awkward outcast underdog. Seems to work for him. And while I typically can’t stand Jonah Hill, his character was atypically Hill, but just enough not that it didn’t bother me.

And the visuals. Holy crap, you could watch this movie with the sound off and it would still be worth the price of admission. Dreamworks certainly took it up a notch here. Watching it in 3d, the flying scenes really had me feeling like I was on a dragon soaring through the air. James Cameron could learn a thing or two about filming flight from this movie. Seriously. And those scenes were so well done that even without 3D they would still be immersive. The battles, the flights, and even the little details in the landscape all contribute to a visual feast.

The story has more depth to it than I thought we would see. Watching Hiccup and Toothless bond with very little dialogue is a thing of beauty. They REALLY captured personality in form here. Powerful stuff.

THE BAD

I was still put off by the style of the character designs ever so slightly. The Dragons still had a “too clean” cartoony look to them with all the symmetry and clean line designs. But honestly it works with everything else and adds a unique flavour. So while I wont be collecting the toys, its a very minor thing to be bothered by considering in spite of the hokey dragons, they really work in this.

OVERALL

Very enjoyable and a heart pounding visually stunning movie that kids and adults will get a HUGE kick out of. There are some obvious moral lessons but they are not preachy and not shoved down your throat. I can’t say enough good things about the movie. Just go see it.

I give How to Train Your Dragon a 9 out of 10