How to Train Your Dragon 2010
Dreamworks movies don’t get the accolades of Pixar, but Dreamworks is capable of pretty decent movies. How to Train Your Dragon is a pretty good example of this. I enjoyed the story at the heart of the movie about a boy who embraces empathy and understanding, turning his back on fear and violence. It isn’t stated like that, but that is essentially what is going on as this misfit weakling Viking finds a new way of dealing with the problem of dragons raiding his town all the time.
They throw in several distinctly different types of dragons, each with different powers. I like that there is that variety even though it would have been easier to make them all the same species. I watched the movie on DVD, so I missed out on all of the original’s 3D effects, but I think the movie stands on its own fine. In 2D you might wonder why they have to have so many flying scenes though. I also like how the main dragon, Toothless, is given expression. It would be too easy to just make him respond like a dog, but they have chosen a subtler approach that works better over the length of the film.
This movie has all of the elements that make an animated feature worthwhile. It has a good sense of humor, good characters, lots of action, and a nice morality story at heart. The characters lack some of the depth and emotion of Pixar movies, but lately Pixar has gone overboard in that department. The humor is a little too general at times, so this movie doesn’t get a full A, but an A-.
Written: 31 Dec 2011
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital