Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is a young boy living on an island with the great vikings. He explains in the beginning that it is a very old land, but with new houses. This is because their houses are constantly being burned down by the firery breath of dragons, who they are always in battle with. Hiccup is the son of a high in rank viking Stoick (Gerard Butler) who is ashamed of his son because he fails to be the dragon fighter he is supposed to. So to prove himself Hiccup shoots down a never before seen dragon called a Night Fury. He then heads to kill it, but sees fear in the dragons eye, so he goes against the viking way and begins to train this dragon. Hiccup starts to learn more about the dragon species, and maybe that they are not as bad as everyone has always believed, and Hiccup must do everything he can to save the dragons.
Even with all of the critical acclaim How to Train Your Dragon received, I still did not think it would be this good. I thought this was an okay year (2010) for animated films. Despicable Me was not great, but it was decent. Toy Story 3 and Tangled came through nicely though. I always wanted to see this one, but I just never could seem to find the chance, and now that I have I can honestly say that it was well worth my money. The film opens overlooking the town that the vikings live in, and I was instantly drawn in by the absolutely stunning animation. That is one of the keys to an animated film, you have to get the audience's immediate attention by the animation, which is exactly what this film does so perfectly. With some of the action scenes I found my jaw dropped nearly to the floor, the animation was done so brilliantly it is almost hard to describe. The fire breathing out of the dragon's mouth, the completely lifelike movements of the humans, everything was done so great.
The story is also something that can go very wrong in a lot of animated films. Most are for children and in the process of making a child's movie the creators can lose the film's maturity making it not enjoyable for adults. But something Pixar tends to do so well is just the exact opposite, which is create plenty of laughs and put in humour and meaning that is sure to attract adults to the film as well. DreamWorks has obviously been in a struggle recently, but all they seem to do here is send a big message to Pixar saying "we can make great films too". And to be honest, even though the Academy disagrees and most young and old critics alike will disagree, I thought this was definitely better than Toy Story 3. The animation was better, the characters better, and all around the story was better. I do not want to take anything away from Toy Story 3, as Pixar did such a wonderful job making the final installment in that series, but I personally must admit How to Train Your Dragon gets the win coming from me.
The story was so creative in this film, though it seems to have all the ingredients for another childish, no good animated film, it really does work in the end. It is quite the heartfelt tale as well. I could understand if someone complained over the characters being a bit undeveloped, but I think that worked out okay. There isn't much to say great about the character developement, but the amount used here was plenty that was needed for the film in my opinion. Jay Baruchel as hiccup was fantastic. I did not particularly like him in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, I found him a bit annoying, but here I think he fit the part perfectly. And as for Gerard Butler, I can quite safely say this is by far the best film he has ever played in. And to be honest I thought he played the part of Stoick wonderfully. This may not have been the greatest vocal cast in animated film history, but it certainly was a good one, and a funny one too.
Overall, How to Train Your Dragon comes highly recommended. It has a beautiful musical score, that might be worth a buy. The animation is so incredible you may very well fall out of your seat, and the vocal talent is fantastic. It may not be the best animated movie ever, but I can actually say it is one of the best I have ever seen, and most definitely a favorite. Don't miss this film, How to Train Your Dragon is a brilliant animated film.
