How to Train Your Dragon

    I like Vikings. I know that in real life they probably weren't a whole lot of fun, but the Viking myth itself is so larger than life that it seems made for an fun, animated kid film. And who doesn't love dragons? Someone probably said, "Hey! Vikings are awesome and dragons are awesome so if we put them together we can make an awesome kid's movie!" That person wasn't wrong to do so. Sure, we don't have ground breaking film making here; what we do have is a fun, fairly basic, animated kid's film. How to Train Your Dragon is a not unintelligent film that's fun to watch



   Our hero is Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the teenage blacksmith's apprentice. (Is it just me or do an inordinate amount of the fantasy genre involve blacksmith apprentices?) Hiccup lives in a small Viking town that has a dragon problem. Every so often, dragons raid the village and the designated dragon killers come out to try to defend the village. We're given a quick run-down of the different types of dragons during the opening action scene. Hiccup wants to be a dragon fighter for a few reasons. He mentions the obvious--being a dragon fighter is a very prestigious position in his town and as one, he'd have a much better chance at getting a date. Then there is the most important reason: his father is Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), the chief of his village. It's tough being the scrawniest Viking in your village, much less being the scrawniest Viking and the son of the chief. Unfortunately for Hiccup, he's not very Viking-like. He's scrawny, brainy, and not nearly ruthless enough. So, of course no one believes him when he says he snagged a dragon.

     Hiccup does snag a dragon and not just any dragon. He snags a Night Fury which is supposedly the most dangerous dragon in existence. Personally, I think he's kind of adorable like a kitty. In fact, if I learned anything from this movie, it's that dragons are basically my cat, Zander. The Night Fury is injured in a valley and can't fly away. Hiccup can't come to kill him and as it turns out, he's a bit of a dragon whisperer so now he has a new secret pet. Unfortunately, this is the time his father finally agrees to let him learn how to fight dragons. At Dragon Fighting School, we meet several other teenagers. I guess these kids watch too much television, because none of them have the same Scottish accent as the adults. The love interest is Astrid (America Ferrera) who is a skinny, but tough Viking girl. She's the best in the class not because she loves killing things, but because she's a general overachiever. You don't overachieve in this town by getting into law school. So, now Hiccup must try to impress his father by learning to be a big, brave dragon fighter while getting to know his new dragon friend, Toothless. (The name is a misnomer)

    The plot moves on predictably from there. Yes, the plot is as predictable as any kid movie about making Daddy proud that you've ever seen. You could practically repeat the lines with the characters at times. Of course, kids haven't been around long enough to understand cliches. That's not to say it's boring, though. Hiccup has a dry, sarcastic wit that was more adorable than annoying. His sense of humor kind of stood out amongst all of the burly Vikings which made it that much funnier. All of the teenagers were good with their lines. Jonah Hill did well as the wannabe village cool kid, Snotlout.  There weren't a lot of innuendos for adults. There was only one really adult joke and it wasn't an innuendo so much as blatant. I managed to laugh anyway, so I think you parents will survive this one.  Besides being funny, How to Train Your Dragon was also exciting to watch. There is plenty of action with the dragon fighting and the dragon flying. The aerial scenes were gorgeous and impressive. I watched the movie in 3D to get the full affect. Personally, I don't feel that anything was added to this particular film by the 3D technology. I'd pretty much forgotten it was in 3D by the end of it. It may be a bit scary for very small children, but otherwise, How to Train Your Dragon will entertain your kids.

     There was one other thing I wanted to mention. The final moments included a small detail that shouldn't have been small. You'll know what I mean if you watch it. This detail added a whole new dynamic to the movie's meaning that I really liked. The filmmaker's played it off as unimportant and because of this, I don't think they were trying to say anything on purpose. I really wish they hadn't. I was really impressed by those few seconds.