Review: "How To Train Your Dragon"

- Posted by Rusty


Review: How To Train Your Dragon

My Rating: 5 bites [out of 5]

In Short: This is easily one of my new favorite movies, as well as just one of the best films of this or any year. If DreamWorks Animation continues to release stories this well-written and beautiful and heartfelt, Pixar will finally have a run for its money. [full review after the jump]

Full Review:

Gobber: “If you want to slay dragons…you’re going to have to put a stop to all of…this.
Hiccup: “But…you just pointed to all of me!”

This is a masterpiece. Really, it is. I rarely find a film I love so much, but this is a very easy one to embrace. And, as much as I love the first two Shreks, this is DreamWorks’ finest film, harking back to their early, glory days of Antz and The Prince of Egypt, and as far away as possible from their empty pop-culture-gag exercises like Shark Tale and Monsters vs. Aliens (although the latter deserves props for the pure genius of casting Hugh Laurie as the British mad scientist, Dr. Cockroach!).

How to Train Your Dragon is the kind of a movie that seldom comes about, one that has the ability to please almost everyone. Like the first Pirates of the Caribbean (for me, at least), it has everything you could want in a big-screen movie experience: great laughs, strong, wonderfully-written characters, dazzling action sequences (with the best 3D effects I’ve ever seen), a love story that takes you by surprise (and yet never loses its charm), and a heart-tugging emotional center that could very well result in some (probably begrudging) misty eyes.

The action takes place in the island village of Berk, a seaside Viking population (where, amusingly, all of the adults are Scottish, while the teenagers are American) that is at constant war with the neighboring dragon hordes. The two have always been enemies, requiring Vikings to be strong-willed and tough-as-nails…which presents an odd problem for our hero, the lovable, very quirky Hiccup (voiced to perfection by his real-life doppelganger, Tropic Thunder and She’s Out of My League breakout, Jay Baruchel), a boy who has no skills in battle (or muscles to show for it), but makes up for that with creativity and by being the only wry, endearingly sarcastic Viking. As much as he might disagree with the need to always fight dragons – and the resulting, quite damaging (to the wooden village, at least) status quo – he longs to prove his use to the colony, particular his father, the village leader, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler, at his burly, Scottish best). Unbeknownst to anyone, with his only-occasionally-glitchy machine for catching mid-air dragons, he manages to snag the elusive, never-seen Night Fury. But what should have been his triumphant first dragon kill instead evolves into something deeper – he gets to know the dragon (later named Toothless), and the bond they share is a large contributor to the heart of the film. All of this coincides with Hiccup’s dragon-slaying-training with the other kids (voiced by Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera and Superbad alums Jonah Hill, brilliantly playing douchey, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, very good as a chubby nerd with a tendency to see things like a role-playing video-game) under the far-from-watchful eye of crazed, missing-limb-ed warrior, Gobber (scene-stealer Craig Ferguson). And, of course, there are rumblings of the dragon nest, the perilous location that could end the war for good, one Stoick is desperate to destroy, and one that Toothless might just hold the key to finding…

You can expect a grand finale – easily one of the best action sequences of the year (sorry, Iron Man 2) as well as some rousing set-pieces, but what really won me over (like always) are the characters and their relationships. Hiccup, in particular, the oddball boy who, in the course of this adventure, becomes a man, is an age-old storytelling mechanism, but it has special resonance here (and not just because Hiccup really does look like me in some fashion). He does discover his inner action hero, although not as a result of abilities that were hidden from him, like the action clichés we’ve come to expect (or, for that matter, his use of weaponry—Hiccup, lanky a boy as he is, has trouble lifting shields, which makes for a terrific running gag throughout the film). His gift always was his ingenuity, his ability to look beyond the surface details of any situation, and that is what ultimately rewards him. If you think about it, it’s a lovely bit of commentary about our need for forward thinkers. Hiccup, through getting to know Toothless and their eventual team-up, sees the futility of constant war, and, more importantly, the danger of demonizing your supposed enemy. The dragon could even stand for Hiccup’s own untapped potential—while everyone else in his village could only walk and run, Hiccup could fly and do something extraordinary, being able to think with actual imagination as opposed to unquestioning obedience. As the film goes on, Hiccup becomes the voice for eliminating unfounded prejudices, for abandoning blind, backwards traditions, and finally getting to know these “beasts” as more than just brainless threats to the village. I always thought the best family films (ie, Jim Henson’s Muppet stuff, Pixar, Disney at its peak) managed to impart progressive ideas without spoon-feeding them to kids, squeezing in beautiful, hopeful messages underneath the laughs and the adventure. How To Train Your Dragon is a superb example of that: the quote that opened this review comes full-circle in the end, as we realize that the village – and, better yet, the world at large – needs more of what Hiccup represents, for there can never be a deficit of kindness, compassion, and open-minded thinking.

There is also a phenomenal storyline about a father learning to understand his son. True, Stoick and Hiccup seem to have nothing in common (which leads to a sequence later in the film so hilarious, it had me giggling for days), but they learn to see beyond that, and their journey into finding common ground is one of the most rewarding elements here. It’s expertly played (even in voice form) by Butler and Baruchel, proving that both of them should have nice, long futures in Hollywood, as long as they continue to choose high-quality projects like this one (and please no more Gamers, Mr. Butler!).

And, of course, there couldn’t not be a romance, right? Not when the village has a plucky, gorgeous lass like Astrid at its disposal, a fiery girl who could make walking away from explosions into an act of pure sexiness. Yet, like everything else in this movie, that thread is handled with care, thought, and just a great deal of charm—Hiccup and Astrid don’t get closer together because they’re age-appropriate and both conveniently single (as all adventure movies have taught us over the years), but for deeper reasons, those befitting a genuine connection between like-minded people.

All of those positive qualities go without even mentioning the striking animation or the carefully-constructed action beats. With all due respect to Avatar, this is the movie to see in 3D. There is a flying sequence near the middle that is absolutely riveting; it’s amazing how much the added depth of 3D contributes to the experience. You end up feeling like you’re right up there with Hiccup and Toothless, soaring in the air, feeling the high of doing something spectacular. This isn’t the rush-job 3D of Clash of the Titans or a gimmicky, throw-stuff-at-you exercise like The Final Destination. No, this is what could be done with the format if applied correctly—by making the audience feel like a part of the world on the screen, immersed and totally engaged with whatever is happening. It helps, of course, that the story is this strong, and that the animation is as lush and stunning as anything in Dreamworks’ arguably prettiest movie before this, Kung Fu Panda. By the time the final fight comes about (with a threat that I wouldn’t dare spoil), everything comes together – the story, characters, the animation, the tremendous score – to give you a climax that truly keeps you glued to your seat. There’s even a surprisingly mature ending right after that, one that manages to uphold the film’s hopeful ideas, while poignantly addressing that there must be consequences to an undertaking of that scale.

You might not agree with me that this is a masterpiece, but you should see this anyway (if you haven’t done so already!). It’s a hard film not to love, even if you don’t connect with every aspect of the story. And, thanks to this, we’ve also been privileged with having a true word-of-mouth hit – a film that opened well (although not gangbusters like, say, Iron Man 2, which I don’t think will have the staying power of this movie), but remained in the Top 5 for weeks after its release, encouraged by extremely favorable audience responses. I brought up Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl earlier, and that film behaved in the exact same way—minimal drop-offs week after week, and nothing but giddy enthusiasm from the people who saw it…usually more than once. How to Train Your Dragon is an absolute treat, and I have a feeling it will enjoy a similar future. Job well done, Dreamworks—you’ve made a lot of hits (not all of them deserving), but now you’ve made a movie that transcends mere box-office numbers – a movie that, like the best novels and stories and characters, will enchant audiences for years to come.

P.S. Just a month ago, it was announced that How To Train Your Dragon will be sequelized, with a follow-up due in theaters roughly by 2013 (which, on some level, makes sense, since this is based on a series of children's books). I’m of two minds about this: on one hand, I adore these characters, and I’ll show up for another of their adventures in a heartbeat; however, I’m still apprehensive about another go-around. If the filmmakers can come up with a worthy story, then I support them wholeheartedly (and there's hope for that, since these are the guys behind the well-received Lilo & Stitch…which I really must see now). Please, please, Dreamworks, don’t let this turn into another Shrek scenario, pumping out more movies to cash in on a brand name, even after the audience lost their initial support. There is story potential left (this movie may be a close-ended chapter, but there is still room to explore), so let’s make it a sequel that holds up to the original, or, in a Pixar-ish challenge, steps up its game to deliver something even better!