Seriously, who wouldn’t want a pet dragon?  Or friends named “Tuffnut” and “Ruffnut”?  Or to wear one of those cool Viking helmets?  Or to eat half of a regurgitated, raw fish?  Okay, maybe not the fish part but Dreamworks’ film, How to Train Your Dragon takes your hand and leads you into a world with limitless imagination.  No matter how old you are, by the end of this movie, you won’t want to walk out of the theatre to your boring car…then again, maybe your car could resemble a dragon if you just hang on to that imagination a little bit longer…

From the basic outline to the love story, How to Train Your Dragon follows the obvious formula of a decent family-friendly, feel-good, happy-ending movie. The characters give the story charm and it’s a story still needing to be told.  It gives kids a blueprint of the differences in life, teens get the validation that it happens to everyone and it reminds adults that it’s not just their children who need reminders about what’s important in life.

“Hiccup,” voiced by Jay Baruchel, is an outcast in his Viking village of Burke.  His father is the leader of their village and the epitome of a “dragon killer.”  Hiccup longs to be as strong and ferocious as his community but when he gets his chance to kill a dragon, his true colors emerge.  He secretly develops a friendship with the most notorious breed of dragon, “Night Fury,” and finds that compassion and understanding can bridge any gap.

The story covers all the bases: feeling different, strained relationships, awkward love, old ways versus new ways, team work, tolerance, forgiveness, etc.  What keeps you interested in the movie is the reinvention of dragons, chuckles along the way, the superb craftsmanship of non-verbal communication via CGI effects and daggers of modern relevancy.  Cressida Cowell seemed to have a lot of fun creating super powers for the many classifications of dragons.  It’s great to see so many different takes-and why not?  It works.  It’s the same as being interested in a super hero; you want to know more and more about dragons and their capabilities.

Just as with Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon keeps you chuckling, if not laughing, for most of the movie.  There were many different comedic strategies which cemented the movie being a family film.  There was slapstick, dry humor, irony and even a few dark laughs.  Much of the comedy was provided in the montages that show the progression of friendship between Hiccup and Toothless (the dragon.)  Although Toothless closely resembles Stitch from Chris Sanders's previous work on Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, if it aint broke, don’t fix it.  Just like Stitch, Toothless is charming and absolutely adorable when happy but still able to flip on a dime.  This characteristic comes in handy as Hiccup discovers things about him through trial and error.  The non-verbal communication between them gives one the same satisfaction as the understanding between any pet and pet owner.  It seems Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders were unleashed to create infinite creativity through animation in the world of Vikings and dragons.  The use of textures paid off in both obvious and subtle ways.  The close-ups of Toothless’s skin are incredibly detailed and resemble both a reptile as well as the interior of a luxury car.  Because of the time frame and fantasy of the story, there was plenty of room for exploration of explosive colors.  The vibrant colors of the dragons remind you that the movie is mainly geared toward children but seeing the paradise of the cliffs, the beach and the clouds make you want to pinch yourself.  It showed that the humor wasn’t the only thing that made it fun for everyone. 

Some things that stood out in this movie were the little nods to society.  There were funny moments like when Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character starts listing facts about different dragons as if he were reading the back of a Magic card.  There were also moments with lines such as these: “Our parents' war is about to become ours…” and “Everything we know about you guys is wrong.”  As stated before, it’s a story that keeps needing to be told.  It’s not as in-your-face as it might sound and it creates set-ups for motivating scenes.

The work done with the natural elements were unlike any that I’ve ever seen before.  Obviously when you have dragons, you’re dealing with fire but DeBlois and Sanders didn’t hold back showing off their talent by fearlessly executing things like the rhythm of the ocean, the subtle effects of a breeze and even simply moss on a rock.  The closest comparison animation and CGI-wise is Shrek but you can tell the advancement of technology and capabilities that have been developed since then.

Acting-wise, the case wasn’t anything too special.  Jay Baruchel’s voice fit his defeated, dry character and he held his own alongside Gerard Butler, who was a great choice for an enormous, burly Viking.  Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse showed up in the cast and did what Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse do.  They didn’t add any depth to their characters and gave the same delivery as usual.  America Ferrera was the biggest disappointment.  She didn’t stand out at all.  Practically every line was delivered in the repetitive angry/annoyed voice which was true to her character and would’ve been fine if there was some varying degree of tone.

How to Train Your Dragon is a good time.  I’d like to see it again but next time, not in 3D.  I will confess that 3D is not my area of expertise as Captain Eo was the last 3D movie I’d seen but the movie didn’t need the 3D effects to make it magical and fun.  I think you might be able to see even more detail without the distraction of added depth.  That’s the beauty of this genre of animation in the first place, that it looks 3D without being so. 

ComicsOnline gives How to Train Your Dragon 4 out of 5 stars, so pack up the kiddies (or just your imagination) and check it out.