How to Train Your Dragon

To be honest, I had almost no interest in seeing this movie. As far as I could tell from the previews and commercials this was probably just a new silly 3D kids movie that was probably all shine and no substance.  Then I realized that the makers of Lilo & Stitch were behind this movie. And when I looked up the movie on Rotten Tomatoes it has a 97% rating. (At the time I wrote this it boasted a 97% rating, however I went back a couple weeks later to update the rating after hype went down. Contrary to my belief the rating went up to 98%.) Well tickle me pink, I made the age-old mistake of judging a book by it’s cover.

Directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois are the mad geniuses behind the 2002 anti-disney film Lilo & Stitch, which I consider a wonderful gem in the very forgettable Disney era of the late nineties and early aughts. (I’m talking about hand-drawn not Pixar , calm down.) Stitch was a great movie because of it’s very different perspective and endearing characters.

How to Train Your Dragon uses the same formula. The protagonist, Hiccup,  is misunderstood, missing a parent and desperately wants to be loved. While his family and social life is lacking his imagination and heart is not. He might be a complete screw-up but he is endearing a lovable.  The same goes for his newfound friend Toothless the dragon. (The Stitch character of this film). Toothless is wild, reckless and violent but deep down just needs someone to understand him.

This is a very good movie and has plenty of heart and a great creative story, based on the book by Cressida Cowell, it soars under the supervision of Sanders and DeBlois. It has it’s flaws but they’re easy to overlook when there is so many good things in the film. It’s a great kids movie and very enjoyable for adults. With this past year of so many great animated/children’s movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, Where the Wild Things Are, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs) it’s a great time for the kids to go to the movies. Dragon I think is automatically nominated for an Oscar–congrats Dreamworks you perennial loser you. Dragon is a wonderful movie that’s very enjoyable. Take the kids and enjoy.