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Dreamworks has a reputation for producing disposal family films. While some (like Kung Fu Panda) stand out, most lack the depth and timelessness of their Pixarian counterparts. It's safe to say that the humor in Finding Nemo will stay humorous much longer than the barrage of pop culture references in Shark Tale.
How to Train Your Dragon is a refreshing departure from this trend. Though the dialogue has an expectedly modern ring to it, it largely avoids anything that might date it and is more mature than you'd expect it to be.
As is the case with most animated fare, the story is a familiar trope in an unfamiliar setting. This time, they've taken the Kid That Doesn't Fit In ("Hiccup," voiced by Jay Baruchel) and made him a Viking. Hiccup and his fellow Vikings live in the village of Berk, where it "snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three." All the adult Vikings are impossibly broad-shouldered, and their middle names are always "the." Erik the Red or Olaf the Chartreuse. Or Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler).
Hiccup, as is made necessary by the meme he inhabits, is a good deal smaller than his elders and not particularly adept at the one thing that they value: slaying dragons. This is as much a matter of pragmatism as testosterone, because Berk is constantly being besieged by the creatures. Hiccup does have his talents, though: he's an inventor. He builds a machine to knock dragons out of the sky and manages to hit a rare, unseen breed (the "Night Fury") before it disappears. Of course, nobody believes him; if they did, the movie would be far too short.
That Hiccup tracks down the dragon he hit (he erroneously names him "Toothless") and befriends him goes without saying, as does the fact that he keeps his new friend a secret. As predictable as these sorts of developments are, How to Train Your Dragon deserves credit for the way these scenes are handled. Though Toothless has plenty of anthropomorphic traits and is fairly adorable at times, the movie doesn't gloss over the fact that he's still a wild, unpredictable animal.
Hiccup's fiery friend is a well crafted mishmash of snake, cat, and frog. Toothless is sleek and subtle, particularly compared to the other, overly cartoonish breeds of dragon in the film. He's a character we have to first fear, then love, and his design suits both emotions.
The rest of the designs feature the same exaggerated body types we've come to expect from stylized animation; the bulk of the creativity seems to have been saved for the look and feel of the village. There's a real sense of history in the architecture and the outfits. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this world.
The film's high points, both literally and figuratively, are the flying scenes. The buildup to them is patient, and the release they provide is exhilarating.
There are only a handful of ways these kinds of films can unfold, but How to Train Your Dragon manages to keep its story fresh with little innovations and brilliant visuals. Hiccup uses his time with Toothless to learn things about dragons that he can use to impress the rest of the village, and an interesting twist shows us that the dragons' actions serve a larger purpose than the Vikings realize. And every couple of scenes, we get a truly breathtaking shot. Famed cinematographer Roger Deakins served as a visual consultant, and his influence adds a layer of gravitas to many a scene.
How to Train Your Dragon is one of the better all-around children's films in the last couple of years. It's no technical pioneer and its story is standard, but the action is genuinely thrilling, the humor favors quality over quantity, and every once in a while it gives us something really lovely to look at. Go because your kids want you to see it; stay because you do.
How to Train Your Dragon is a refreshing departure from this trend. Though the dialogue has an expectedly modern ring to it, it largely avoids anything that might date it and is more mature than you'd expect it to be.
As is the case with most animated fare, the story is a familiar trope in an unfamiliar setting. This time, they've taken the Kid That Doesn't Fit In ("Hiccup," voiced by Jay Baruchel) and made him a Viking. Hiccup and his fellow Vikings live in the village of Berk, where it "snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three." All the adult Vikings are impossibly broad-shouldered, and their middle names are always "the." Erik the Red or Olaf the Chartreuse. Or Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler).
Hiccup, as is made necessary by the meme he inhabits, is a good deal smaller than his elders and not particularly adept at the one thing that they value: slaying dragons. This is as much a matter of pragmatism as testosterone, because Berk is constantly being besieged by the creatures. Hiccup does have his talents, though: he's an inventor. He builds a machine to knock dragons out of the sky and manages to hit a rare, unseen breed (the "Night Fury") before it disappears. Of course, nobody believes him; if they did, the movie would be far too short.
That Hiccup tracks down the dragon he hit (he erroneously names him "Toothless") and befriends him goes without saying, as does the fact that he keeps his new friend a secret. As predictable as these sorts of developments are, How to Train Your Dragon deserves credit for the way these scenes are handled. Though Toothless has plenty of anthropomorphic traits and is fairly adorable at times, the movie doesn't gloss over the fact that he's still a wild, unpredictable animal.
Hiccup's fiery friend is a well crafted mishmash of snake, cat, and frog. Toothless is sleek and subtle, particularly compared to the other, overly cartoonish breeds of dragon in the film. He's a character we have to first fear, then love, and his design suits both emotions.
The rest of the designs feature the same exaggerated body types we've come to expect from stylized animation; the bulk of the creativity seems to have been saved for the look and feel of the village. There's a real sense of history in the architecture and the outfits. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this world.
The film's high points, both literally and figuratively, are the flying scenes. The buildup to them is patient, and the release they provide is exhilarating.
There are only a handful of ways these kinds of films can unfold, but How to Train Your Dragon manages to keep its story fresh with little innovations and brilliant visuals. Hiccup uses his time with Toothless to learn things about dragons that he can use to impress the rest of the village, and an interesting twist shows us that the dragons' actions serve a larger purpose than the Vikings realize. And every couple of scenes, we get a truly breathtaking shot. Famed cinematographer Roger Deakins served as a visual consultant, and his influence adds a layer of gravitas to many a scene.
How to Train Your Dragon is one of the better all-around children's films in the last couple of years. It's no technical pioneer and its story is standard, but the action is genuinely thrilling, the humor favors quality over quantity, and every once in a while it gives us something really lovely to look at. Go because your kids want you to see it; stay because you do.