Thursday, October 21, 2010

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 172 - How To Train Your Dragon



The other night we watched How To train Your Dragon on Blu-ray  and I am disappointed that I did not take the opportunity to see it in the theatre in 3-D. 


There have been hundreds of movies about children who are misfits and misunderstood by their parents. No one recognizes them for who they are and what they can do until they go off on some adventure and end up saving the day. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Mulan, Kung-Fu Panda, The Wizard Of Oz, Dumbo and Edward Scissorhands all come to mind. It seems that each generation of kids gets to experience this type of story in their own special way. For 2010 Dreamworks produced the highly entertaining How To Train Your Dragon.

The film tells the story of a viking boy named Hiccup, who does not have the fighting instinct of his warrior dad. he also does not seem to have the physical stamina of a viking. But what he lacks in brawn he makes up in brains and one fateful night he uses one of his inventions to catch the mysterious Night Fury dragon. The dragon is injured by his net firing cannon, but not mortally wounded and Hiccup discovers he does not have it in him to slay the dragon. Instead he sets it free. This begins a relationship between the boy and the dragon that starts out in fear but ends in friendship.

Hiccup learns the vikings have been all wrong about dragons. he also learns ways to tame dragons that make him look like an expert warrior at dragon fighting school. But everything goes wrong when the day comes for Hiccup to complete his viking training and slay his first dragon.

The films best moments are in between the boy and the dragon, especially the flying sequences. Their are enough other characters  for kids to relate to and enough comedy and action so the parents won't get bored.

The movie, based on the children's book of the same name, is not groundbreaking in it's story, but visually it takes animated films to new heights.

How To Train Your Dragon *** stars.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Doesn't suit my taste