For the record, it's apparently nothing like the book
Initially, we weren't going to go see How to Train Your Dragon; the trailers seemed to give entirely too much away for the comfort of Madam Meagan, an understandable concern given the prices for movies these days. But How to Train Your Dragon's box office performance ultimately swayed us. While it was released to decent revenues, the film continued to hang on for weeks, and even captured the number one space recently, almost a month after its release. That's not hype, that's good word of mouth, and it definitely suggests a movie worth the time, and money.
And such, happily, was the case.
How to Train Your Dragon is something of a 'boy and his dog' story. The film is set on the island of Berk, described by the protagonist Hiccup as being "twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death," and a land where "It snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three", although the film seems to take place entirely during pleasant, sunny days. Berk is populated by Vikings of a decidedly old-school style, strapping, barrel-chested men and women, wearing horned helmets and fur capes, wielding massive axes and, among the men at least, epic beards. The film starts during a dragon attack, giving the Vikings of Berk an excellent chance to show off just how battle-ready they all are, from the men and the women on down to the teenagers.
Those are Ruffnut, Snoutlout, Astrid, Fishlegs and Tuffnut, five of the six teenagers who How to Train Your Dragon is concerned with. In the opening attack we see them as vital components of the Viking war machine, dealing with dragons, fires and even explosions. Those kids are everything the Vikings of Berk want their children to be. Unfortunately, as is repeatedly actually said by characters, Hiccup is everything the Vikings of Berk don't want their children to be; scrawny, awkward, thoughtful, and utterly hopeless at fighting dragons.
Hiccup starts the film as the laughingstock of the village, a Viking child so utterly, totally, hopelessly wrong at everything that the Vikings are happy to 'volunteer' for a dangerous mission just so they don't have to look after Hiccup. But two major events set a change in Hiccup's fate into motion; one, his father, the Viking chief Stoick (voiced by the excellently gruff Gerard Butler) finally allows him to start training for dragon-killing, and two, Hiccup meets Toothless.
How to Train Your Dragon isn't anything new; at no point were either of us surprised by anything, except of course by how enjoyable an experience it was, from beginning to end. The film is a simple story executed superbly, blending together messages of understanding and tolerance, teenage awkwardness and budding romance, and generational struggles, without ever letting any one issue seize control of the story. Hiccup and his fellow Vikings-in-training are fairly stock characters, as are his father, Stoick, and Stoick's right-hand man and the kids' teacher, Gobber, but a few good moments for each character, and excellent voice acting by all involved, lift though safely out of range of condemnation for their lack of depth. And if the characters are a bit shallow, the world of How to Train Your Dragon is the very polar opposite. All the writing seen is done in an actual runic script, the Vikings have worked up extensive dossiers on the dragons, glimpses of which we're given (and which the amiable Fishlegs recites in a manner familiar to any roleplaying gamers in the audience), and their houses, boats and weapons are all given delightfully personalised touches. Every aspect of the world of Berk displays a loving touch by the animators, and helps the audience fall fully into the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless.
Especially once the pair take flight.
And yes. It's just as amazing as you'd expect.
And such, happily, was the case.
How to Train Your Dragon is something of a 'boy and his dog' story. The film is set on the island of Berk, described by the protagonist Hiccup as being "twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death," and a land where "It snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three", although the film seems to take place entirely during pleasant, sunny days. Berk is populated by Vikings of a decidedly old-school style, strapping, barrel-chested men and women, wearing horned helmets and fur capes, wielding massive axes and, among the men at least, epic beards. The film starts during a dragon attack, giving the Vikings of Berk an excellent chance to show off just how battle-ready they all are, from the men and the women on down to the teenagers.
Those are Ruffnut, Snoutlout, Astrid, Fishlegs and Tuffnut, five of the six teenagers who How to Train Your Dragon is concerned with. In the opening attack we see them as vital components of the Viking war machine, dealing with dragons, fires and even explosions. Those kids are everything the Vikings of Berk want their children to be. Unfortunately, as is repeatedly actually said by characters, Hiccup is everything the Vikings of Berk don't want their children to be; scrawny, awkward, thoughtful, and utterly hopeless at fighting dragons.
Hiccup starts the film as the laughingstock of the village, a Viking child so utterly, totally, hopelessly wrong at everything that the Vikings are happy to 'volunteer' for a dangerous mission just so they don't have to look after Hiccup. But two major events set a change in Hiccup's fate into motion; one, his father, the Viking chief Stoick (voiced by the excellently gruff Gerard Butler) finally allows him to start training for dragon-killing, and two, Hiccup meets Toothless.
How to Train Your Dragon isn't anything new; at no point were either of us surprised by anything, except of course by how enjoyable an experience it was, from beginning to end. The film is a simple story executed superbly, blending together messages of understanding and tolerance, teenage awkwardness and budding romance, and generational struggles, without ever letting any one issue seize control of the story. Hiccup and his fellow Vikings-in-training are fairly stock characters, as are his father, Stoick, and Stoick's right-hand man and the kids' teacher, Gobber, but a few good moments for each character, and excellent voice acting by all involved, lift though safely out of range of condemnation for their lack of depth. And if the characters are a bit shallow, the world of How to Train Your Dragon is the very polar opposite. All the writing seen is done in an actual runic script, the Vikings have worked up extensive dossiers on the dragons, glimpses of which we're given (and which the amiable Fishlegs recites in a manner familiar to any roleplaying gamers in the audience), and their houses, boats and weapons are all given delightfully personalised touches. Every aspect of the world of Berk displays a loving touch by the animators, and helps the audience fall fully into the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless.
Especially once the pair take flight.
And yes. It's just as amazing as you'd expect.