Advertisers may think they know what “How to Train Your Dragon” is about. They see the cute dragon, they see the fat one, the scary, ugly one, and they see Gerard Butler’s name stapled onto the credits and they assume a madcap adventure made to be coupled in with trailers about movies with talking, live action cats and dogs. Thank goodness someone saw how elegant the flying sequences were in “Up” and “Avatar.”
“How to Train Your Dragon” is a welcome surprise, a charming film that can stage a moment of the utmost beauty and tranquility through marvelous animation and the right pacing and tone. It has the same markings of any Dreamworks movie as well, but I became invested in the characters and enchanted by the visuals to even appreciate the longer, manic ending of action and fire breathing explosions.
The film takes place in a Viking village overrun by dragons on a regular basis. The tribe is fully concerned with killing and eliminating dragons of any kind, but after a scrawny boy named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has an encounter with a rare dragon he successfully harmed, he finds he has a change of heart towards the creatures when he looks into the eyes of this particular dark blue dragon and can’t bring himself to kill it.
The establishing story is all quite standard and a bit flat, but out of nowhere comes a wordless, five minute scene wherein the dragon and Hiccup have their first charming connection. With little to no explanation, we learn that the dragon is trapped in a quarry, and Hiccup lovingly crafts a wing that gets him back in the air.
And for a time, the film literally soars. “Dragon” is a lush, colorful, wide-open film, and we are given the opportunity to delicately explore it with the film’s light pacing and creative structure.
Here is a film made to be in 3-D, as it is a movie that knows the full spectrum of what the technology can do, even on a smaller scale. I sadly saw it in 2-D only, but it speaks highly of the rest of the film’s strengths for me to still have been impressed.
Baruchel gives Hiccup the right amount of dry, sarcastic likability, and his character is certainly not a cutout compared to the supporting cast. The screenplay is far from Oscar-worthy, but it respects the audience’s intelligence. And the score is simply one more gem to admire throughout the film’s many gorgeously rendered moments.
“How to Train Your Dragon” is the perfect mainstream film ideal for just about anyone. If you wanted an unsuspected gem of art and charm, you’ve got it. And if you wanted a wild, loud, PG fantasy adventure, well it does that pretty well too.
3 ½ stars
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