On a small remote Viking island lives a community of dragon-killing warriors. These Vikings do not go on the hunt for dragons. No, they only fight the dragons when their village is attacked. In their society, boys and girls alike are not viewed as equals until they graduate from their mandatory, coming-of-age Dragon School, where each learns the defensive tactics and skills to bringing down any species of dragon – except for the one: the never-before-seen Nightfury.
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel, She’s Out Of My League) is the most looked-down-upon Viking in the village. Although he’s the young son of the king, his scrawny stature and klutzy behavior make him the village idiot. But as tiny as he may be, he has the biggest desire to please everyone and prove that there’s more to him than appears.
During the opening scene of the film, Hiccup’s village is attacked by an onslaught of dragons. Instead of attending to his armory/blacksmith details, Hiccup decides to take part in the fight, finally proving his worth to the community. Blinded by the massive damage he caused to the village in the act, everybody believes him to be “crying wolf” when Hiccup tells them that he actually took down a Nightfury. To prove them all wrong, Hiccup heads into the woods the next morning to search-for and kill the most powerful and dangerous dragon of them all.
As you know from the trailers and the title of the film, Hiccup does not kill the wounded dragon, but instead befriends him, learning that “everything they know (about dragons) is wrong.” What does that entail? Well, you’ll just have to see the movie.
What Avatar did for live-action 3-D, How To Train Your Dragon does for animated 3-D. Who would’ve thought that we would be seeing such amazing 3-D of this level so soon after Avatar, consider Avatar takes credit for 3-D looking good again? If you are looking for to this film and/or the 3-D, IMAX is a must. Certain scenes that involve riding a flying dragon will actually make you feel like you are flying or falling. It is quite the spectacle.
But the 3-D isn’t the only thing that makes How To Train Your Dragon worth seeing – it’s the big picture. The animation. The story. The dialogue. The action. The heart that goes into and comes out of it. Dreamworks Animation is reaching new levels, levels that rival Pixar. If you don’t want to see How To Train Your Dragon, make yourself go see it. It is worth it.
Photo credit: Dreamworks Animation
