Review: How To Train Your Dragon
The battle of the animation kings seems to be a war fought between Disney and Pixar for the most part with Studio Ghibli taking their own contest outside the battlefield. However Dreamworks never seems to be included in that battle which is strange cause while they do have their stinkers like any other studio they've got plenty of hits as well, the first two Shrek films are widely popular, Kung Fu Panda is actually pretty great and even just a couple years ago they gave us the surprisingly charming Rise of The Guardians. Perhaps their best film (so far anyway, time will tell for the sequel) is How To Train Your Dragon, a film that combines the cinematic wonder of dragon battles with a wit and charm that can only befall a tale of friendship like this one.
Set in Berk, a land somewhere cold and North and nowhere, it's the time of Vikings and the time of dragons, the dragons try to steal the Viking's livestock and the Viking's fight off the dragons. One such Viking is Hiccup, the weak and scrawny son of the chief who wants to take down a dragon himself but lacks the strength to even pick up a weapon. He does however possess some smarts and fashions a device that takes down a legendary Night Fury, a lightning fast dragon not seen by anyone who lived to tell the tale.
While his father and most of the tribe go off to find the dragon's nest one last time before winter, Hiccup searches for his catch, finding the dragon trapped in a ravine, Hiccup can bring himself to kill the beast and lets him go but soon realises that in the crash he's lost part of his tail making escape from the ravine impossible. As Hiccup slowly but surely gets the dragon - now named Toothless in regards to his teeth retracted so as not to get in the way of his flame attack - to trust him he starts learning things about dragons as a species that nobody else in the tribe took the time to understand as they were too busy killing the creatures. As Hiccup uses these new found techniques in the training arena he soon finds himself the talk of the town, which arouses the suspicions of Astrid, a fierce female warrior and object of Hiccup's affections who threatens to spill the whole secret to the Tribe and to Hiccup's father Stoic, a mean dragon hater.
The story is centred on this growing relationship between Hiccup and Toothless which is a sweet and interesting relationship in its own right - like watching a boy as his fire-breathing dog with wings - but its set on the backdrop of what is essentially a war between Vikings and dragons. The more Hiccup learns about them the more he realises everything the Vikings know is wrong but in order to tell them he risks losing his friend. It's a simple but very effective tale that all comes together in one explosive ending, literally.
The characters were pretty great to watch, ranging from fun to charming to both. Hiccup's Tribe-Mates in the training academy were a good lot of supporting characters, Snoutlot was a brass, overconfident and unintelligent dumbass but he was always happy to beat something up, so long as it didn't beat him back. The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut were as twins would be, constantly bickering and trying to one-up each other and then there was Fishlegs, a weak and nervous character but one who retained a great knowledge of dragon statistics, often saying them out as RPG numbers. Love interest Astrid did verge on a little too standard, tough as hell chick with a softer side, but it worked for the character and allowed her to compliment the more passive Hiccup perfectly, she held her own and offered a different point of view to Hiccup when he needed it the most.
The two main leaders of the Tribe were Chief Stoic and Arms-Master Gobber (ironically he only has one hand). Stoic is Hiccup's father and he struggles to understand his son, where Stoic represents the traditional, fearless, strong and axe-happy Viking warrior, Hiccup does not and as much as Stoic loves his son he doesn't see why Hiccup can't fit into the Viking lifestyle. His hatred for dragons clouds his judgement but not without reason, having lost friends to the beasts before his prejudice is explainable and his doubts with his son makes it hard for him to accept the truth of dragons not being vicious killers.
Gobber (played brilliantly by Craig Ferguson) is the combat expert on the island and trains Hiccup and the others in the art of dragon warfare. He's a very funny character, often being very blunt with his teaching methods as he throws the pupils in at the deep end, he's still a great fighter despite his missing hand and foot and more often than not acts as a voice of reason to help Stoic with tough decisions.
Hiccup himself was your typical every-guy, just in a Viking Tribe. He's not particularly strong and not particularly brave but that's what made him special, he knew he wasn't strong and he knew he wasn't brave so when it came to killing Toothless he knew he couldn't do it which allowed him to observe the dragon in a much closer environment and try to get to know him. It's very much a case of finding his inner strength and with help from Toothless, Hiccup is able to see things much clearer, he learns a lot just from watching the dragon and develops a friendship with him that feels very natural in terms of progression.
Toothless himself is a fun little bastard, very cat-like in nature and a little in appearance, he's a mischievous sort, always messing around, looking a crossed between confused and excited, he never says a word but his reactions and facial expressions say everything. You can't help but love the little guy with him trying to grasp who this strange creature is and why he's feeding him. He doesn't immediately trust Hiccup but his growth from antagonist to acquaintance to loyal friend is the backbone of the movie and the way it plays out not only makes sense but works perfectly in line with the pacing of the story.
Animation wise the film is very impressive, particularly in regards to its scale, this is a very large film with frequent aerial shots that are very impressive even for a regular flick, the amount of work that went into creating those moments where Toothless zips through the air, spinning and twirling and dashing around all feel like a Dogfight in your typical WW2 movie, it's amazing how well put-together these moments are for an animation film, I'm trying to think of a similar flick that utilises motion this way in order to make the intensity of flying this exciting. It's a big help for some of the more elaborate moments, particularly in the end which is a massive battle against a God-Like Dragon that's fought on the ground, in the air, through the clouds and finally crashing to the rocks below, it's probably one of the best animated battles I've seen in a long time since there's so much freedom to be had when using the limitless possibilities of animation and fucking dragons.
One of the most impressive aspects of this film is how it builds up its world, we understand there's a war between dragons ans Vikings but we know nothing about how it started or how it got to this point, all we know is that Vikings and Dragons fight and kill each other for hundreds of years, Hiccup's ventures with Toothless reveal a natural reaction within Dragons as a species which help them feel more viable as creatures in this world, for example how grass is like cat-nip to them. There's also the fact that there's many different species of dragons, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, for example one species of Dragon has two heads, one to release gas and one to ignite it but if the ignition head is doused in water the dragon is harmless. Toothless' species (the Night Fury) are known for their lightning fast speed and use of projectile shots of orange and blue flames that result in spectacular explosions, almost like Dragon bullets. And it's not just the physical either, every dragon has a different of skills, be it shot count (how many times it can fire off a flame attack), strength, speed, size, all these elements are used to give more weight to these creatures and how they interact with the Vikings. It's a surprisingly strong piece of world building that helps the film feel heavier and larger than just a story a boy and his dragons.
I missed How To Train Your Dragon in cinemas and looking at this how this film looked on the small screen that was a mistake. With the sequel coming out soon I won't make the same mistake, this is a great film that's definitely worth checking out, the story is simple but very effective, the characters a lot of fun with the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless forming a solid backbone for the flick and the direction builds an entire universe both in its animation and it's back-story and use of lore of the dragons. Very funny, very charming, very exciting, Dreamworks might not get the appreciation it deserves but if the sequels can keep up this level of greatness, the Dragon Training Franchise should change that.
8.5/10