A BOY AND HIS DRAGON: a review of "How To Train Your Dragon"

“HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON”
Co-Written and Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders
Based upon the original novel by Cressida Cowell
**** (four stars)

Extraordinary!!! How and furthermore, why did I wait so long to see this outstanding animated film?!! Dreamworks Animation Studio’s “How To Train Your Dragon,” co-written and directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders and based upon the original novel by Cressida Cowell, is everything anyone could ask for. It proves once again, along with the recent daring features from the wizards of Pixar (2007’s “Ratatouille,” 2008’s “Wall-E,” and 2009’s “Up”), plus Director Spike Jonze’s ground breaking “Where The Wild Things Are” and Writer/Director’s Wes Anderson’s hugely clever and entertaining “Fantastic Mr. Fox” from just last year, that films aimed at young audiences need not be propulsive day-glo colored, hellzapoppin’ brain melting time-wasters filled with gratuitously flatulent pop culture driven humor. “How To Train Your Dragon” shows that in the best of hands, with complete respect for its audience and with a vision and heart as wide as the open sky, children’s film entertainment can perform and ultimately be of the highest cinematic quality. If you have not seen this film yet, I strongly urge you to go immediately after reading this review. (Why waste time? Go see it before reading this review! It’ll be here when you get back.) If you already have seen it, immediately go see it again. The bar has been raised as this is a film to treasure for the ages.

Our story begins in the mythical Viking village of Berk, described as the “midland to misery” by our teen aged hero, the unfortunately named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel, from “Tropic Thunder” as well as a member of filmmaker Judd Apatow’s key repertory players). This lanky, klutzy, mop top haired boy is the misfit of the village teens (featuring the voices of voices of Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plaase and Kristin Wiig), the put-upon assistant to blacksmith Gobber (voiced by Carig Ferguson) and is hopelessly in love with Viking teen dream Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera). Yet most of all, Hiccup harbors enormous dreams of becoming an acclaimed dragon killer, not only for his village, but for the long sought approval of his Viking warlord Father, Stoick (voiced be Gerard Butler). During the film’s opening battle sequence between the Vikings and a slew of dangerous dragons, all possessing fearsome names like “Gronckle,” “Deadly Nadder,” “Hideous Zippleback” and the terrifying “Monstrous Nightmare,” Hiccup impetuously sneaks away from the melee with his self-made bolas cannon weapon in tow. Surprisingly, he shoots down the most dreaded dragon of all, the always unseen "Night Fury," an unprecedented feat which no one believes the hapless Hiccup could accomplish on his own.

Stoick grudgingly enrolls Hiccup into Dragon Training with his peers, where the winner has the opportunity to kill a dragon in full view of the entire village. After his first disastrous lessons, Hiccup wanders through the woods to a secluded section and discovers the roped and wounded Night Fury dragon. Armed with his dagger, Hiccup prepares to kill the sleek black creature with the huge, piercing and soulful eyes and almost feline features, yet finds himself unable to do so. He sets the dragon free and in turn, just as the dragon aims to kill Hiccup, it elicits a mighty roar and scurries away, setting Hiccup free. This curious meeting inspires Hiccup to return to the secluded area where he discovers that the dragon has lost one of its tail wings and is now unable to fly. Naming the dragon “Toothless” due to its retractable teeth, the pair make their first tentative steps towards understanding and friendship.

Their repeated secretive meetings not only strengthens their bond towards each other but also clues Hiccup into the ways of the dragon species (they enjoy gentle strokes on their skin and roll around in grass as if it were cat-nip, love to eat fish and despise eels), all the while increasingly realizing that everything he had ever learned abut dragons had been completely wrong. Hiccup’s newfound knowledge ultimately makes him a local celebrity in his non-violent dragon training sessions, where he appears to be the master of the beasts. Hiccup gains the pride of his Father, the envy of his peers and more than a little bit of reciprocated interest from Astrid and then…his secret is discovered, painfully impacting his relationship with his Father, the safety of Toothless and placing the collective fates of the dragon and Viking races in dire jeopardy.

“How To Train Your Dragon” is superlative entertainment and the perfect antidote to a somewhat sluggish beginning to my 2010 movie-going experiences--a beginning where even the mighty Martin Scorsese stumbled a little and Tim Burton fell flat on his artistic face. Despite some gems (“The Runaways,” “Iron Man 2,” and “Hot Tub Time Machine”), I just hadn’t sent that “home run” of a movie just yet. But, this film more than fits the bill as it is beautifully rich in artistic detail and its overall presentation is expertly written and directed.

Yes, the film contains familiar themes of individuality, the power of trust, unity and community as well as tenuous parent/child relationships yet this film makes all of these well-worn themes feel brand new. The pace is brisk but not rushed. Surprises are consistently abound and every moment is completely engaging. The entire voice cast is uniformly excellent, the animation is gorgeous and all of the humor is contained within the constraints of the characters and story—no flatulent pop culture driven humor is anywhere to be found. The epic climax never overstays its welcome and is honestly breathtaking, thrilling, heartbreaking and always spectacular without becoming bombastic or shorting itself on heart and humor.

The film succeeds strongest in three specific areas. First of all, is the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless as it fully understands the deep spiritual bond between animals and humans through several nearly wordless sequences that never grow portentous or saccharine. The elegant courtship between Hiccup and Toothless are some of the most graceful and poignant animal/human bonding sequences I have seen since those long ago glorious island scenes between boy and horse from Director Carroll Ballard’s “The Black Stallion” (1979). They are also, of course, happily reminiscent of cherished moments from Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.:The Extra Terrestrial” (1982).

Secondly, I absolutely loved the care and attention placed upon all of the dragon characters as each and every creature had its own physical and emotional features, character and presence and they were completely unique from each other. The sheer and extremely complex characteristic detail displayed throughout the film opened up this magical world even wider for me and I relished seeing, hearing and learning about each dragon’s particular traits. Every detail contributed to the cumulative effect of the story as a whole and nothing was superfluous, not even for one moment.

Best of all are the flying sequences, of which there are many, and all of them are nothing less than majestic—and I saw this film is 2D!! You see and feel the scope of the landscapes in relation to the sky and clouds. You sense the speed, grace, occasional danger and euphoria of flight as Hiccup and Toothless learn how to jointly navigate this method of travel as well as their new relationship together. When it takes to the air, the film soars even higher.

Right now, I have to address a topic that is not meant to re-open any cinematic wounds but I do think is apropos. This topic is in regards to the hefty comparison this film has been receiving between itself and a certain 2 BILLION DOLLAR (and counting) box office behemoth known as “Avatar.” I do think the comparisons between the two films are more than fair as they share specific visual and thematic elements, most especially the theme of discovering where your allegiances lie: with the family you are born to or the family you have created for yourself. Where “Avatar” left me completely under whelmed as that endless film suffered under the weight of its own pretentiousness and self-congratulatory heft (in addition to the derivative and badly presented storyline), “How To Train Your Dragon” bests that film at its own game and in every conceivable way...and in nearly half of the running time! The late, great Gene Siskel and still great Roger Ebert long ago expressed that for many successful films, it is not due to what the films are about but how they are about what they are about. The stars were definitely aligned for “How To Train Your Dragon” as somehow, someway, all of the time tested elements and forward thinking technology combined to create cinematic alchemy. As Writer/Director James Cameron heads into preparation for the inevitable "Avatar 2," perhaps he should take a long look at this film, which strongly and always emphasizes story over special effects and shiny new filmmaking toys and maybe he can come up with a new film that can exist in the same neighborhood as this one.

Although the Dreamworks Animation Studio has had it share of box office smash hits, not many of them appealed to me very much aside from the original “Shrek” (2001) and the enjoyable “Kung Fu Panda” (2008) as they seemed to be too reliant upon the aforementioned pop-culture driven humor and high profile voice cast in relation to simple strong storytelling. With “How To Train your Dragon,” however, Dreamworks has now elevated itself to the repeated gold standards set by Pixar…so much so that Pixar should take notice and perhaps begin looking up over its shoulder! I can only imagine the healthy competition between these two animation studios if the quality of their respective outputs continues this highly. But, that's the future…

For now we have this glowing achievement, a familiar story with familiar themes told in a thrillingly fresh, vibrant, emotional way. This is not simply a movie to see as “How To Train Your Dragon” is not designed to be watched passively. This is a movie to feel and feel deeply as it obviously wants you to become as enthralled with the sights and spectacle in the same ways that our young hero Hiccup is.

“How To Train Your Dragon” has easily soared to being one of the very best films of 2010.