Movie Review #1 - How To Train Your Dragon

I saw How To Train Your Dragon today at the $1.75 movie theater, but I kind of wished that I had seen it before, at the theater with the big screen. The reason for this is because the film was amazing!



The animation of the film was very well done, and even though this was a Dreamworks film, it had the quality of a Pixar made film. The scenes where the protagonist was flying the dragon were masterfully done and well executed. It reminded me a bit of Avatar, which sounds funny, but when you see the movie (and if you saw Avatar), you'll know what I mean.

The story of this movie is simple, and yet it felt fresh and very alive to me. It tells of a puny guy named Hiccup who wants to fit in with the strong, burly vikings, whose main goal is to kill dragons. Turns out, the dragons aren't the bad guys, and the person to figure this out is none other than Hiccup. He meets a dragon which he calls Toothless (it has teeth, ironically), and they bond. The bonding between the dragon and the human is beautifully done. For a kids film, it feels amazingly elegant, and just the way that these two interact makes the film worth seeing.

This is a film that I would recommend to anybody, young and old. I saw this with my older sister, who is 22 years old, and she actually teared up at one point towards the end. Though she cries easily during movies, that's just a testament to how well this movie was done. From the way it was shot to the way the story was told, this film is firing on all cylinders.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the voice actors for this film did a wonderful job. They include Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson (my favorite from the film, even though I hate his TV show), Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (who is hilarious in this). If you can still find this movie, take the kids, take yourself, take friends, whatever, just make sure you don't let this one pass by.

SEE IT