Rated: PG
Directors: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Genre: Animation, Adventure
Running Time: 98 minutes
Hiccup, born into a family, or rather a community, of Vikings, is the oddball. He desires to join in the mayhem of the continuous collective battle against the island's predators, Dragons, yet he doesn't quite fit the bill. Lanky and clumsy yet stubborn as the life he was born into, he uses what he has to impress his family and capture a dragon, his brain. He invents and builds contraptions in hopes of increasing the likelihood of catching one to prove himself. To everyone. He succeeds, yet not according to plan, as all that he imagined shatters upon his first encounter. Simply named Toothless, this feared and renowned Dragon teaches him about a world he thought he knew.
The usual lessons learned are there: going against the grain to do what's right, bumping heads with family yet discovering what truly matters, finding friends by breaking through presumptions etc.. They are expected and are truly good lessons to exhibit - not new but appreciated. In addition, the film is not as goofy as many Dreamworks productions before it, (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar), with an amusing but somewhat sedate air to enough of the film. Hiccup's awkwardness with, well everything, is endearing.
Visually, it's quite a viewing pleasure. Please, please see in 3D!! Simply admiring the texture in each Viking's leather vest or even furry beard; clear and real enough to flashback to the feeling of your fathers scratchy beard as he hugged you good night as a child. Amazing.
Loved the ending as it was not the picture perfect conclusion that is so commonplace with movies. Hiccup & Toothless' friendship is so much so codependent that it provides a true definition of what it means to rely on a friend.
I give this a four out of five frames!
Cue the trailer:
Danae signing off!
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