How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon is the latest animated feature from Dreamworks. It's based on a series of children's novels by British author Cressida Cowell.

It tells the story of young Hiccup. He's a Viking...barely. Where his father is a big brute, fighting off vicious dragons that attack their village, Hiccup is stick thin and not much for dragon slaying. One night, the village is under attack by many dragons. Hiccup abandons his post as the blacksmith's apprentice in an attempt to capture his first dragon, the dreaded Night Fury. Miraculously, he manages to hit it with his net. Of course, nobody in the village believes him. The following day, he tries to find where the dragon might have landed. He finds the dragon but is unable to bring himself to slay it and instead sets it free. It's suffering from an injured wing and is unable to get very far. Hiccup decides to attempt to befriend the dragon and tame him.

I'm not going to lie...I'm not a big fan of kids' movies. I'm not one of those adults that enjoys the Toy Story/Shrek flicks. Not a knock on anyone who does or anything. They're just not my cup of tea. Even as a kid, I don't think I was that into kids' movies. There were a few I enjoyed but I think my tastes led me elsewhere. At any rate, I suppose that this was a decent enough movie, considering what it was. My son definitely enjoyed himself and that's the demographic they're after so it worked on that level.

I'm not going to comment on the story mainly because it's a kids' movie. You already know what you're getting, really. The voice acting was pretty good with Jay Baruchel as Hiccup. Other characters were voiced by Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. The animation was good, definitely worlds better than anything when I was a kid.

We chose to see this in 3-D. This was my second time seeing a movie in the new 3-D format. I wasn't sold on the whole experience after the first time and I'm still not. I know that it's not all about things flying off the screen and that it's supposed to add depth but the whole thing is just doing absolutely nothing for me. I find that all the glasses really do for me is give me a bit of a headache.

Overall, How to Train Your Dragon is a decent movie for what it is. If you're a fan of animated fare, then you'll probably enjoy it.