Review: How To Train Your Dragon

The highly anticipated How To Train Your Dragon 2 was finally released to theaters, and in it's honor I thought I'd take a look back at the 2010 film that started it all, How To Train Your Dragon.

I remember being totally disinterested in this film when it came out.  I'd seen the trailers for it, but for whatever reason it just didn't grab my interest.  One day, a week or two after it's release, I was bored and decided to go to the movies.  I browsed the internet looking to see if this film was worth going to or not, and to my suprise, people were saying that the movie was actually...good.  So I went off to the theaters to check out How To Train Your Dragon, and boy am I glad I made that decision.

Just so y'all know, this is a spoiler filled review.  I've given you fair warning!



How To Train Your Dragon centers around a shrimpy viking boy named Hiccup on the Island of Berk.  For centuries, vikings have been at war with the dragons who attack their village.  Hiccup wants nothing more than to kill a dragon to impress his father and the girl of his dreams, but only seems to cause disaster for everyone else at every turn.  One day, he manages to shoot down a dragon, though no one believes he did.  When he finds the dragon injured in the woods, he can't bring himself to kill it.  Instead, he decides to hide the dragon, whom he dubs 'Toothless', building it replacement wings so it can fly again. In the process, Hiccup discovers that everything the vikings believe about dragons being vicious monsters is completely wrong.

The key to a great film is a great story, and How To Train Your Dragon delivers in spades.  The interesting thing about it is that it contains a lot of elements that we've seen many times before in other movies.  You've got the disapproving parent, the awkward social outcast who has a crush on the popular girl, said outcast hiding the dangerous pet, among others.  But here, they're just done so well.  Every single element of this story is good.  Every single plot point comes back around, and when all is said and done there are no loose ends left hanging.

The best bits of this story are the main relationships between the characters, particularly between viking chief Stoick and his son, Hiccup.  What I really appreciate about the portrayal of the father is that he's never demonized for trying to get Hiccup to embrace the long standing tradition of dragon slaying.  He doesn't really understand his son, and he constantly struggles with being a parent to a kid who is so different from himself, but he's a good man who obviously loves his son very much.  His frustrations are born out of the fact that Hiccup doesn't always listen and that he's trying to keep Hiccup safe in such a dangerous world.  Hiccup, thankfully, is not portrayed as a horrid brat who defies his father at every turn.  He loves and respects his father, but is frustrated by the fact that his father doesn't always listen to him and that he can't live up to the standard viking boy image.  These two just can't communicate or find something to talk to each other about, even when Hiccup pretends to fight dragons to please his father.  The way this relationship is brilliantly handled throughout the entire movie, and every single moment is genuine.

Even the popular girl is great.  Astrid is the best warrior among the teen vikings, but she never acts like a brat and never flaunts her talent in an arrogant way.  Astrid is all about fighting dragons and learning how she can protect her village from harm.  She doesn't hate Hiccup, she just can't stand the fact that he causes nothing but trouble, isn't warrior material, and doesn't seem to take fighting dragons seriously.  But she's never mean spirited and is quick to forgive Hiccup for lying to the whole village when he shows her that dragons are good creatures.

Of course, the center of the movie is the relationship between Hiccup and the most dangerous dragon of all, the Night Fury Hiccup decides to call 'Toothless'.  Unlike the other vikings in the village, Hiccup is able to see past the threatening dragon visage and befriend Toothless after shooting him down and permanently injuring him, rendering him unable to fly.  He utilizes ingenuity and the skills he's learned as a blacksmith apprentice to build a replacement tail wing for Toothless, and that's when the fun really starts.  The pair establish a great friendship of trust and mutual respect as Hiccup learns how to ride, giving Toothless the ability to fly once more.  Toothless, in turn, protects Hiccup from danger and provides Hiccup with something he's never had: a best friend.

Even the side characters are great.  Stock's best friend, the blacksmith viking Gobber and the other young vikings are a lot of fun (Gobber has the best lines in the whole film), and all of the dragons are unique and interesting.  The best decision the creators of this movie made was to make the dragons behave like, well, dragons.  There's no talking dragons  here, thankfully.  Rather than acting like humans or making wisecracks, they behave like a dangerous cross between a cat and a dog, going from threatening to adorable in seconds.  Toothless, of course, is the most badass adorable dragon ever.

The visuals in this film are outstanding.  The environments are beautiful, from the damp forests to the vast oceans to the bright, cloudy sunsets.  There's even some lovely scenes with minimal lighting with very dark shadows, something you rarely see in animation, a medium that typically is bursting with color.  The opening sequence is one of the best I've ever seen.  You meet all of our main characters, including the dragons, in this great action packed sequence that perfectly sets up the rest of the film.  And speaking of action, the action is absolutely fantastic.  During the flying sequences, it really feels like you're up there flying right alongside those dragons.

Don't get me started on John Powell's score for the film, because I could go on about it all day.  To put it simply: it's amazing.  There's so many little touches that give it a great Celtic feel, including whistles, bagpipes, and some great background chorus.  The soft, Celtic lullaby 'Forbidden Friendship' is a perfect representation of the budding friendship between Toothless and Hiccup.  My personal favorite track, 'Test Drive', combines Hiccup's theme and the flying theme in a way that is absolutely exhilarating.  Just listening to the music without watching the film will make you feel like you're soaring through the clouds.

And of course, there's that incredible ending.  What makes it so great is that the creators weren't afraid to take a risk on this story and show that actions do have consequences, and not everyone comes out of a battle completely unscathed.  And when you do loose a little in life, you can't let it bring you down.  Hiccup may have lost his leg in the end, but he gained so much more.

There's absolutely no doubt about it, for me, How To Train Your Dragon is Perfect.  It's got everything I love: great story, great characters, great visuals, and to top it off, it pushes the technology and features great music.  This film is a classic.

What did you think about How To Train Your Dragon?