Dreamworks should have their own anthem. I am amazed as to how far the movie industries have come along, especially in the animation department. I feel cheated by my parents...perhaps I should have been born in the late 90's so I could have grown up with movies like Up, Wall-E, and now, this exceptional movie! There is a charm in these new animated movies that the old Disney movies did not possess. And humor! Oh the cleverness of the 21st century! Anyways, How to Train Your Dragon is an AWESOMELY endearing movie! I still cannot fathom how great the storyline, script, and animation were for this. HTTYD is a charming, witty, HIGH-larious, and emotional movie about the underdog, folly of false perceptions, and triumph. The movie follows Hiccup, our scrawny little viking-wannabe who wants nothing more than to make his father proud. And the only way to do that is to be able to slay a dragon, or at least successfully survive the viking classes on dragon slaying. He lives in a Viking village ravaged by dragons. Hiccup wishes he could slay a dragon just like the other Vikings, but utterly fails. Ironically enough, after he is unable to kill the dragon he captures, his mindset changes and he no longer wishes to slay dragons. The story continues as Hiccup befriends the dragon and learns more about them, thus making it even harder for him to impress his father and community. And so the story goes on, though not as you would predict.
The Vikings and their wicked Scottish accents finally got the spotlight they deserve! Of course, Gerard Butler's voice for one of the characters had nothing to do with my fondness of the Scottish accent whatsoever...nope, nuh-uh. The characters in this movie have such facial expressions and quirky behaviors that you can't help but laugh like a dopey man-child high on performance-enhancing Vitamin-D supplements. The storyline is surprisingly original and they included a little "something" that I was flabbergasted to see in a kid's movie...then again are these kinds of movies really "kids" movies? That is the beauty of it. The whole family can enjoy it. HTTYD has enough animation and action to capture the short attention span of an obnoxious kid (such as the one sitting next to me in the theaters) and yet have enough depth and clever lines to keep an adult interested.
HTTYD's take on dragons completely defies the conventional portrayals of dragons and their common attributes. Very original! It will surely make dragon lovers out of all of us! As if the movie isn't already amazing in all of its goodness, the ending is what made me realize how much I loved this movie. Because of the ending, HTTYD had demoted all my top movies of its genre, and now claims its thrown at the very peak of the mountain (and believe you me, it's Mount Everest). I will be saving this DVD for my kids to watch...if they do not like this movie, I will put them up for foster care. For serious. This is a five star.
By the way...does anyone else think the dragon looks like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch?
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