How to Train Your Dragon Review Essay Example

no one believes he’s done it, Hiccup strikes off on his own to find his downed foe, and discovers something unexpected.

Hiccup finds his dragon trapped and injured. Unable to kill a helpless animal, he frees it, helps it, and eventually actually learns to ride it. The movie launches into a series of utterly breathtaking flying sequences, soaring through clouds and skimming along an endless ocean as Hiccup and the creature he names “Toothless” figure things out together. For a time things seem to be going well, Hiccup keeps his secret and uses the dragon know-how he learns while working with Toothless to impress his fellow villagers. But of course, it’s a state which can’t go on forever, and eventually things will come to a halt.

It’s the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless which really carries the film. Toothless, in particular, is a brilliant piece of animation. He’s drawn in the mould of DreamWorks Animation’s intentionally cartoony style but they use movement to give him a life beyond a few silly pixels. It’s easy to imagine Toothless as your own loyal hound, while at the same time getting the sense of danger and destruction he’s capable of. It’s masterful visual characterization, and Toothless is just one of the brightest spots in a bright and beautiful film.

How to Train Your Dragon is filled with great characters and Jay Baruchel’s voice stars as Hiccup.It is an ideal fit for the film’s awkward lead character. Gerard Butler is gruff and funny and frightening all at once as Hiccup’s Viking father Stoick and TV talk show host Craig Ferguson, in a surprising turn, steals scenes

as Hiccup’s demented mentor Gobber. Ok, maybe Vikings don’t strictly speaking have Scottish accents, but this is pure fantasy and a good one.

If there’s a problem with Dragon it’s that I wanted more of it. They’ve kept the story almost excessively simple, stripped it down, and allowed a lot of key moments to happen off camera. This could have easily been a two and a half hour heroic but DreamWorks, perhaps sometimes a little too focused on catering to kids. They stop at a surface level, glossing over more complex elements of the story to focus in on adventure. But who doesn’t like adventure? How to Train You Dragon soars to heroic heights. It’s DreamWorks’ best movie since Kung Fu Panda. These two movies represent a new level of work at DreamWorks, the kind of filmmaking capable at last of going head to head with the established greatness of Pixar and, in some respects, bettering them. Oh, and watch the DreamWorks logo carefully at the start. If you don't blink, you may just see a Night Fury.