Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon

We all have dragons to train. Isn’t that the truth? It doesn’t matter if you are born into a mainstream family or a family of Vikings, we all want to control our dragons. Well, I do anyway. Dreamworks banked on that idea clicking with moviegoers, and believe me, it does. How To Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) is directed by Dean DeBois and Chris Sanders, the same team that brought us the very underrated and undervalued, Lilo and Stitch. The source material is an eight book series by Cressida Cowell and she, along with DeBois, are responsible for the very clever and original screenplay. The film is set on the Viking Island of Berk where all is well except for one small problem: every once in a while they are attacked by fire breathing dragons. The Vikings are big and strong and very aggressive by nature so attacks are met with hard-fought battles leading to plenty of serious injuries. But not for young Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel in his best performance since he played Danger in Million Dollar Baby); he is not a natural born dragon slayer like the rest of his family and friends. He is cerebral and scrawny but by facing his fears he learns the secret of conquering and ultimately finding the solution to the local dragon problem. Hiccup’s father Stoick (the pitch perfect Gerard Butler with his roaring 300 voice accompanied by a big Scottish brogue) is very over-the-top but never reduced to the simplicity of a cartoon character. Although initially disappointed in his son, his love for him is always apparent. HTTYD is a visually spectacular piece of animation making incredible use of 3-D technology to give the audience the feeling of flight. It is heartwarming and poignant. It teaches us one of life's greatest lessons: If we meet the enemy head on, we will be very surprised at what we can accomplish, and at the same time discover who we really are. Do not miss it!