Beginning in December 2005 with my history of apes in film essay “Gorilla of Your Dreams” (the substantially update and revised version appears in The Apes of Wrath), I regularly contributed to Moving Pictures Magazine. First in the print incarnation and then for primarily the website. I contributed reviews and essays for the last three years of the publications existence. Following the June 2011 demise of both the print and website editions, all of the digital work for MPM disappeared into the ether. In the coming months (years?), I plan on reposting many of my reviews and articles.
With the impending release of its sequel, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the surprising How To Train Your Dragon.
How to Train Your Dragon
Review by Rick Klaw
(March, 2010)
Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders
Written by Will Davies and Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders from the book by Cressida Cowell
Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig
Set in a mythical world of Vikings and dragons on the island of Berk, the enjoyable How to Train Your Dragon relates the tale of Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), teenage son of legendary dragon slayer and Viking chieftain Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). In their dragon-threatened village, the bantam-sized Hiccup is ostracized due to his lack of physical strength and fighting process. The clever teen develops a cannon that shoots bolas to successfully ensnare a fearsome dragon. Feeling kinship with the trapped beast, Hiccup befriends him and christens him Toothless.
Resisting the usual Hollywood impulse to Disney-ize all animated movies, helmers Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders (co-directors of the underrated Lilo & Stitch) opted for a mature vision fraught with actual danger, human cruelty, risk, and ambiguity. Even the requisite “love interest” derives more from the Fiona of Shrek-fame than the bejeweled, prissy princesses of Cinderella, Snow White, et al. America Ferrera expertly voices the rowdy Astrid, dragon slayer-in-training and counterpart to the Hiccup’s nerdy, offbeat humor, and sensitivity. Along with Hiccup and Toothless, she offers a refreshingly nuanced, non-stereotypical character.
As the charming relationship between the boy and dragon unfolds, the characterization of Toothless shifts from a mysterious, two-dimensional reptilian destructor to an expressive creature that has far more in common with domesticated dogs and cats. Except he can fly. In the film’s funniest moments, Toothless lolls and bounds around like a cat, playing with his food, and chasing moving lights. As the bond evolves, Hiccup realizes that the despised dragons may not be as evil as the Vikings have always believed.
The beautifully rendered animation and seamless 3-D, especially in the Avatar-worthy flying sequences, gives this film the visual refinement found in other Dreamworks hits Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. Despite the awful title taken from the children’s book by Cressida Cowell, the superior script elevates How to Train Your Dragon far beyond the quality of most of its cartoon brethren.