How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Reviews

De modo solitario, es una buena película acerca del trato a los animales, pero brilla realmente cuando se le ve exclusivamente como prólogo a la franquicia. Difícilmente podría creer que no fue pensada como trilogía desde el comienzo.

Less than a week ago, I received the DVD for my birthday, yesterday, I watched it
It wasn’t so good until the middle, the dragon fighting scene is so awesome and there was a fine voice cast, the film is up there with some of Pixar’s best films and is a must see for any fan of animated movies

NOTE: This is my first Listal review

I went to this film with very high expectations, the unbelievable 98% Rotten Tomatoes rating in my head, and although it was not the masterpiece I thought it would be, it still proved to be a fun rollercoaster of a ride. It is not better than 'Shrek', 'Shrek 2', or 'Kung Fu Panda', and still doesn't compare to most Pixar films, but the flying action sequences and scenes shared by the hero and his dragon as they build upon their unlikely relationship make it well worth watching.

The island of Berk has been plagued by attacks from dragons that steal their livestock and burn their homes. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the awkward son of the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), uses a cannon contraption he invented and shoots down a dragon he thinks may be a Night Fury, a rare dragon nobody has ever actually seen. Hiccup locates the dragon in the forest, but finds he is unable to kill the helpless animal. Hiccup instead cuts it free, and the dragon disappears into the forest. Meanwhile, Stoick assembles a fleet to seek out the dragons' nest, but before he leaves, he places Hiccup in dragon-killing classes taught by Gobber (Craig Ferguson), the village blacksmith.

Searching the forest, Hiccup finds the dragon trapped in a shallow glade; the dragon's tail was injured, preventing it from flying normally. By trial and error, Hiccup discovers a way to earn the dragon's trust and begins to care for it. He names the Night Fury "Toothless," for its retractable teeth. Soon after, Hiccup fashions a make-shift harness and prosthetic tail that allows him to guide the dragon in free flight. Hiccup is able to transfer his knowledge of dragons to the other species of dragons at school, appearing to conquer each one in battle and becoming the star pupil, much to the dismay of Astrid (America Ferrera), a girl in dragon training whom Hiccup has a crush on. Hiccup wins the class and gets the chance to kill a dragon in front of the entire village. The battered Viking fleet arrives home and Stoick learns of his son's exploits in school.

Later, Astrid follows Hiccup, suspicious of his sudden skill, and is shocked to discover Toothless. She attempts to escape to tell the rest of the village, but Hiccup coerces Astrid into flying with Toothless. At first, Astrid is terrified, but then begins to enjoy the excursion. Toothless unexpectedly joins a flock of dragons and takes the pair straight into the dragon's nest, where the truth behind the dragons' constant raids of their village is revealed – a gigantic dragon lives off the food they bring back, else it feeds on the dragons themselves. Astrid wants to tell the village of the nest, but Hiccup wants to keep it a secret to protect Toothless. Astrid, who admires his determination, agrees. Before she heads back, she punches his arm for kidnapping her, and then, kisses him on the cheek for "everything else".

Hiccup is put to his final exam the next day, but when he tries to show the village the dragon's true nature, Stoick stops the fight, inadvertently angering the dragon and endangering Hiccup. Toothless hears Hiccup's cries and flies in to save him, but is captured himself. Hiccup, attempting to explain his actions, reveals how to find the dragons' nest. He tries to warn his father of the danger, but Stoick refuses to listen to his son, disowns him, and sets off with another fleet, using a restrained Toothless as their guide. Astrid talks with Hiccup about why he didn't kill Toothless before. Hiccup reluctantly admits that he didn't kill him because he looked as frightened as he was. Hiccup, then, concocts a plan to save the Vikings with the help of the school's captive dragons and his classmates.

The teens arrive after the Viking fleet has already uncovered the gargantuan dragon. Hiccup's classmates distract it while Hiccup goes to save Toothless. Hiccup and Toothless almost drown, but both are saved by a now-repentant Stoick. Hiccup and Toothless lure the giant dragon into flight, ultimately setting fire to the flammable gas inside its mouth and forcing it into an inescapable dive back to earth, killing it in a massive explosion. While attempting to flee from the crashing dragon, Hiccup falls off Toothless, and Toothless dives into the flames after him.

After the explosion has settled, Stoick finds Toothless, who reveals an unconscious Hiccup safely wrapped in his wings. Hiccup wakes up back on Berk, finding an eager Toothless greeting him. As he leaves his bed, he discovers part of his left leg has been replaced by a prosthetic leg made by Gobber. His grief is turned to joy however, as he steps outside to find the Vikings and dragons working together to rebuild their village. He is greeted by everyone and Astrid rushes to kiss him on the lips. The film ends with the war between Vikings and Dragons finally over with Hiccup and his friends racing their dragons.

For every solidly entertaining Dreamworks creation like Shrek or Chicken Run, there’s some truly awful clunkers like Shark Tale, Shrek 3 or Over the Hedge. So you’ll excuse me if I had my doubts about all of the praise being heaped upon How to Train Your Dragon. Surely the movie only had to meet the most basic of competencies to send critics and audiences into a tizzy about a Dreamworks animation product given their entire oeuvre.

But I was wrong. How to Train Your Dragon deserves every bit of praise that has been thrust upon it. It is so charming, endearing, good-natured and open-hearted that it feels more like a Pixar product. And like the best of children’s films adds a true sense of menace and danger to the giddy thrills. That last battle sequence leaves our two main characters torn up and battle-scarred in several different ways.

The true heart and soul of the film comes between the symbiotic and co-dependent relationship between Hiccup, our lovably awkward hero, and Toothless, the titular dragon that needs training. There relationship is akin to a boy and his dog, one so large that he could ride it around and travel very quickly, and could also breathe fire. Symbolically speaking, it’s a chance for kids to train and tame their overwhelming emotional baggage through gorgeously rendered sequences of flight and frolic.

Seeing as how this comes from the same creators of Lilo & Stitch, that beating heart and warmth shouldn’t come as a surprise. Also, that the family is broken, that the main characters are realistically troubled by their predicaments speaks to how wonderfully human this film is. And much like Lilo, Hiccup uses his brains and quick wit to solve his problems instead of relying upon action-adventure dare-deviling. Explosions are well and good, but they won’t solve the complicated problems involved in trying to make peace between humans and dragons.

Personally one of my favorite movies of 2010 along with Toy Story 3. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from this movie when I first saw this trailers because the trailers made it look like another lame animated movie. I was completely wrong I didn't know I would love this film so much. The animation is beautiful, the script is wonderful and it surprisingly has a lot of dramatic depth, and the voice acting is top notch, with some nice cinematography shots thrown in there. The montage between Hiccup and Toothless is what I think won me over it is such a beautiful scene and it's probably one of my favorite scenes in the movie also the music was wonderful composer John Powell did a nice job. Though some have complained that the story is familiar and the message has been done before in other movies which I agree but, I think it's how this movie uses the familiar story and message that make it somewhat original and wonderful.

It has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should give it at second chance. The point is that I have never really understood why this flick became so popular. I mean, I even saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released and, sure, it was nice and fairly entertaining but that was about it, I’m afraid. Of course, the animation was very nice but the story was nothing really amazing. Above all, it was just full of clichés. Basically, I thought it was a typical Dreamworks production: some very nice visuals, a decent concept but, eventually, there was no depth whatsoever. I have to admit it, it is definitely not a bad movie at all but I can't see what was so good about it and why everybody was raving about this flick. Obviously, they had to come up with a sequel and the fact that this 2nd installment didn’t perform very well at the box-office is another piece of evidence in my opinion that this movie was nothing really amazing to start with. Anyway, to conclude, even though it remains a decent animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, it is actually a seriously overrated movie.

Avatar, with dragons!

How to Train Your Dragon has incredible visuals. But it seems these guys and James Cameron seemed to have had the same idea, and by that I mean the screenplays are the same.It was actually pretty funny too, something that kids and adults will both like. It was very predictable, which made me remember how much I hate kids movies ending. The good guys win, everyone thinks the main character's dead, then he's alive, yada yada yada. But overall it was a very entertaining, and the 3-D effects are great. My suggestion: See it on the big screen while you still can, great in 3-D and also great if you have kids. 8.3