(Rated PG for mild profanity, scary images, intense action): For many reasons, better scripts being one of them, the animations have been head over shoulders better than the run-of-the-mill live entertainment. Planned storyboards, careful voice rehearsals, little chance for improvisation - all pay off. It's only a matter of time (says this film buff pessimist) before even the animated films will fall into a pattern & head downhill after that, but for now let's enjoy what we have.
In fact, so far as plotline is concerned, this movie already reveals derivatives: oddball kid with disappointed single father, cute animal as friend, faced with highly competitive girl & not-too-friendly peers, faced with obstacles by being different but follows his own star to prove himself a big hero.
Cressida Cowell's series of children's books form the basis for the plot. It's set at a time when Vikings roamed the land & sea, when men were men and boys wanted to be like them - all, that is, except for sensitive skinny little Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), whose father, the mighty Stoick (Gerard Butler), sadly refers to him as being - different.
Their village is perpetually overrun with dragons - all kinds of them, each with its own devilish torment. Only one, a Night Fury, has never been seen, until Hiccup comes upon one, called Toothless, injured & unable to fly well. He uses ingenuity to fix the dragon up, the two become good friends, and then it is up to Hiccup to reveal a new truth - that dragons are not all bad, that the Vikings should be able to live in harmony with them, even after 300 years of killing them, if onlyŠ
Sure, it's kid stuff the way the best of the earliest Disney full length features were, with a little more substance & a moral; along with the thrills, the action, the laughs there is also some heart. No need for base humor that has become ubiquitous for laughs; this is a good-looking fairytale, a throwback to the old-fashioned stuff, but updated with some remarkable art work.
Directed with sensitivity by Dean DeBois & Chris Sanders, with a rich musical score by John Powell, art direction by Pierre-Olivier Vincent & a passle of writers, editors & tech staff, the film almost falls together to create a delightful 98-minutes of fun & real entertainment.
Exceptionally realistic atmospheric settings - with fog, clouds, forests, etc. - make the film almost photographic, but with just the right sense of animation, while the characters - dragons & all - are easily identifiable as having been CGI created.
Dreamworks has a winner here, but one has the uncomfortable feeling that the subtle signs of a downward "easy" trend appear, especially in the familiar plot. I hope I'm wrong. In 3D or not (not, here) it's still delectable entertainment for the whole family. (Grade: A-)
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