How to Train Your Dragon - 9.4/10
Okay, full disclosure: this is one of my favorite animated
films ever, so strap yourselves in; if you thought I gushed about Kung
Fu Panda, you have seen nothing. This also means I have quite a bit to
say about it, so I hope you brought a snack.
This was the last movie I saw in theaters before I left to
go teach overseas. I distinctly remember being blown away by how amazing an
experience it was. The use of 3D – particularly for the flight scenes – was exhilarating
and this remains the only film I’ve seen (with the possible exception of Avatar) where
I felt the extra three bucks was absolutely worth it. However, I want to make
this absolutely clear: the 3D, while incredible, was not what made this movie
great. Think of it this way: if you rode around on a giant, flying dinosaur
that could breathe fire and shoot lasers out of its eyes, that’s freaking awesome.
But even if it couldn’t shoot lasers out of its eyes, it’s still freaking awesome. The 3D is merely
another layer of icing on the proverbial cake, as it were. A flying,
fire-breathing, dinosaur-shaped cake.
I’ve rewatched this movie numerous times, and I just can’t
seem to get tired of it. It differs from Dreamworks’s two other best works in
one key area: where Shrek 2 was a great comedy with some serious moments, and Kung
Fu Panda was a serious movie with great comedy, How to Train Your Dragon
takes itself completely seriously. It is not a comedy, it doesn’t try or
pretend to be a comedy, there is no pretense whatsoever that audiences need to
be pandered to or fed jokes in order to be entertained. Outside of Pixar, that’s
a rare thing in a Western animated film these days.
The main character, Hiccup, is incredibly likable. In a
world of brawny Vikings, he is the scrawny, brainy screw-up. He has a very dry
sense of humor, and is charmingly self-deprecating about not just himself, but
his entire culture as he narrates both the opening and the ending of the film
for us. Jay Baruchel’s higher pitched nasal voice fits the character very well,
and his inflections really help to convey the character’s inner wit as well as
his insecurities. I cannot imagine a better casting choice.
With Hiccup at its center, the film is built around three
basic relationships, each with its own theme. They are, in descending order of
importance: a boy and his dragon, a boy and his father, a boy and a girl. The last one, while it maintains some romantic
undertones, once again does not focus
on the romance, which is a strong move in terms of writing, in my opinion.
The main relationship of the film, between Hiccup and his
dragon Toothless, has the theme of mutual trust. The filmmakers absolutely did
not rush in allowing this trust to build, and took their time showing us
step-by-step how two creatures who at one time were mortal enemies grew to be
not only best friends, but to rely on each other. The scene where Toothless
first lets Hiccup lay a hand on him is particularly touching, and accompanied
by some great music. In the beginning, the trust was simply that each one would
not kill the other, but eventually they come to depend on one another.
Toothless cannot fly without Hiccup, and for the boy himself, Toothless lends
him the strength and freedom that he was always lacking on his own. If there
were no other characters in the movie, just these two alone would be enough to
carry it.
The second relationship is between Hiccup and his father
Stoick the Vast, the village chief. The theme here is mutual respect, which at
the beginning is mostly lacking. Hiccup’s respect for his father is limited to
the respect due a father and chief, and Stoick doesn’t respect Hiccup at all.
He loves him, in the awkward way that a single (Viking) father does, but does
not accept Hiccup for who he is. Hiccup bemoans this several times, and even
tries to go against his nature in attempts to earn his father’s respect. When
he initially succeeds (Stoick thinks he has become a gifted dragon fighter), he
feels empty because it’s not based on truth. When he finally asserts his true
self he is disowned, but he comes back to save the day anyway, finally showing
his father the value of a different way of thinking. His father is proud of the
son he has, rather than the son he wanted.
The third relationship is with Astrid, another village
teenager and the best fighter of her generation. Their theme is one of mutual
admiration. Hiccup, for his part, cannot help but admire Astrid. More than just
having a crush on her, she is everything he aspires to be: strong, brave,
talented, and pretty much an all-around badass. For Astrid’s part, she
dismisses Hiccup like most everyone else, and actually grows to dislike him
when it appears he is just fooling around in dragon training, which is something
she takes very seriously. When she learns about Toothless and is abducted
before she can run and tell everyone, she learns not only what Hiccup now knows
– that dragons are nothing like what everyone thinks – but also that Hiccup is
nothing like what everyone thinks either. For someone whose entire worldview is
flipped on its head in the span of an afternoon, she takes it very well,
immediately agreeing help keep Toothless a secret at Hiccup’s request, even if
it means keeping bigger secrets as well.
The thing I like best about Astrid though is that she is the
first person – including the boy himself – to see Hiccup for who he truly is.
She instantly realizes the courage and compassion it would require to befriend
Toothless as he has, and when his father disowns him and he regrets all his
choices, it is Astrid who shows him the strength even he seemed unaware of. She
wants him to see himself as she does, and for everyone else to as well. In the
end she admires Hiccup for all the same reasons he admired her, even when no
one else does.
Visually, the movie is very appealing. Not quite on the
level of Kung Fu Panda, but where that film showed us the glorious
colors and ordered ornamentation of a lush Chinese valley, this one possesses a
more rustic kind of natural beauty, coupled with the quaint charm of a medieval
Viking village. Chill pine forests, misty cliffs by the sea, sunsets and aurora
borealis, all this is a treat for the eyes. And the flying scenes – even without
3D, they are just so wide open and free. Studio Ghibli couldn’t do it better.
The voice cast is surprising. Of course they were all
celebrities, because it’s Dreamworks and that’s what they do, but rather than
going out and snagging as many A-listers at they could as per the norm, they
obviously took great care in matching each character to an actor that would
suit them. I’ve already mentioned how much I liked Jay Baruchel’s Hiccup, and
America Ferrara made a great Astrid as well. While people familiar with their
respective bodies of work might recognize those names, they are certainly not
in the same league as say, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Ben Stiller, Will Smith,
etc.. The benefit is that instead of celebrity voices, we get character voices.
I don’t hear Jay Baruchel, even though it’s very clearly his voice; I hear
Hiccup. The only thing I thought was weird was that all the adults had Scottish
accents while the teenagers all sounded American. What the phở?
Such a minor thing though; I really don’t worry about it too much. To be
honest, I’m so used to it that it would probably seem weird not to have it that way now.
My absolute favorite part of this entire thing (yes, we
haven’t even gotten to that yet) is the music. John Powell has created a full
orchestral score (complete with warpipes!) that hits every scene and every
emotion exactly right. It’s light and whimsical when it needs to be, powerful
and emotional when it needs to be, fast and exciting when it needs to be, and destined
to be as memorable and iconic as the scores of Harry Potter, Star Wars,
or anything else John Williams has ever done. It is instantly recognizable as
the music of How to Train Your Dragon, and frankly I was offended he was not
given the Oscar for it.
So that’s it. This is the longest write-up I’ve ever done,
and honestly I could probably go on for a couple more pages. If you enjoy
animated films at all, then you are
seriously missing out if you haven’t seen this one. Check it out.
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