It is a meticulous and hard high-wire balancing act making a film that attempts to appeal to both adult and young audiences. Sometimes the film will fail because of too much childish quirk and slapstick antics, like “Treasure Planet.” However, some manage find the perfect temperature between quirky and adult, such as Disney Pixar’s “Up” or Dreamwork’s “Shrek.” While no where near the league of “Up” or “Shrek” “How to Train Your Dragon” is still one of those films that can and will be appreciated by children and adults alike; a genuine crowd pleaser that will hoot more than a few critics horns.
The storyline of “How to Train Your Dragon” is a somewhat formulaic one, however, it still manages to compel. Like your typical mythical hero tale it follows the story of an unsuspecting protagonist. Slipping into the archetypal mold this time around is Hickup: a skinny, nasally, and all around screw-up of a Viking. Only to make matters worse for his physical insubstantiality is that he’s the son of a very proud and very large Viking King who of course wants his son to follow in his footsteps. So then, what exactly are his footsteps? This time around writers have taken the big-boned, axe-wielding super warriors that are the Vikings and turned them into hard-bitten soldiers fighting viscously against dragon raids in order to sustain their very existence. Needless to say, Hiccup is a little too squeamish for the whole slaying business. In fact, when his father leaves him alone with a restrained dragon and a short sword to murder the beast with Hiccup becomes so repelled by the thought of murder that he sets the beast free. Immediately pouncing Hiccup after setting him free the dragon Hiccup half expects the gargantuan reptile to tear him to shreds; but instead the beast seems to recognize Hiccup’s peril and spares his life as Hiccup did his. From here on Hiccup becomes deeply interested in the behavior of the dragons; and thus begins the bond between man and beast.
The first half “How to Train Your Dragon” centers itself not on Hiccup’s and the mysterious dragon’s relationship, but rather focuses on the Viking’s Dragon Slayer Training, leaving their ever-approximal relationship in foreground, saving it for the third and final act. The training sessions serve as a catalysts to introduce characters, such as his love interest Astrid, two very annoying twins, a tubby and nerdy Viking and of course the idiotic jock (an motif that seems inescapable in coming-of-age stories such as this one). The variety of contrasting and clashing characters make for good deal of quirky, funny, and cute humor. For an example, the first time we see them in training the tubby Viking begins reciting all the “stats” of the dragons that their teacher says they will learn to fight. However, at other moments the humor becomes annoying and childish; like whenever either of the dreaded twins open their groan-inducing mouths to start the millionth, unneeded and unfunny feud with the other. One could say the characters are clichéd; however in a tale with a world as fascinating as “How to Train Your Dragon’s” I think the writers made a conscious choice to have easily accessible characters.
The entire film opens and closes as expected. It pushes no real envelopes in the area of storytelling or world creation but rather does a familiar thing really damn well: At the dramatic parts we feel compelled, at the humorous parts we laugh and at the end we feel like we just watched a damn good movie and go home thinking what a well spent eight bucks that was. 4/5
Here's what I thought of 'How to train your Dragon' [SPOILER ALERT!]
ReplyDeleteI liked HttyD, but I've been thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion that it's basically two different movies: One is about Hiccup and a dragon, the other is about Hiccup and some people. While there is some overlap, and both try to be emotional, the two seem to work in entirely different ways.
In the parts where Hiccup talks to people, we are told almost directly how to feel. Sometimes the transitions are so fast, I found it hard to really feel it. For example... at first, the other kids pick on him. [Hiccup is getting picked on-- feel sorry for him.] Literally seconds later, they are cheering for him [Now they like him-- feel happy.]
The human characters mostly range from uncomplicated and average, to two-dimensional and down right irritating (why are twins in movies always so hideously annoying?)
That said, the other half of the movie was surprisingly deep and well delivered. When Hiccup is with the dragon (toothless, right?) the emotions are much better delivered. Instead of dad saying "I'm mad at you!" to tell us that he's mad, and "I'm proud of you!" to tell us that he's happy, the Hiccup/Toothless communications are mostly done with minimal verbal instructions.
For example: Hiccup reaches out to pet Toothless's head, but gets growled at. AFter a moment, he realizes that at first he can only touch the dragon when he has his eyes closed. Without any words, a scene of complete trust and mutual respect unfolds that is more emotional than any involving textbook family or schoolyard episodes.
When a movie can convey emotions through actions and visual cues instead of step-by-step instructions, it means that much more.
All together, the movie was quite good! Some scenes were moving, others were a little annoying, and others still were surprisingly cool. I like the setting that they created-- a fictional viking sub-culture revolving around anti-dragon combat.
Definitely thumbs up!