The Dragon (Vi)King

Film review: How to Train Your Dragon

MANILA, Philippines - After Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, expectations run high whenever a new Dreamworks project is unveiled. Along with Pixar and Disney, the current renaissance of full-length animated films has come courtesy of outfits such as Dreamworks. How to Train Your Dragon is its very latest, and it owes much to predecessors such as The Lion King — as it has to do with sticking to one’s identity, beliefs and dreams even if it may mean disappointing one’s father, and how by doing so, redemption may be just around the corner. Throwing in elements such as seemingly insurmountable odds, shaggy-dog relationships, peer pressure, and inter-species friendships (this time between humans and dragons) always helps when bestowing your animated film values, lessons and warmth. And all this Train Your Dragon provides in 3D glory throughout the whole film.

Set in the mythical world of Irish-brogue and Scottish speaking Vikings who battle dragons on a daily basis, the film is based on the book of Cressida Cowell. Our teenaged protagonist is Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel),and he longs to be accepted as a full-blown, dragon-smiting Viking, thereby getting his father’s approval, Stoick the Vast (voiced by Gerard Butler). When trying out his new invention of a weapon leads to getting a flying dragon trussed up and unable to fly, Hiccup does the unthinkable and lets the dragon loose, initiating a friendship between the two, and the realization that dragons have always been at war with humans merely because humans have never tried to befriend them. Naturally, this is something the village, and Stoick the Vast cannot readily accept, and Hiccup can only find an ally in Astrid (America Ferreira), a fellow teenager seeking acceptance in the community via the initiation rite of putting down their first dragon.

It is against this backdrop that the story of forbidden friendship evolves, and some of the more poignant scenes are those between Hiccup and the dragon. The other types of dragons provide a lot of mischief and appeal, as do the antics of the group of teenagers all undergoing initiation. Unlike Shrek and Madagascar, however, the texture of this film is not as solid, and there are moments when my attention/fascination wandered. Having said that, my younger boys, weaned on the likes of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, found this fantasy/comedy melange appealing enough.