How To Train Your Dragon

Just about a year ago I walked out of a darkened theatre after seeing the animated movie “Up” and I couldn't shake this one thought that was echoing throughout my brain – that was the best written movie I had seen in a years. Could that really be true? A “kids movie”? An animated movie? Several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Writing Directly For The Screen, told me I was not alone in my observation.

Now, almost a year later I walked out of another darkened theatre this time filled with certainty rather than doubt. Anyone who wants to know how to tell a story for the screen should look at the best of the Pixar and Dreamworks catalogs because the latest Dreamworks offering,“How To Train Your Dragon” is a rich and beautifully told story that will entertain movie-goers of all ages.

How To Train Your Dragon, tells the story of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), a young Viking boy who grows up in a village terrorized by Dragons who attack at night. He observes that the village is very old but all the buildings are new. They keep getting torched by the fire breathing dragons. So hiccup harbours the dreams of every other viking boy in the village – to grow up to be the greatest dragon killer ever known. Of course, the scrawny and clumsy Hiccup just isn't cut out to be a fierce dragon-killing warrior. This is an embarrassment to not only Hiccup himself but more so to Hiccup's father Stoick who really is the greatest Viking warrior in the Village.

Stoick leads a Viking expedition to search for the dragon's nest and Hiccup is enrolled in dragon-slaying training with some other kids his age. It is at this point when Hiccup stumbles upon the fiercest and rarest dragon of all, a black night fury. Turns out Hiccup wounded it one night with a cannon shot but nobody would believe him. Hiccup tries to kill the wounded dragon but discovers he cannot. When he sets it free instead, the dragon-killer wannabe and dragon (whom he names Toothless) begin a tenuous relationship that is very delicate.

Right here I'd like to point out what a brilliant job the writers have done in setting up the story to this point. Yes, this movie is based on a 2003 British Children's novel by Cressida Cowell but it is the changes the writers made to the original source material that really made this work. In the novel, the villagers train dragons and young Hiccup and his friends enroll in dragon-training classes rather than dragon-slaying classes. By portraying the dragons and villagers as historical enemies engaged in years of battles to the death, it “raises the stakes” for the detente that Hiccup and Toothless are about to enter into. Can dragons really be trusted? What happens if Stoick and the other villagers find out?

So as this story turns nicely from Act I to Act II we now have parallel training sessions going on. On the one hand, Hiccup is learning the “traditional teachings” of what dragon's are all about from village elder Gobber (voiced by Craig Ferguson). While at the same time he is learning what really makes dragon's tick from his secret experiences with Toothless. At one point he voices the inescapable yet logical conclusion “Everything we know about them is wrong.” Eventually the villagers view on dragons and Hiccups view of dragons are going to come into direct conflict. There is a nice turn where we discover why dragons sack the villagers and make off with farm animals.

What makes this story work is that is functions on more than one level. I could count on one hand the live action movies I've seen in the last 18 months for which I could say the same. Here the surface level “plot” involves Hiccup's dragon training and his secret excursions with Toothless. But beyond that is the character's inner journey which involves repairing a strained relationship between father and son. We get the sense training Toothless to fly on command is nothing compared to getting Stoick to actually listen to and connect with Hiccup. These scenes between father and son are as important and powerful as any aerial dragon fighting scene in the film.

Another aspect that makes this movie a success is the flying scenes involving Hiccup and Toothless. Somehow the animators are able to give you the sense that you are actually there flying with them. I almost want to see this movie again in IMAX 3D just for that experience. There is a beautiful scene between Hiccup Toothless and Astrid, the girl Hiccup crushes on (voiced by Ugly Betty's America Ferrara). Toothless seems to know how to impress a girl so gives them a combination of roller coaster thrill ride and romantic cruise in the sky. It gave a fresh take to the magic carpet scene from Aladdin. These scenes along with the action sequences are beautifully composed and executed.

This is by no means a perfect movie. It takes some shortcuts at the end with the father-son relationship. I think the underlying story elements in Up were stronger than they are with this movie. But on the whole, you would be hard pressed to find a better story and more fun at the local cineplex.

I really do wish live the powers-that-be behind live-action movies would pay as much attention to establishing and developing character as the animation studios do. I will still go to the theatre in the hopes of finding it. Of course when I am let down time after time, I won't fret too much. I'll just keep thinking of June 18, 2010. For that is the day that Toy Story 3 opens and I know that story will once again triumph on the big screen.

(It's also my father's 69th birthday but I'm fairly certain he wouldn't want that out there for public consumption so I will not bring it up.)