Vikings pillage. At least at the box office they will, thanks to the entertaining new CGI animated family film, “How to Train Your Dragon.” It’s not a classic for the ages like recent Pixar treats, and it never reaches the same heights comically as it does visually. But DreamWorks’ new Dark Ages dalliance about flying fire-breathers and their Norse contemporaries will surely delight a wide swath of moviegoers.
If you go
‘How to Train Your Dragon’
4 out of 5 Stars
Voice stars: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Rated PG for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language
Running time: 98 minutes
This is the first major cartoon feature to be released in both 35 mm and digital 3D since the huge successes of “Avatar” and “Alice in Wonderland.” The lately improved technology of 3D, so hot right now, makes the style and originality of a film’s look more important than ever. And that is the strong suit of today’s picture. Directed and co-written by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, based on the book series by Cressida Cowell, “Dragon” benefits from richly drawn human and beastie characters, awe-inspiring scenes of airborne adventure, and authentically detailed scenery enhanced through consultation with world-class live-action cinematographer Roger Deakins.
The theme is uplifting too: A warrior culture learns to understand and peacefully coexist with its enemies.
The slight, mild-mannered Hiccup (voiced by “She’s Out of My League’s” Jay Baruchel) would rather fashion inventions from metal and leather in his workroom than fight. He doesn’t live up to Dad’s expectations of the burly, dragon-slaying Viking. His father, village leader Stoick (Gerard Butler), his mentor, Gobber (Craig Ferguson), and the other grown-ups think that the dragons that raid the village for food must be killed on sight. Hiccup’s aggressive adolescent peers — including his crush Astrid (America Ferrera) and rivals Snotlout (Jonah Hill) and Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) — agree.
But Hiccup meets a notoriously dangerous “night fury” dragon that has been injured. The boy soon realizes that the fanged critter, which he ironically names Toothless, has the potential for all the taming and loyalty of a pet puppy. He devises Toothless a prosthetic tail wing so he can fly again and rides him through the skies a la “Avatar.”
The other Vikings are appalled by this relationship … until they realize that it will be the key to defeating the giant “queen bee” dragon behind the village raids.
Among the vocal performers, Butler and Ferguson — with their hearty, manly Scottish intonations — are especially effective and amusing. And the cute mute character of Toothless is irresistible. They keep “Train” rolling.
