Vikings and dragons aren't the first images that come to mind when thinking of family animated movies, but in the capable hands of DreamWorks Animation, the pairing really works. Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the scrawny, clumsy son to Stoick (voiced by hunky Gerard Butler), the brawny head Viking in the village. Hiccup longs to follow in his father's footsteps of hunting and slaying dragons but Stoick wants to keep his boy out of harm's way. One night Hiccup takes it upon himself to join the latest dragon battle and successfully hits what he believes is a Night Fury, the most feared and rare of dragons. Of course no one is around to witness this nor does anyone believe him. Hiccup sets out to find the injured dragon and he finds just that, the Night Fury is injured and trapped. Hiccup frees the dragon and so begins a beautiful friendship and a truly touching story.
I loved this film. Of course I am a parent and a sucker for animated movies but there are themes in this movie that will touch even the most cold-hearted or cynical of movie goers. I also want to applaud DreamWorks Animation for broaching a tough subject in a kid's movie, and since I am anti-spoiler you will have to shell out the cash to find out what I am talking about. You can catch the film at your local cinema in 3-D, IMAX, or old school regular. I prefer old school but at the request of my husband and son we watched it in 3-D. I have to admit it was very cool in 3-D but for those parents with children under 5, I would suggest skipping the 3-D; although my son ended up enjoying it, the first half of the film frightened him because in Quentin's words "I felt like I was in the movie and the dragons were going to eat me". So parents beware of the 3-D action.
Speaking of 3-D, I am not a fan of the 3-D fad; probably because I was traumatized in the early 80's by two horrific 3-D experiences. The first was in 1982 when my Grandma Rita took me and my Aunt Sharon to see Friday the 13th Part III in 3-D. I was 7 years old and I remember my sad little horrified self taking off my glasses every time Jason killed someone. The other 3-D nightmare was Jaws III; Grandma Rita was there for that too. Needless to say those experiences put me off of 3-D, horror movies, and Sea World--but I still love my Grandma :) Watching How To Train Your Dragon in 3-D was a nice way to ease back into the 3-D experience and put my post traumatic 3-D disorder behind me. Regardless of which way you choose to watch the film, this is a definite must see for all.
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