How to Train Your Dragon

Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers!

OK, first off: see this movie. How to Train Your Dragon (hereafter HTTYD) is smart, funny, has great special effects, a great score, is engaging... it is just plain good and I think it will set the standard that other CGI movies will be judged by for quite some time.

Do I really mean it? In my life I have seen three movies more then once while they were still in theaters: Apollo 13, Serenity, and HTTYD. I saw it first on a normal screen and decided to roll the dice on the new 3D technology. It is a great movie on a normal screen - it is even better in 3D IMAX format.

Aside: whatever they've done with the new 3D method actually works with my messed up eyes, unlike the old red and blue carboard glasses method. I actually could feel depth (the IMAX probably helped), and several times was convinced something on the screen was actually much, much, closer to my seat. I caught myself reaching out to touch the ash falling near the end of the film.

OK, for those who missed the previews HTTYD is centered around Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, a viking teenager who is not very viking-like. This particular group of vikings live on an island with an unusual type of pest: dragons.

And not just one kind of dragon. Zippplebacks, gronkels, terrible terrors, monstrous nightmares... dragons that are different not just in what they look like (two heads can be better than one!), but how they act. There's a personality to each species. This is something that I didn't really think of during the movie, but is actually quite impressive given how little screen time is available to each.

Then there are the vikings. Most are just background characters, but we get five of Hiccup's fellow dragon-fighting trainees as named characters. Most are rather mythos-typical vikings (horned helmets and all), but each has their own little twist. There isn't a whole lot of character development for them, but there is some.

Speaking of character development, both Hiccup and Astrid (the love interest) go through a fair bit, and for quite believable reasons.

Perhaps my favorite part of the movie is the montage of Hiccup figuring out how to fly on Toothless (the dragon he shoots down, somewhat accidentally befriends, and winds up bonding very closely with). I was reminded of the early aviation pioneers, who would let no amount of crashes and failures dissuade them. They just slowly refined their techniques, staying airborne and in control for longer and longer periods.

The soundtrack, also, is brilliant. I have bought two movie soundtracks in my life (not counting individual songs): Henry V and... HTTYD. :-) No, it isn't just because there are war pipes, though that certainly helps. It is a generally upbeat, energizing score, which is exactly what the movie is.

I could continue raving about this movie in a disorganized fashion, but I'm going to end this here: go see it for yourself!