Recently announced as a contender for Best Animated Film alongside Toy Story 3 and thirteen others, revisiting How To Train Your Dragon on DVD or Blu-Ray will only act to solidify its worthiness of a place on the eventual shortlist.
After a decade of playing second fiddle to Pixar by releasing pale imitations of such greats as A Bug’s Life and Finding Nemo, Dreamworks has finally triumphed with a seasoned tale of friendship and destiny of its own. While previous releases Shrek and Kung-Fu Panda might have dealt with similar themes of self-actualisation and finding ones place in the world, How To Train Your Dragon repackages such well-worn tropes in such and enchanting and beautifully woven way as to make them feel fresh and innovative.
With forlorn blacksmith Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) eager to prove himself as a Viking, he sets off to catch the feared Night Fury. Succeeding after a series of disastrous attempts, Hiccup finds himself unable to kill the downed dragon and instead finds himself befriending the later-named Toothless. Forced to try and convince his father, tribe chieftain Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), that dragons are not to be feared but revered, it is up to the budding friends to change the minds of a generation.
Entertaining from the start, it is once the central friendship between boy and dragon is established and given room to develop that How To Train Your Dragon truly soars. Invoking childhood memories of Ash and Pikachu, Billy and Gizmo and – admittedly – Andy and Woody, the film emboldens itself to you with such force as to move on a level that very few animated features can.
Each character pervades the limits of the medium, a three dimensional effect that goes far beyond glasses and stereopsis. While the prematurely jaded and unorthodox Hiccup delights with a series of beguiling character quirks and a winning sense of humour, it is Toothless who really steals the show. If Wall.E was imbued personality with a repertoire of beeps and clicks, Toothless’ complexities are expressed with even fewer minimalist flourishes. A bizarre combination of canine and feline ticks conspire to create one of the most immersive characters of the year.
That it has such dramatic and affective weight while demonstrating some of the most striking animation glimpsed yet only goes to show how complete and fulfilling an experience How To Train Your Dragon is. The characters are animated beautifully, while the Viking settlement of Berk is spellbindingly realised.
That said, the splendour of this movie is far from lost on the small screen. What amazed on the big screen still delights on the small, the landscapes and aerial action solid enough to survive the vast reduction in scale. Even without the awe factor, however, How To Train Your Dragon still has so much to offer. The soundtrack in particular is just phenomenal, the films recurring leitmotif is one of the most inspiring and uplifting pieces of music this year, while the film’s depth promises endless rewatch value.
The draw, however, really is in the movie itself. Although split over two discs, the DVD is – when will someone rectify this – aimed squarely at youngsters. Although containing two brief featurettes and an admittedly interesting commentary, the desired storyboards and behind-the-scenes information are sacrificed in favour of the second disc’s child-friendly “The Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon”.
A bona-fide masterpiece, however, How To Train Your Dragon is an involving, engaging and welcomingly mature piece of film-making which drops the pop-culture references and stand-out celebrity voices in favour of solid story-telling and wonderfully organic character development. The film more stands on its own and speaks for itself, anything else would just be filler.
I’m sorry Toy Story 3, but this one has my vote.
[Rating:5/5]
