The problem with Dreamworks Animation's latest foray into soulless smirking anachronism isn't the training, or the dragons -- it's the How To part that kills it.
More specifically, while the training sequences are dynamic and fun to watch, and the dragons are expertly designed, fleshing out an interesting world that would be interesting to revisit, the plot and character development that gets us from action sequence to action sequence is shoddy at best.
Characters switch motivations on a whim, often saying the exact opposite of what they said in a previous scene, with no rhyme or reason. It leads to a schizophrenic experience on par with the uber-popular Shrek films, rather than the relatively more mature take of Kung Fu Panda.
This has been hammered into the ground at this point, but Dreamworks has a way to go before they can come close to the brilliance of Pixar's output.
Hiccup is a lonely, scrawny Viking lad, more interested in weird inventions than the local pastime: killing dragons. When he does finally man up, he downs an elusive Night Fury dragon (later nicknamed Toothless). But instead of finishing the job, Hiccup ends up befriending and then, you guessed it, training his dragon.
The initial scenes of Hiccup and Toothless are actually rather gorgeous in their silent simplicity, as the human and the dragon feel each other out. Rendered beautifully in 3-D, these sequences quite literally soar.
The script is pretty straightforward. Hiccup learns how to subdue dragons without killing them, and after a spat with the leader of the tribe (also Hiccup's father), they all learn tolerance of dragons, and Hiccup gets the girl. Spoiler for every movie ever, by the way.
The problem is the dialogue, which belongs to the "unless a character says it out loud, it's not a moral" school of writing. I understand this is just par for the course with children's movies and books. But the film actually does a pretty good job of conveying its message of tolerance and creativity through its visuals; too bad it's undercut with clunky dialogue and overly earnest voice work.
The last, biggest problem -- and I'm going to ruin the climax a bit -- is that the theme of "we don't have to kill dragons" is kind of undercut by the eventual solution to everyone's problems, which is, you know, killing a gigantic dragon. I guess tolerance goes to the wayside when the subject is super-huge. Regardless, it's a frustrating example of how the movie wants to have it both ways.
All in all, How to Train Your Dragon is a fine diversion, an innocuous way for kids to spend an afternoon viewing some rather spectacular 3-D. Pity the producers didn't figure out how to train their screenwriters.
More specifically, while the training sequences are dynamic and fun to watch, and the dragons are expertly designed, fleshing out an interesting world that would be interesting to revisit, the plot and character development that gets us from action sequence to action sequence is shoddy at best.
Characters switch motivations on a whim, often saying the exact opposite of what they said in a previous scene, with no rhyme or reason. It leads to a schizophrenic experience on par with the uber-popular Shrek films, rather than the relatively more mature take of Kung Fu Panda.
This has been hammered into the ground at this point, but Dreamworks has a way to go before they can come close to the brilliance of Pixar's output.
Hiccup is a lonely, scrawny Viking lad, more interested in weird inventions than the local pastime: killing dragons. When he does finally man up, he downs an elusive Night Fury dragon (later nicknamed Toothless). But instead of finishing the job, Hiccup ends up befriending and then, you guessed it, training his dragon.
The initial scenes of Hiccup and Toothless are actually rather gorgeous in their silent simplicity, as the human and the dragon feel each other out. Rendered beautifully in 3-D, these sequences quite literally soar.
The script is pretty straightforward. Hiccup learns how to subdue dragons without killing them, and after a spat with the leader of the tribe (also Hiccup's father), they all learn tolerance of dragons, and Hiccup gets the girl. Spoiler for every movie ever, by the way.
The problem is the dialogue, which belongs to the "unless a character says it out loud, it's not a moral" school of writing. I understand this is just par for the course with children's movies and books. But the film actually does a pretty good job of conveying its message of tolerance and creativity through its visuals; too bad it's undercut with clunky dialogue and overly earnest voice work.
The last, biggest problem -- and I'm going to ruin the climax a bit -- is that the theme of "we don't have to kill dragons" is kind of undercut by the eventual solution to everyone's problems, which is, you know, killing a gigantic dragon. I guess tolerance goes to the wayside when the subject is super-huge. Regardless, it's a frustrating example of how the movie wants to have it both ways.
All in all, How to Train Your Dragon is a fine diversion, an innocuous way for kids to spend an afternoon viewing some rather spectacular 3-D. Pity the producers didn't figure out how to train their screenwriters.
