FILM REVIEW How To Train Your Dragon

Puff the magic dragon – and a Viking


Cinema
Daniel Carey

REMEMBER Herbie Porsche? The German-born, Donegal-based former air-force captain appeared on the first episode of this season’s Dragons’ Den. Seeking €25,000 for his toilet pipe cover business, he proved hugely popular with the five entrepreneurs. Sarah Newman asked if she could name a character in her book after him, while Gavin Duffy came up with the cash to back him.
While many of those seeking money find themselves cowering before the dragons, Herbie thrived. In some ways, he’s rather like Hiccup, the main character in ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, and not just because they both have fantastic names. In short, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the boy who tamed the dragons.
Based on a book by Cressida Cowell, this animated feature from DreamWorks is set on an island, the Viking population of which is beset by dragon attacks. Though he is the son of Viking chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), Hiccup is a puny, accident-prone misfit, and looks set to struggle with life in a warrior tribe. After all, he notes: “Killing a dragon is everything around here” and taking one out “would definitely get me a girlfriend.”
But after secretly befriending an injured dragon whom he (prematurely) names Toothless, Hiccup realises that the animals are more frightened of the Vikings than the humans are of them. This knowledge gives him Dr Dolittle-type qualities which turn him into a celebrity, but it’s not all plain sailing.
‘How To Train Your Dragon’ is the best movie I’ve seen so far in 2010. It takes a little while to get into its stride, and cheering for the Vikings during the early stages takes some getting used to for those of us raised on tales of monastery-raiding and pillage.
But the world conjured up by directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois is wonderfully vivid. The Viking men have fantastic beards, the bleak island is well captured, and the general look of the flick is very distinctive.
There are nods to ‘Gladiator’ in the Colosseum-esque arena in which Hiccup and his fellow dragon-slaying trainees (including warrior princess Astrid, voiced by ‘Ugly Betty’ star America Ferrera) learn their trade. This process is overseen by Gobber the Belch (Craig Ferguson), whose policy of ‘learning on the job’ almost ends in disaster more than once.
Hiccup’s tendency to think before he acts creates difficulties in this boot camp environment.
Gobber’s suggestion that the teens read a dragon manual is met with incredulity. “Why would we read when we’re still alive?” asks one. “Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?” wonders another.
Films where one character realises everything we know is wrong are always potentially interesting, and ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ delivers. The problematic father/son relationship is well explored (“Thor almighty!” Stoick exclaims in surprise at one point) and it’s not all dragon-bashing. The sound of one young cinema-goer calling Hiccup’s name in the closing stages shows it certainly hit the audience in the emotional solar plexus.
For those of us whose early memories of Vikings centred on ‘The Berzerker’, a WWF wrestler whose only word was ‘huss’, it’s quite fun to learn that pointy helmets notwithstanding, Vikings are people too. This is one picture which most accompanying adults don’t have to endure through gritted teeth.
But ultimately, this is one for the kids (though not perhaps the really young ones). The many visual treats – swooping, overhead views, journeys through the clouds and a fantastic climactic battle – mean there’s plenty to suit all tastes.

Rating 8 out of 10