only a few notable entries, including Shrek, Shrek 2, and Kung Fu Panda. It looks like you can add How To Train your Dragon to that list. In fact, put it at the top.
How To Train Your Dragon didn't do anything new, really. It was the tested-and-true story line of "boy is different, people don't understand, people eventually understand." It was, however, executed perfectly. Everything just fit. I'll get started with the casting, first. This film, like every other Dreamworks Animation film, is riddled with celebrity voices. However, unlike every other Dreamworks Animation film, they don't shove the names down your throat in every poster and trailer. In fact, I had no idea how many celebrities were in it until it actually started. The main protagonist Hiccup is played by Jay Barachel (Tropic Thunder, She's Out Of My League), while Hiccup's father Stoic is voiced by Gerard Butler (300, Law Abiding Citizen). Other cast members include America Ferarra (Ugly Betty) who plays Hiccup's love interest Astrid, Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him To The Greek), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Kick-Ass), Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, MacGruber), and comedian Craig Ferguson. This is one of those very few times where Dreamwork's casting has been perfect. Well, except for Jonah Hill, but everything else works so well you almost forget he's there. Barachel's comedic timing was perfect and his chemistry with both Astrid and his pet dragon Toothless felt extremely genuine.
That's something else I want to talk about: the dragons. They didn't speak, or dance, or make dated pop culture references. They were just animals. Fierce, adorable animals. In fact, they were a lot like cats, with a little bit of puppy thrown in. They were easy to get attached to, and by the end of the movie, you genuinely cared for these mystical creatures.
This movie feels a lot like Avatar, except Dragons succeeded everywhere Avatar failed. Unlike Avatar, I cared for these characters. I didn't question any completely illogical motives. I didn't laugh at any lines unintentionally, and most importantly, I didn't have to check my brain at the door to enjoy it. With Avatar, there were so many cringe-worthy moments I could barely stand it. In Dragons, none of the dialogue falls flat. None of it feels forced. In fact, if it weren't for the sheer visual spectacle that Avatar was, it would've tanked. Hard. Luckily for Avatar, it had the best 3D around and nothing could even come close to topping it, right? Wrong. How To Train Your Dragon has the most breathtaking 3D to date. It doesn't feature any gimmicks that last year's Monsters Vs. Aliens was very guilty of. It manages to completely immerses you in the world of vikings and dragons. The flying scenes in Dragons easily surpassed anything that Avatar could dish out. In Avatar, you just felt like a spectator watching something fly through the air. In Dragons, you feel like you're flying with Hiccup and Toothless. You see rocky mountains, trees, and clouds whizzing past you as Toothless soared through the air. In fact, take those flying scenes, throw in some fans and some scents and it could be a theme park attraction.
How To Train Your Dragon has succeeded where every Pixar movie has succeeded: it told a heartwarming tale wwhile appealing to every age group. The ending of the movie also featured something very brave for an animated movie. As brave as what Pixar did with Up last year? No, but still very brave. It truly deserves to be remembered as one of animation's greatest, up there with Toy Story 2, Beauty and the Beast, WALL-E, Up, Nightmare Before Christmas, Aladin, and many others. More importantly, you should see this movie very soon. Come friday, Louise Leterrier's Clash of the Titans will be hogging up 3D screens and based on what others have said, it's a waste of 3D space since Warner completely butchered it's 3D conversion. How To Train Your Dragon ushers in the year for animated films and, much like last year, Pixar will once again have some competition come Oscar time.
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