"How to Train Your Dragon" is a fun, light-hearted film (4/5)

Let's be honest, with the exception of "Shrek" and "Ants", Dreamworks has been pretty much treading water in regards to their animation division. This is not to say that what they've put out hasn't been entertaining, but very rarely have they captured the magic and essence of a Pixar film. Unfortunately for Dreamworks, they're still left in the dark with their newest creation "How to Train Your Dragon", a film that's just as cute as a Pixar film, but one that lacks depth to create a film that delivers on all levels. Now, the film itself possesses a focused  and imaginative story that rivals almost any Pixar film. "How to..." tells the tale of Hiccup, a teenage Viking who has a zest for invention and an intention to be a heralded dragon hunter in his home town (or village) of Berk. Berk is a special place of sorts, considering that it's a relatively happy place aside from the frequent attacks by dragons. Yet, the Berk faithful are a group of people that are strong and resilient...aside from Hiccup of course. If anything, Hiccup is merely a visitor at Berk. Physically he's meek, strategically he's unorthodox (at least by Berk's standards), and his leadership presence is non-existent.

Although Hiccup may not be the spitting image of his fellow brethren, he is quite resourceful in his own way. More specifically he has a rather high level of ingenuity as he creates an assortment of inventions that could aid Berk in its defense of dragons, but like most progressive thinkers, Hiccup is seemingly cast away to the outskirts while history takes precedence. Obviously, dragons need to be killed as gruesomely as possible for that is the Viking way! Of course this difference between Hiccup and his village manifests itself extrinsically as Hiccup's father, who appears to be the soldier of fortune in Berk, finds himself on the prowl, hunting for the dragon's nest. At the same time, Hiccup comes across a wounded dragon that he befriends, which ironically occurs when he is being trained to slay dragons.This ideal of barbarianism versus a (for lack of a better word) humanism, although somewhat cliche, is a well oiled cog in a story that for the most part acts as a voice for the respect and understanding of all creatures.

Eventually, as you might expect, Hiccup convinces the village of Berk in the end that you can't hate, nor kill, something you  don't fully understand. No matter how preachy the story may sound, it's executed extremely well. Featuring well established primary characters, motivations, and fun action pieces, the film does a wonderful job balancing an important message with lively dragon based hijinks. Accompanying the story is the visuals, which are truly fantastic. Whether it's the design of Berk, or the detail and imagination poured into the dragons themselves, "How to..." is a smooth ride for the eyes that is heightened when it's combined with 3-D. Granted, the 3-D itself doesn't make the film like it does for "Avatar", but it certainly makes some flying sequences far more thrilling and enticing had they not been in 3-D. So, it's quite clear that the film offers an engaging and important story mixed in with some dazzling visuals, but the question becomes: where did the film falter? Honestly, I feel the film falters when it comes to voice casting and secondary characters.

Let's begin with voice casting, an area that you may deem me as being too fickle in. Nonetheless, I feel that aside from Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson, whose voices and personalities add a distinct flavor to their respective characters, the voice cast lacks any power. From the lead Jay Baruchel to Jonah Hill, a few of the voice actors just seem to be going with the flow.  None really go the extra mile and make their characters come off as being authentic, where as Butler and Ferguson add a bit of zest and zeal. Aside from Baruchel's voice, his character was well written, as were most of the primary players, but it was side characters and jokes along the way that came off flat. Some of them, most of which consist of Hiccup's dragon training classmates, are mildly amusing, but often come off as boring riffs of characters we've already seen before. Unfortunately some of this lack of originality also found its way into a few jokes, but the film is loaded with enough great jokes to make up for the ones that get away from the screenplay. With that being said, "How to Train Your Dragon" is a step in the right direction for Dreamworks. They have always exceeded in the visuals department, but now they've finally showed they can handle the art of storytelling, at least when it comes to their post "Shrek" filmography. Surely, "How to Train Your Dragon" isn't their most polished effort, but it's definitely one of their most enjoyable and focused films.