How to Train Your Dragon

I skipped How to Train Your Dragon in the theaters this summer, because hey, I skipped a ton of movies this year. I just wasn't feeling the previews, and I suffer from animation fatigue in the summer. Way too many sub-par animated movies come out, making it hard to tell what to bother with and what to skip. But then reviews and word of mouth started saying how good it was, and then I kind of regretted skipping it. Well, I've finally righted my error. This is a really good movie!

The story itself is a pretty common one in cartoons these days: an outcast finding his place and gaining acceptance among his peers by doing something that they at first disapprove of, but then see the value of. But it's a nice little formula, and well-told. The dragons are cool and there are a bunch of different breeds with different abilities. That's always fun when they do that. I liked the characters. Jay Baruchel was a good choice for the gawky teenaged viking.

What I really liked is the ending, a great climactic battle that results in real consequences for our heroes. You don't see that in many kids movies.

Dreamworks Animation can make some good stuff when they're not busy churning out the star-driven movies that are loaded with instantly dated pop culture references (you know what movies I'm talking about). I put How to Train Your Dragon just below Kung Fu Panda in my rankings. That's a tough one to top, though.

How to Train Your Dragon: A-

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