How To Train Your Dragon
How To Train Your Dragon takes place in a rowdy Viking outcropping where the only thing that makes it less than idyllic is the constant pillaging by waves of dragons of all stripes. Until now not much has been made of the fact that there are almost as many breeds of dragons as there are of canines and while the Nordic locals cheerfully battle with most marauding fire breathers there is a stealthy breed that Viking are wary of. One ingenious but lightweight villager named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) brings one of these fierce dragons down with a catapult of his own design but rather than slay it he makes it his pet and names it Toothless. This sets in motion a philosophical change in himself that he’ll eventually have to get all his neighbours to consider which will be no mean feat. He’s usually dismissed as a never-will-be Viking by not only his peers but also his mentor Gobber (Craig Ferguson), even his own father Stoick (Gerard Butler) and possibly most devastating of all by Astrid (America Ferrera) the girl he has an unrequited crush on. How To Train Your Dragon is another Disney 3D cinematic treatment, this time of the series of children’s books by British author Cressida Cowell and is co-written and co-directed by Canada’s Dean DuBois. In this village the adults speak with a thick Scottish brogue while their offspring speak with a neutral accent but that’s the only inconsistency in this consistently entertaining film and actually lend to the fun allowing Baruchel, Butler, and Ferguson to have at it in their own comfort zone.