 |
| Buy it |
A colourful animated movie with an unusual hero and his unusual pet dragon. The story is set in a village called Berk. A rough-hewn viking village who is constantly under attack by dragons who raid their homes, snatch livestocks and burn everything in sight. One of the main activities of the locals is to fight them back. They could have left the village and lived somewhere else but they are vikings, they are stubborn and proud to be.
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) the son of Stoick the village chief is not too viking. He cannot fight like the others in his community but wants to prove himself. To do so, he attempts to build contraptions to kill dragons, specifically the most dangerous dragon known, the mysterious Night Fury, whom no one has ever fought and survived. He thinks through this exploit he will earn some respect, most importantly with Astrid (America Ferrera), a competently aggressive girl of his age intents on joining the Viking ranks.
After the latest attack, Hiccup is signed up with other kids in his village to be trained by Gobber (Graig Ferguson) the local blacksmith on how to fight dragons back. During his leisure time when he is on training, Hthe young boy explores the surroundings and is amazed to find that in fact one of his invention has helped to trap a Night Fury and damaged its tailwing. He is happy and tries to kill it but is instead attracted to the animal and choose to free it. Curiosity wins it over killing and Hiccup befriends the dragon. He takes time to discover his new friends. He learns what actions please or distress the dragon. When he notices that the dragon cannot fly, Hiccup decides to design and build a kind of device which could be attached to its tail to make it fly again.
If he succeeds Hiccup knows that he will gain respect and will be famous among his community. His ways will be different. Instead of violence and brutally, he will use a more tactful and pacifying method to destroy the real enemy. He secretly fashions a make-shift prosthetic tail and riding assembly, allowing him to guide the dragon whom he affectionately name "Toothless" in free flight and both the boy and his unusual friend develop a close bond over time. At this stage the movie launches into a series of breathless flying sessions soaring through clouds and skimming along an endless ocean.
So far it's been a secret between the two until astrid discovers them. Worried that she reveals the secret to everybody, Hiccup takes Astrid aboard Toothless to show her the joy of flying. Toothless lures among other dragons andheads off to a volcanic island. There Hiccup discovers that the dragons fearfully serve a gargantuan dragon (a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus) living inside the island, feeding it the stolen livestock to avoid being eaten themselves. He understands why they are constatntly attacked.
The next morning the field is prepared for Hiccup to be put to the final test. To the dismay of everyone, particularly his father, he refuses to hurt the dragon and demonstrate his own method on how to pacify them but Stoic refuses to understand and scares the dragons who turn agaisnt Hiccup to kill him but the faithfull Toothless hearing his screams immediately runs to his rescue and Hiccup's secret is revealed and disowned by his father.
Stoick decides that something should be done to defeinitely eradicate the dragons and sets out with a team and a chained-up "Toothless" who would be used as a guide...
This is a lovely animated movie for kids and adults alike. It's heroism, bond between humans and animals, frienship and courage. Its also about the qualities needed to be a hero. Hicups couldn't physically fight like a real viking he is still the hero and he proves it, besides those whom we take for our enemies are not always enemies but could be best friends as well.
