How To Train Your Dragon

The biggest difference I feel between Pixar films and Dreamworks films is that Dreamworks’ never quite gets the balance right between entertaining adults and entertaining children. How To Train Your Dragon is no exception to this rule, though co-directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders do attempt to distance the film from the whimsy of the source material. The first thing to say is that the film does look amazing. When you consider that ubercinematographer Roger Deakins was on board for this, then this won’t be too much of a surprise. In the film itself, a mythical Viking village comes under constant attack from dragons. The villagers fight back, including Hiccup, a young Viking trying to impress his father that he is strong and fearsome enough to fight the cause as well. Despite some setbacks, Hiccup eventually, and secretly, captures a Night Fury, the most feared dragon of them all. However, Hiccup soon realises that maybe their fire-breathing foes aren’t too dangerous after all. The dragons in the film have had a lot of thought put into them, and with them being all shapes and sizes, there is some nice originality here. Again, the 3-D is an irrelevance for a film such as this, which is still a success despite it, not because of it. However, it would be remiss not to mention that this is one of the better 3-D efforts of the year. The major problem with the film is that the storyline is too thin. It is also lacking in decent laughs. And whilst the final battle also feels somewhat anti-climatic at least the producers had the courage to give Hiccup an unusual coda come the end of the film.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Not really this years surprise hit like Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs was last year, but this should still provide entertainment for kids and does have a few original ideas on some old myths. Rating: 6/10.