Quick Review: How To Train Your Dragon

This computer-animated movie has been out quite a while, and I'm not sure if it's even still in a lot of theaters, but it was a surprise success. While other films dropped from the box-office charts quickly, "How To Train Your Dragon" hung in there and, spurred by great word-of-mouth, has earned over $200 million in North America. It's one of those misfit-who-makes-good tales. On an island called Berk, the Vikings who live there are in an endless war against the dragons that fly in and steal their food. Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel), young son of the chief Viking (Gerard Butler), is the misfit, getting in the way and such during one of the dragons' raids. Incredibly, he manages to shoot down a rare, and feared, dragon called a Night Fury. No one believes him, so he goes off in search of the dragon and finds it, wounded but alive, unable to fly away because a piece of its tail is missing. Instead of killing the dragon, Hiccup studies it, comes up with a way to "fix" the tail, and bonds with it. The knowledge about dragons he gains helps him at dragon training, until the time comes when he actually has to kill one. It's a story with some depth and some silly humor as well. I didn't see it in 3-D but I didn't find it necessary to my enjoyment. My grade: B.