How To Train Your Dragon

People are always talking about the Dreamworks/Pixar battle of animation and how Pixar dominates almost every year. Dreamworks usually loses the battle because they focus on fleeting adoration from the masses and fill their movies with pop culture references with short half-lives. Yet every once in a while (ex. Kung Fu Panda) where they come up with a gem, a distinctly Dreamworks animation with top-notch storytelling and wonderful visuals. Thankfully, How to Train your Dragon surprised me and turned out to be one of these gems.

There are a lot of familiar plot devices in this movie which sees the young outcast trying to make a name for himself. We also see a common boy bonds with pet/alien/etc. storyline we’ve seen many times before. But somehow, the familiarity doesn’t matter since the movie still feels fresh. Its a well-told story and the bond between the scrawny viking Hiccup and his inured dragon Toothless is quite touching and holds the emotional core of the movie very well.

The visuals here are incredible. The characters and scenery are bright, colourful and really pop on the screen. And the flying scenes are very exhilarating. This is a wonderful movie which creates a live and vibrant world with a main character we can really cheer for, not to mention the very cute Toothless.
How to Train your Dragon gives Toy Story 3 a good run for its money as best animated movie of 2010.
8.5/10