How To Know When To See A Dreamworks Animation

Of late animated films have been, well...
Monsters vs Aliens was a terrible attempt at a comedy action with no character development, limited plot, lots of emphasis on poop gags, a 4 minute Axel F. dance and nothing else sans great 3D.

It's nice that Pixar still cares about their output, but, well, the more I see of the Toy Story 3 trailers the more I worry, the poop gags, dumb intermissions, such as the Barbie/Ken love moment in the latest trailer, mentioning eBay brings the fears that more pop culture references will seep in, something that has been kept at bay at Pixar because, akin to Dreamworks' finest film, Kung Fu Panda, they date the movie, are too easy and don't add to the characters, plot or anything, except making a child chuckle in a hollow manner.

This year sees Dreamworks bring out another, thankfully final, Shrek film, which have stunk since they began. I was 11 when I saw Shrek, and I knew it sucked, same way I knew Finding Nemo, not a good film. And alongside that Mastermind, the dumbed down title of 'Oobermind' with Will Ferrel in place of Robert Downey Junior. So, we have a sequel to a pop culture heavy franchise full of big named stars, at the time, and a new comedy animation full of big named stars.

And before we have them, we have How To Train Your Dragon. Based on a book. Biggest names being Jonah Hill (side character), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (side character), Gerard Butler (strong father figure) and America Ferrerra (romantic lead).
And in the lead, none other than the man who owns my funny bone and tickles it consistently with great force, the hysterical, the nerdy awesome Jay Baruchel (From the likes of Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up and Almost Famous).

So, set in a Viking village on the shores, where dragon attacks are frequent, our hero Hiccup, a weedy teenager, is struggling to live up to his strong, mighty father Stoic's reputation, stuck as an apprentice for weapon maker Gobber (Craig Ferguson, who I think is a talk show host in America, from what others say), and Hiccup's feeble attempts at slaying dragons make him mechanically minded.

So, plonk the same premise as Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and about 17,000 films, shows, books into a Viking setting and then focus on the characters, that's what happened here. We know each step of the story well, but that's not a bad thing, we, like the writers, focus more on the details, the lavish sets, amazing shots of flying dragons, breathtaking in fact. The great character building and wonderful jokes that stem from that.
This film is truly fantastic.
And when it gets going, with the titular dragon 'Toothless', whom Hiccup hits with his mechanised net thrower, then forms a bond with, leading to the understanding that all dragons are just defending themselves against the humans, fearful of the big dragon queen.

This film could have descended into random action and easy get outs for all the tough situations the characters find themselves, but thankfully it's an imaginative, well conceived film, and the heart of the story, the friendship that forms between Toothless and Hiccup, is riveting, the best animation you can think of, the silent dragon making animal noises, using his eyes and body language to express his feeling, sumptuous, perfect.

It's about as good a film as you're gonna get this year, and I'm pulling for this one to win the Oscar, I honestly don't think any animated film this year can or will top it.

10/10