How to Train Your Dragon

I had to check my birth certificate after it was over to make sure I was as old as I was. That’s because I was convinced that I had clearly become slightly effeminate, as I longed, with a tear in my eye, to get my own black dragon, one that spits out the same cannonade as the "plasma gun" from "Doom III" and has such sad rendered eyes that it captured my heart for the entire runtime. It doesn't quite have the perfect animation or storyline, and in a two-dimensional world, it also drags the eyes too much to where the spectacle-wielding cinema-goers were sighing blissfully, but damn... it's got moments that kids won't pick up on, jokes galore, Powell's awesome music, and an apocalyptic finale like something out of a better RPG. 4 ½. (2010-10-14)

I am usually repelled by cute animation films with kids and supernatural animals in the main roles, but this one was great. The story has no surprises, but the animation is captivating and the dialogues are like out of a good sitcom. I laughed more often than with most comedies. I’m giving it 9/10 and wonder what happened with Wall-E, Up and Ratatouille… (2010-05-31)

I was originally a bit scared of How to Train Your Dragon - I didn't like the dragons in the photos at all. And that includes the main character Toothless. But as soon as he first appeared in the film and I saw his movements and expressions, I fell in love with him. And the other dragons, too. That was the first big plus. Others include the amazing aerial scenes, Powell's music, the humor... Just about everything. Yet isn't it all cliché? So what? (2011-02-19)

A wonderful story about a special friendship that also has considerable resonance. Of course, it can be seen as a simple narrative where "the son, against his father's expectations, takes a path other than the predetermined one and actually opens everyone's eyes in the end." How to Train Your Dragon offers much more than that. It is, in fact, about a precipitous change in deeply ingrained thinking and beliefs. Here the means to achieve it is an extraordinary interspecies relationship that until now has been considered fundamentally unacceptable. I'm not afraid to say that this is truly one of the best animated films I've seen yet. And the cool thing about it is that it works for all ages. There's something for everyone that grabs them by the heart. (2019-02-24)

A little environmental ideology doesn't hurt, especially in this (un)fairy tale about finding harmony between the elements. It's very sweet, visually dizzying and has beautiful sound. From the beginning, I didn't like the form of the characters, but the pleasant surprise was that the script and everything else is so well done and tolerably naïve that there was no time for any animosity. For a 2010 production, How to Train Your Dragon is going to very high places. (2011-01-09)