Day 26: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

It's been a day of hectic travel across the country, so you'll have to forgive me if this review is a tad late.

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera
Directed by: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois

The Positives:

- If the film-makers were trying to make Toothless cute and vicious at the same time, they succeeded.
- In fact, most of the dragons were very well designed.
- This is by far the best a Dreamworks animated film has ever looked, especially with all the emphasis on nature and fire.
- While the dragon fighting scenes could have easily looked chaotic and clustered, they actually came off as thrilling.
- I cared about Hiccup and his problems... for the most part., when he wasn't a whiny bitch.
- Craig Ferguson is a really good voice actor and he probably gave the best performance.
- The humor works in this movie quite well compared to other Dreamworks animates films which rely on fart jokes and funny voices.
- I love me some violence and drinking in a kid's movie.

- The ending was anything but anti-climatic, unlike most Dreamworks film which spend too much time on build up with little pay-off

- Lastly, what happens to Hiccup in the final battle is rare for a child's movie.

The Negatives:

- I find Jay Baruchel's voice too annoying for voice-over work. The fact he's the only accent-less character also bugs me, even though it makes his character much more accessible to the (American) audience.
- I feel like Hiccup and Astrid's relationship wasn't established properly. She just kind of starts to like him without any real reason, especially since she hated him at the start of the movie.

Grade: A-

This is Dreamworks Animation's best film, without a doubt. With q flick this beautiful, classy, and mature Dreamworks has finally won me over.