How to Train Your Dragon 3D
Release Date
26 Mar 2010
15 Nov 2010
- User rating
-
Currently
4/5 Stars.
- Critic rating
- Currently 4/5 Stars.
90% of raters want to see this movie
Certificate:
PG
Genre:
Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, this action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn't exactly fit in with his tribe's longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup's world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.
Cast:
Jay Baruchel
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Gerard Butler
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America Ferrara
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Jonah Hill
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Christopher Mintz-Plasse
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Craig Ferguson
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Kristen Wiig
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T.J. Miller
Writers:
William Davies
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Cressida Cowell
Producers:
Directors:
Lorna Cook
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David Soren
- Critic rating
-
Currently
4/5 Stars.
Movies.ie Critic Review
Based on Cressida Cowell's 2003 children's book – the first in her Hiccup The Sea Viking series – the plot centres on budding nutty professor Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Baruchel), a big disappointment to his father, Stoick The Vast (Butler), for not being man enough to join his Hairy Hooligans on their Viking rampages. As their island prepares for the mother of all battles with their dragon foe, Hiccup's latest invention brings down one of the winged beasts. And a beautiful, and highly beneficial, friendship is born...
THE VERDICT: Akin to Jedward releasing an electronica classic or Dan Brown writing the 21st century's answer to Catcher In The Rye, here, the Disney-baiting DreamWorks Animation have come up with their first truly magical movie.
They may have pressed all the right buttons with the first two Shrek outings, but the animation studio started up in 1994 by disgruntled ex-Disney employee Jeffrey Katzenberg has long favoured star-power over good storytelling, crass gags and caricatured leads over tender liaisons and sympathetic characters.
Think of the shrill, star-studded, soul-draining Shark Tale. Now, imagine the exact opposite of that. Pixar, in other words - only here, directors DeBlois and Sanders (who broke through with 2002's Lilo & Stitch) opt out of the third act arthouse heaviness that to some extent buckled WALL-E and Up.
The directing duo serve Cowell's charming story well, putting their own mark on proceedings by making the lead dragon look uncannily like their previous creation, Lilo, after a quick visit to an S&M shop for a rubber, figure-hugging Batman outfit. The real star of the show though is legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who, having been first drafted in by Pixar to work his magic on WALL-E, is given full reign here to create a glimmering paradise of shadows and light.
Review by Paul Byrne