The Freak's Rating: A+ : Walking into the theater for this one, I was quickly asked if I would be seeing it in 3D. Due to a timing issue, I wasn't able to, which made the theater employee shrug. I told her, "if the film is good it shouldn't matter, right?". I was then told there were four field trips going on and the theater was packed with children, to which I repeated my initial remark. Not only was it full of children, but I had to sandwich myself between two groups of kids, get up so a Dad could make his way past on a bathroom break three times and spend five minutes after the film trying to figure out what sticky orange substance was adhered to the bottom of my shoe and where it came from. Despite all that, I loved this film.
How To Train Your Dragon is an original picture, much like the Shrek franchise the same studio put together. When you have an idea nobody has used before, your creativity can soar to new heights, and here it truly does. Casting decisions were perfect. Nobody has a voice too recognizable besides Craig Ferguson, so I wasn't distracted in the least bit thinking, "who is that?". Writing is wonderful and the film is top notch at delivering precisely the right pitch when getting messages across. There are father-son issues, man vs nature issues, etc... and they are all handled perfectly.
This is how a family film should be, on all levels. About an hour after watching I tried desperately to come up with a reason not to rate this a perfect score and simply couldn't do so. My little girl gives me an excuse to own a lot of kids movies in my future. I won't need to use her for this one as I've already preordered a copy. If you are looking for a good family film, look no further. This is as good as they get.
