movie review - How to Train Your Dragon
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Tokyo, 2013.06.30
This is an animated movie set in a mythical Earth in which Norsemen of the viking era are at war with dragons. A young man encounters a strange dragon of a very rare type and attempts to befriend it. What follows is the usual generation-gap story plus dragons and not a small helping of scrawny inventor versus brawny fighters.
My son, aged five, enjoyed this. It's well-written, somewhat original, and has some positive themes such as bravery and taking risks and problem solving. The animation and settings are superb, and the action is pleasantly plot-relevant.
Strongly recommended. For "movie night" with the kids. This is about as good as it gets.