Maroon Weekly

How to Train Your Dragon

By Robert McElligott

Prepare yourself for the same story you’ve already seen, over and over (and over). It’s about a scrawny, nasally Viking kid who doesn’t fit in, a guy no one like. 45 minutes later, unlikely “act-of-god”-type stuff happens and everyone loves him! All he wants in the movie is acceptance from his Viking village, and naturally, he gets it within minutes.
It’s the same story format ad nauseum. The characters are all generic and interchangeable from other movies– you’ve got the nerd, the dumb jock, and the smart, tough girl. It’s just too much, but on top of that, the main character’s voice actor, Jay Baruchel, has a seriously obnoxious voice– like nails on a chalkboard with an amplifier.
But if you think dragons are cool, you won’t care whether or not this movie even has characters or a story, because the dragons are really, really badass. The whole movie is visually fantastic; the cinematography and CGI are amazing–everything is very attractive. It’s sort of like the 2007 movie, Dragon Wars; the movie makes less than no sense, but it’s fun to watch anyway.