"HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON" ****4.5 STARS

Dream Works' new 3-D animated film "How to Train Your Dragon" is sheer genius. This is a fun magical film that children will love.  
                                                                             






I invited my 10 year old niece Auriel Turner to see her first 3-D film. She was mesmirized !
Auriel loved the characters and said  she could relate to the story even though it was about a young boy trying to learn how to slay dragons. It was magical to see the state of the art 3-D effects moving Auriel to try and reach out and grab beautiful golden butterflies that seemed so close you could touch them. 

Just based on the title this movie seems like a period piece
that younger generations might not be able to relate to. In this age of ipods, iphones Computers and Video games 
how do you hold their interests with stories about Dragons and Dragon slayers?  But this story works! 
The 3-D experience takes you on the film's journey and the main character Hiccup ( voice of Jay Baruchel) is every young kid in America who's trying to find his place in the world. He's a normal teenager who's going through that awkward stage, and he's very different from his father and his peers. He has no desire to slay dragons.

This is the classic story of the bullies versus the underdogs. Hiccup doesn't have the heart to kill dragons and his father doesn't believe he has what it takes to be a dragonslayer. Hiccup soon discovers he has a way with dragons. Instead of taking the aggressive approach he helps a dragon who's hurt and learns to communicate and befriend him and few others.  Instead of waging war with the Dragons, Hiccup realizes that he can communicate and develop a loving caring bond with them. Then he decides to train with his peers to join the next generation of dragon slayers to gain his fathers approval. At first they make fun of him until his special dragon taming gift is revealed.  After that he  has to figure out how to convince his father and the townsmen that the dragons can be trained and tamed instead of slain. 

It's really a heartwarming story and the writers make Hiccup and his group of friends including Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera), and Ruffnutt (voiced by Kristin Wig) seem so fresh and contemporary. "How To Train Your Dragon" is a magical experience for the whole family!
PG
3-D Animation/Family
4.5 Stars