Toothless!

"Dragons breathe fire and carry away our livestock. That's what they do. What we do is make do with what we have, and kill dragons." This is somewhat a commonplace in western and northern myth. It is however, strongly contrasted by the eastern view. Oriental dragons are kind, benevolent, willing to help mankind. In light of this, a movie that flawlessly combines concepts from both worlds is a masterpiece.

In 2010 film "How to Train Your Dragon" Dreamworks set the stage for an adventure of learning. It is an adaptation of a book written in 2003 by Cressida Cowell. It is far from a child's film, if that's what the CG graphics are putting into your minds. It is a story of life and one of the flaws of humankind, prejudice.

It is a cute film with a satirical value to it. However, it cannot be denied that there is a message it wishes to impart upon its viewers.

The film follows the story of Hiccup, the disaster-magnet and teenage ne'er do well son of the chief of the village and Toothless, the dragon that managed to worm its way into Hiccup's heart. As all children of this age, Hiccup is trying to fit into the norms of society. In this case, killing dragons.


As he attempts at doing this, he actually manages to get a dragon in a position where he has the upper hand. However, he sees something, the dragon fears him as much as he fears it. Hiccup soon befriends and eventually, trains the dragon, whom he names Toothless.

As their tale unfolds, they discover a terrible truth. The dragons are not acting of their own accord. Something is controlling them, something horrifying and amazingly powerful. This only strengthens Hiccup's resolve to show the tribe their mistake.


Soon enough, Hiccup is faced with a choice. Keep Toothless a secret, or reveal to the tribe, how mistaken they are. But as events would occur, this just leads to a worse complication. Hiccup is determined, and as in some cases, determination is the only thing we need to make things better.

The musical scoring and graphics are excellent. The music is beautifully made, everything is appropriate. The scoring provides a rustic atmosphere to the film, as is perfectly suited to the underlying theme of vikings and dragons. The graphics are marvelous. Toothless, the dragon is painfully cute. One downside, is, that in the age of modern technology, the characters are similar to each other. But alas, that is of little consequence.


Some might say that this film's story is a run-of-the-mill zero to hero one, they are, sadly, mistaken. The film bears much weight. It teaches us that not all of our enemies are really enemies. They may simply be doing it out of necessity

All in all, a round of applause must be given to Dreamworks for a wonderfully crafted movie. A score of 9.5/10 must be appropriate enough!