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How to Train Your Dragon (2010 film)

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How to Train Your Dragon
File:How to train Your Dragon poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChris Sanders
Dean DeBlois
Written byAdam F. Goldberg
Peter Tolan
Dean DeBlois
Chris Sanders
Cressida Cowell (Story)
Produced byBonnie Arnold
Doug Davison
Roy Lee
Michael Connolly
Tim Johnson
StarringJay Baruchel
Gerard Butler
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Jonah Hill
America Ferrera
Craig Ferguson
Narrated byJay Baruchel
Edited byDarren T. Holmes
Music byJohn Powell
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
March 26, 2010 (2010-03-26)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$165,000,000[1]
Box office$207,684,574[1]

How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 computer-animated fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation loosely based on the 2003 book of the same title. The film stars the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, and David Tennant.

The story takes place in a mythical Viking world where a young Viking teenager named "Hiccup" aspires to follow his tribe's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. After finally capturing his first dragon, and with his chance at finally gaining the tribe's acceptance, he finds that he no longer has the desire to kill it and instead befriends it. The film was released March 26, 2010,[2] to highly favorable reviews.

Plot

Hiccup is the son of the Chief, Stoick the Vast, on the island of Berk. Hiccup's village is beset by dragons which keep raiding their stock of sheep. Hiccup works as an apprentice to the blacksmith, Gobber the Belch.

During a raid, Hiccup shoots down a rare dragon called a Night Fury with a bolas cannon that he made but no one believes him. Attempting to get proof Hiccup goes to the woods and finds the downed dragon, but can not bring himself to kill it. Soon after, he frees it and it flies off to a canyon. Stoick enrolls Hiccup in dragon training with the other village youths and leaves with a search party of Vikings to find the Dragon’s Nest, in order to wipe them out and finish the war. After being told that dragons are vicious, Hiccup returns in doubts to the forest. The Night Fury is still trapped in a canyon, and is missing a part of its tail from the previous crash landing, leaving it unable to fly properly. Hiccup decides to befriend the dragon, which he names Toothless, and eventually fashions an artificial tail wing and control harness.

Stoick and his army return battered and tired, without having found the nest. Stoick's spirits are lifted when Gobber and others begin congratulating him on Hiccup's success in dragon training. Feeling a chance to bond with his son, Stoick honors Hiccup with a Viking helmet made from half of the breast plate of Hiccup's deceased mother.

When Hiccup earns the right to kill a dragon as a graduation rite, he decides to leave Berk with Toothless since he does not wish to kill dragons. Astrid follows him to their hideout and discovers his friendship with the dragon. She tries to run back to the village, but Hiccup and Toothless stop her and Hiccup asks for a chance to explain, and they take her for an initially terrifying and then exhilarating ride. During their flight, they get caught in a herd of dragons carrying food and follow them to their nest. There, they discover that the dragons steal food to feed a much larger dragon that eats them if they do not provide enough food. After they leave, Astrid wants to tell the village of the nest's location, but Hiccup decides against it in order to protect Toothless and Astrid agrees to keep quiet for the night in hopes that Hiccup can devise an acceptable solution.

The next day, during Hiccup's graduation battle, he throws down his weapons and tries to show everyone that dragons are not as bad as they seem. Stoick shouts to stop the battle before Hiccup can continue, and the agitated dragon attacks Hiccup. Toothless hears Hiccup's screams and rushes to save him. He quickly overpowers the dragon, the Vikings sent to capture him, and finally Stoick. He opens his mouth to kill the tribe leader, but at the last second Hiccup screams "NO." Toothless, for a minute, becomes tame and docile, and is quickly pinned by Vikings. Stoick confronts his son angrily at learning about his son's friendship with a dragon. Hiccup accidentally tells him that he has been to the nest, and Stoick decides to use Toothless to lead them there, ignoring his son's desperate warnings about the nest's true danger.

The Vikings set sail with Toothless. After initial dejection, Hiccup decides to use the dragons that the Vikings use for dragon fighting practice to fly to the nest. Astrid gathers Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout to help, and after a crash course in familiarization, all mount the training dragons and set off after the Vikings.

As the Vikings arrive at the nest, all the dragons flee the island and the giant dragon sets all of the boats on fire, including the one on which Toothless is chained. Hiccup and the others arrive, and, while he goes to free Toothless, the others try to distract the giant dragon. As the boat is sinking, Hiccup tries to free the still-chained Toothless but nearly drowns. Stoick however saves both his son and Toothless.

After an aerial battle, Hiccup and Toothless send the giant dragon plunging into the ground head-first, killing it, but Hiccup is knocked out and falls into the explosion; Toothless dives in to save him. Stoick searches the rubble for his son, but only finds Toothless. At first, everyone thinks Hiccup has died in the explosion, but Toothless reveals that he saved Hiccup by wrapping him in its wings.

Hiccup reawakens in his home some days later, to find Toothless by his bedside. As he is getting out of bed, he realizes that his left leg was lost in the fire and has been replaced with a prosthetic made by Gobber; outside, he sees that the Vikings have invited the dragons to live in the village. Hiccup is welcomed back as a hero and receives a kiss from Astrid. Hiccup and Astrid ride their dragons through the newly reformed Berk as the war between dragon and Viking ends.

Cast

  • Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III: The protagonist of the movie. Hiccup is going to become a Viking warrior his own way. Unfortunately, in the crude world of the Vikings, Hiccup's sophisticated observations and wry humor make him an outsider. When Hiccup befriends his vicious enemy, an injured wild dragon, he begins a complicated double life.[3]
  • Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast: Stoick is the chieftain of the Viking tribe. A reluctant and confused parent, he doesn't understand his clever son. Hoping to bring out the man in his boy, Stoick sends Hiccup into dragon training.[3]
  • Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, the seasoned warrior appointed to drill the new recruits. Gobber dispenses bad advice, and is missing his right foot and his left hand.[4]
  • America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson: Striking, energetic and tough, Astrid embodies the Viking way. Her competitive, determined persona makes her hard to impress, but Hiccup can't help but be smitten. When Hiccup begins to show the strain of leading his double life, Astrid is the first to be suspicious. Astrid at first dislikes Hiccup, but befriends him after riding Toothless, and eventually becomes his love interest, and at the end, they become a couple.
  • Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson: Initially, makes fun of Hiccup for being weak, but by the end of the movie he comes to respect Hiccup's intuitive and brave attitude. He also seems to have an interest in Astrid and has many attempts to impress her. [3]
  • T. J. Miller and Kristen Wiig as Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston. Tuffnut, a boy, and Ruffnut, a girl, are fraternal twins. Both are fiendish thugs with ferocious intents and foul tempers, especially regarding each other.
  • Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman: Fishlegs is nervous and frightened to do perilous things, but he is smart and expresses his knowledge in role-playing game terms. He memorized the manual of dragons, and figured out the weak points of the giant dragon in the end.[5]
  • David Tennant as Spitelout: A Viking who is not named in the movie, he appears to be Stoick's Second-in-Command, and bears a striking resemblance to Snotlout. Tennant has previously narrated a series of Hiccup adventures on audio book.[6]

Production

Early production concept artwork of "Toothless" and "Hiccup".

Development

In initial development, the plot followed the original novel closely but was then altered. About halfway through production, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the writer-directors of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, took over as co-directors. The original plot was "heavily loyal to the book", but was regarded as geared to a too-young demographic and too "sweet" and "whimsical", according to Baruchel.[7] In the novel, Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is incredibly small for a dragon. In the film, Toothless is a Night Fury, the rarest of all dragons, and is large enough to serve as a flying mount for both Hiccup and Astrid.

The filmmakers hired cinematographer Roger Deakins (known for frequently collaborating with the Coen brothers) as a visual consultant to help them with lighting and overall look of the movie and "add a live-action feel".[7][8]

Music and soundtrack

The sound track was released by Dreamworks studio on March 23, 2010.

Untitled

All tracks are written by John Powell, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."This Is Berk"4:10
2."Dragon Battle"1:55
3."The Downed Dragon"4:16
4."Dragon Training"3:11
5."Wounded"1:25
6."The Dragon Book"2:22
7."Focus, Hiccup!"2:05
8."Forbidden Friendship"4:11
9."New Tail"2:48
10."See You Tomorrow"3:56
11."Test Drive"2:36
12."Not So Fireproof"1:12
13."This Time For Sure"0:44
14."Astrid Goes For A Spin"0:43
15."Romantic Flight"1:56
16."Dragon's Den"2:29
17."The Cove"1:11
18."The Kill Ring"4:29
19."Ready The Ships"5:14
20."Battling The Green Death"6:18
21."Counter Attack"3:05
22."Where's Hiccup?"2:44
23."Coming Back Around"2:51
24."Sticks & Stones" (Song by Jónsi)4:06
25."The Vikings Have Their Tea"2:03
Total length:1:11:57

Marketing

Promotions

The first trailer was shown in front of A Christmas Carol on November 6, 2009. A second 60-second trailer was shown before Avatar on December 18, 2009. A third trailer was shown before Alice in Wonderland on March 5, 2010, 3 weeks before the film's release. An advance screening resulted in a financial analyst projecting the film to be a major boost for the studio due to a strong marketing plan, merchandising opportunities and potential for sequels. The film was expected to be heavily promoted during the 2010 Winter Olympics prior to its release date of March 26, 2010. Another trailer was shown in front of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, even though the movie itself was coming out in two weeks.[9]

Video Game

Activision released a video game also titled How to Train Your Dragon for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS. The game allows you to customize your own dragon and fight others. A video game of the same name will be produced by Glu Mobile on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Books

An electronic kid's book of the same name will be produced by iStorytime on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Release

Initial screening

Due to Russian children's holidays, the film had a limited run starting on March 13, 2010 in Russia, going into wide release on March 18, 2010, two weeks prior to the North American release. In the Philippines, the film was officially released on March 19, 2010, both in 2D and in digital 3D, and in IMAX 3D on March 26, 2010. In Indonesia, the movie had a limited 3D release on March 20, 2010, going into wide 2D and 3D release the next week, at the same time as the North American release.

Competition for 3D screens

In February 2010, according to insider reports, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg protested Warner Bros.' decision to convert Clash of the Titans from 2D to 3D, then to release it one week after How to Train Your Dragon.[10] Entertainment reporter Kim Masters described the 3D release schedule around March 2010 as a "traffic jam", and speculated that the lack of 3D screen availability could hurt Katzenberg's prospects despite his support of the 3D format.[11]

In March 2010, theater industry executives accused Paramount of using high-pressure tactics to coerce theaters to screen How to Train Your Dragon rather than the competing 3D releases, Clash of the Titans and Disney's Alice in Wonderland. As theater multiplexes often had just one 3D screen, theaters were unable to accomodate more than one 3D presentation at a time.[12]

Box office

How to Train Your Dragon topped the North American box office with an estimated $43.3 million in its first weekend of release.[13] As of April 6, 2010, the film has grossed $101,249,677 in the United States and Canada and $106,434,897 in foreign countries with a worldwide total of $207,684,574.[1]

Critical reception

The film has received extremely positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of 136 professional critics have given the film a positive review and it has a rating average of 7.8 out of 10.[14] Among Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[15] the film holds an overall approval rating of 93%, based on a sample of 29 reviews.[16] The site's general consensus is that "Boasting dazzling animation, a script with surprising dramatic depth, and thrilling 3-D sequences, How to Train Your Dragon soars."[14] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 73 based on 31 reviews.[17] CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave How to Train Your Dragon was A on an A+ to F scale.[18]

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 stars out of 4 stating that: "It devotes a great deal of time to aerial battles between tamed dragons and evil ones, and not much to character or story development. But it's bright, good-looking, and has high energy".[19] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying "It's a thrilling action-adventure saga with exhilarating 3-D animation, a clever comedy with witty dialogue, a coming-of-age tale with surprising depth and a sweetly poignant tale of friendship between man and animal."[20] Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers praised the film, giving it three out of four stars and in his print review wrote, "[The film] works enough miracles of 3-D animation to charm your socks off."[21] Mark Sells of The Oregon Herald gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, concluding that it was "a visually stimulating, but slightly inconsequential "how to" tale." [22]Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel gave the film 2½ stars out of 4 wrote a mixed review describing the film as a "more coming-of-age dramedy or 'everything about your world view is wrong' message movie than it is a comedy. And that seems like a waste of a funny book, some very funny actors and some darned witty animation." [23] Kyle Smith of The New York Post gave the film 2/4 stars labeling the film as "Avatar for simpletons. But that title is already taken, by Avatar". [24] A. O. Scott of At The Movies felt the characters and the story were not strong points, but loved the cinematography and said, "that swooping and soaring, they are worth the price of a ticket, so go see it."[25] Village Voice film critic Ella Taylor panned the film describing it as an "adequate but unremarkable animated tale". [26] James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, praised the film and its story, giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars he wrote, "Technically proficient and featuring a witty, intelligent, surprisingly insightful script, How to Train Your Dragon comes close to the level of Pixar's recent output while easily exceeding the juvenilia Dreamworks has released in the last nine years."[27] Entertainment Weekly film critic Owen Gleiberman praised the film giving it an A- and wrote, "How to Train Your Dragon rouses you in conventional ways, but it's also the rare animated film that uses 3-D for its breathtaking spatial and emotional possibilities."[28]

See also

Notes


References

  1. ^ a b c "How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  2. ^ "How to Train Your Dragon". ComingSoon.net. Coming Soon Media, L.P. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  3. ^ a b c "How to Train Your Dragon". {{cite web}}: Text "09-02-26" ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Gerard Butler Interview, Movies Online".
  5. ^ "Nadder, Zippleback and Gronckle Lessons From How to Train Your Dragon". Lineboil. February 17, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  6. ^ "David Tennant News Updates: How To Train Your Dragon".
  7. ^ a b First look: DreamWorks' 3-D 'How to Train Your Dragon', USA Today, 11/4/2009
  8. ^ http://articles.mcall.com/2010-03-27/entertainment/all-dragon.7213634mar27_1_dragon-viking-character/2
  9. ^ Dreamworks upgraded, Associated Press, December 2, 2009
  10. ^ Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller (2010-02-10). "Katzenberg angry over Warner's 'Clash of the Titans' 3-D release". Los Angeles Times Blogs. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |access= (help); Unknown parameter |access= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Kim Masters and Renee Montagne (2010-03-21). "Coming To A Screen Near You: A 3-D Clash". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  12. ^ Richard Verrier and Ben Fritz (2010-03-21). "'How to Train Your Dragon,' 'Clash of the Titans' clash for 3-D screens". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  13. ^ Gray, Brandon (2010-03-28). "Weekend Report: 'Dragon' Takes Flight, 'Hot Tub' Gets Soaked". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 2010-03-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  14. ^ a b "How to Train Your Dragon Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  15. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes FAQ: What is Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
  16. ^ "How to Train Your Dragon Reviews: Top Critics". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  17. ^ "How to Train Your Dragon: Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  18. ^ Rosen, Christopher (March 28, 2010). "Box Office Breakdown: Dragon Slays All Comers". Daily Transom. The New York Observer. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  19. ^ Roger Ebert (March 24, 2010). "How to Train Your Dragon :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Suntimes. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
  20. ^ Puig, Claudia (March 26, 2010). "'Dragon': How to do smart dialogue, 3-D visuals the right way - USATODAY.com". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
  21. ^ Travers, Peter (March 18, 2010). "How to Train Your Dragon:Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 27, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Sells, Mark. "How to Train Your Dragon:Review". {{cite web}}: Text "publisherThe Oregon Herald" ignored (help)
  23. ^ Moore, Roger (2010-03-24). "Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-03-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Smith, Kyle (1:20 AM, March 26, 2010). "'How to Train Your Dragon' breathes little fire". New York Post. NYP Holdings, Inc. Retrieved 2010-3-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  25. ^ Scott, A. O. "How to Train Your Dragon film review". At The Movies. Retrieved March 27, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) (TV episode)
  26. ^ Taylor, Ella (2010-3-24). "How to Train Your Dragon, an Adequate but Unremarkable Animated Tale". Village Voice. Retrieved 2010-3-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Berardinelli, James (March 26, 2010). "How to Train Your Dragon review". ReelViews.net. Retrieved March 28, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (March 24, 2010). "How to Train Your Dragon (2010)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
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