Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon [dir. Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders; 2010]

Watching How To Train Your Dragon reminded me of how much there is to enjoy about Hugo. Yes, this story of a skinny (which is Hollywood-ese for 'unmanly', 'geeky', 'socially outcast') young Viking who realises there's more to be gained from trying to befriend rather than kill the dragons with which his fellow villagers insist on going into battle has its fair share of enjoyable moments. But after a while, the oh-so-knowing, ironically contemporary tone of the dialogue (particularly that spoken by the child characters) begins to grate and makes you realise this is precisely the sort of stuff which will date very quickly. The CG animation is wonderful and there are a few genuinely absorbing sequences (notably those depicting the training alluded to in the title) but ultimately, this gets filed under 'Fun But Forgettable'.