How to Train Your Dragon

Rating: ****

The standards of an animation film have been pretty much worked out: there must be a person,preferably a kid,who’s different,surmounting an obstacle put past him. With animation and 3D now turning up at cinema halls almost every other week,it must be difficult to join all those dots and still come up different.

How To Train Your Dragon achieves that,and how! Essentially about Vikings who have always been in conflict with dragons,till a boy realises they are actually as frightened as the humans,the film manages to be both funny and touching,smart without being slapstick and action-filled without losing sight of the characters involved.

The dragons are a visual and imaginative delight,in all shapes,sizes and colours,and each with their own poison. But the film excels more in the little details,in the scene where the appropriately-named boy Hiccup meets his Night Fury dragon for the first time and their eyes meet,and when the latter allows him to touch it. Or when Hiccup conjures up a tail from sticks and leather for it,to replace the one that’s been broken,and Night Fury tentatively tries it out. Hiccup hops on,for a flight that soars and uplifts.

The greatest achievement is in the dubbing by Jay Baruchel of Hiccup. He may be a misfit,but he knows it and lives with it,without moping. He is different,but not apart.

From the team that gave us Shrek,this is another winner.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com