REVIEW: Live ‘Dragon’ finds mild success with animated playbook

After six years, the dragon Toothless returns to the big screen looking much like he did in the animated film from 2019. The world around him, though, is much different.

The latest “How to Train Your Dragon” film is a remake of the 2010 animated feature. Like its cartoon counterpart, the picture centers on the young, awkward Viking Hiccup (Mason Thames), who doesn’t have the same battle prowess of his father, Chief Stoick (Gerard Butler).

But he makes up for it with his inventiveness, which he uses to one day catch one of the dragons attacking his village. He can’t bring himself to slay the dragon when push comes to shove, though, and instead decides to learn about the creature and train it.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Live ‘Dragon’ finds mild success with animated playbook”

REVIEW: Third ‘Dragon’ ends the series on a positive note

It seems like the dragons are trained by this point, but the name still rolls off the tongue nicely.

In the third and likely final film in the series that started in 2010, the main character Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), an expert dragon trainer and rider is now chief of Berk. Since the events of the second picture, the island village where vikings reside has become a sort of safe haven for dragons. Because the people of Berk have become experts in handling dragons, thanks largely to Hiccup’s efforts in the past two movies, the dragons are able to live in relative peace.

However because of how many dragons are coming to the island for safety, the land is becoming overcrowded. This is on top of the fact that there are antagonistic forces who want to eliminate dragons, seeing them as a threat. In response, Hiccup decides to find the so called “Hidden World,” where dragons can live safely without being found.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Third ‘Dragon’ ends the series on a positive note”