How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Betsy Sharkey calls the film heartwarming and heartfelt with a modern spin on familiar themes, crediting the directors for its distinctive visual style and nuance while noting it mostly soars despite some rough spots.

The critic praises the film's central bond between the geeky Viking boy Hiccup and the wounded Night Fury dragon Toothless as beautifully established and the heart of the story. After a shaky start, it becomes a thrilling animated adventure with strong aerial sequences and real stakes, marking it as probably the best DreamWorks film yet.

The adaptation is exciting and highly appealing with strong characters, a cute clever touching script and poignant moments. It excels particularly in its awesome visuals, stunning flying sequences and spectacular battles.

The review calls the film smart and packed with imagination and surprise, highlighting its allegory for embracing fears and the strong performance of the lead voice actor. It notes that the tolerant heart revitalizes DreamWorks animation despite not matching Pixar's technical heights with human characters.

The critic calls it an entertaining and great-looking family movie from the DreamWorks stable. They single out the great flight sequences and the interestingly realistic sense of the dangers involved in risking your neck for others.

A.O. Scott finds the story fairly standard but praises the film's visual beauty, tenderness, and exhilarating dragon flight sequences as its great strengths.

Peter Debruge describes it as a thrilling drama with amusing comedic elements, highlighting the shift to sincerity over satire and the appealing core idea of rethinking humans' relationship with dragons.

It is a fun if lightweight adventure comedy that appeals most to younger boys and flies highest in its striking 3D action sequences and visceral flying scenes. The story relies on familiar family movie tropes with generic character animation.

The critic finds it a smart, muscular animated adventure with a robust narrative and political subtext urging viewers to question received wisdom. Visuals and script are praised as striking and sharp, while voices and characterization are noted as jarring and old-fashioned.

The critic describes the film as a lively but disjointed 3D cartoon that fails to fully engage audiences emotionally in its fantasy world. Action sequences and flying scenes receive praise for their thrills, while the remote setting and plastic human characters are noted as drawbacks.

The critic calls it one of DreamWorks' best animated films and gives it the edge over Toy Story 3 as the top mainstream animated release of the year. The flying sequences are singled out for their magic and visual impact.

The critic praises DreamWorks for delivering a confident, bold animated feature with impressive 3D, strong action sequences, and a well-developed central relationship between boy and dragon. Minor complaints include some clichéd plotting and uneven humour, but overall it is seen as a thrilling, engaging blockbuster.

The critic calls it DreamWorks' best film by a country mile, celebrating its heartfelt and moving story, genuine humour, and spectacular flight scenes that rival Avatar. It contrasts the film's sincerity favourably with the studio's usual cynicism.

The review praises the film as fun and thrilling for all ages, highlighting its story of standing up for what is right. The aerial sequences involving flying dragons are singled out as a key highlight.

The review highlights the film's visual spectacle, particularly the flight sequences, and its heartfelt central friendship between Hiccup and Toothless, while noting that the familiar plot does not run as smoothly as the animation. It commends the use of 3D and the message of tolerance.

The critic finds the film fast and funny enough to overcome its familiar family-film tropes and derivativeness from other movies like Avatar. They single out the beautiful animation, joyful humor, and relatable adolescent adventure for praise.