How to Train Your Dragon | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
Directed by | |
Produced by | Bonnie Arnold |
Screenplay by |
|
Based on | How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell |
Starring | |
Music by | John Powell |
Editing by | |
Studio | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date(s) | March 26, 2010 |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $165 million[1] |
Box office | $494,878,759[1] |
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 3D computer-animated action fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation loosely based on the English 2003 book of the same name. The film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 83rd Academy Awards, but lost to Toy Story 3 and The Social Network, respectively. The movie also won ten Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature.
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, to positive reviews. The film grossed nearly $500 million worldwide and became DreamWorks Animation's fifth most successful film in the United States and Canada (behind the Shrek film series).
Contents |
The island of Berk has been plagued by attacks from dragons that steal their livestock and burn their homes. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the awkward son of the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), uses a cannon contraption he invented and shoots down a dragon he thinks may be a Night Fury, a rare dragon nobody has ever actually seen. Hiccup locates the dragon in the forest, but finds he is unable to kill the helpless animal. Hiccup instead cuts it free, and the dragon disappears into the forest. Meanwhile, Stoick assembles a fleet to seek out the dragons' nest, but before he leaves, he places Hiccup in dragon-killing classes taught by Gobber (Craig Ferguson), the village blacksmith.
Searching the forest, Hiccup finds the dragon trapped in a shallow glade; the dragon's tail was injured, preventing it from flying normally. By trial and error, Hiccup discovers a way to earn the dragon's trust and begins to care for it. He names the Night Fury "Toothless," for its retractable teeth. Soon after, Hiccup fashions a make-shift harness and prosthetic tail that allows him to guide the dragon in free flight. Hiccup is able to transfer his knowledge of dragons to the other species of dragons at school, appearing to conquer each one in battle and becoming the star pupil, much to the dismay of Astrid (America Ferrera), a girl in dragon training whom Hiccup has a crush on. Hiccup wins the class and gets the chance to kill a dragon in front of the entire village. The battered Viking fleet arrives home and Stoick learns of his son's exploits in school.
Later, Astrid follows Hiccup, suspicious of his sudden skill, and is shocked to discover Toothless. She attempts to escape to tell the rest of the village, but Hiccup coerces Astrid into flying with Toothless. At first, Astrid is terrified, but then begins to enjoy the excursion. Toothless unexpectedly joins a flock of dragons and takes the pair straight into the dragon's nest, where the truth behind the dragons' constant raids of their village is revealed – a gigantic dragon lives off the food they bring back, else it feeds on the dragons themselves. Astrid wants to tell the village of the nest, but Hiccup wants to keep it a secret to protect Toothless. Astrid, who admires his determination, agrees. Before she heads back, she punches his arm for kidnapping her, and then, kisses him on the cheek for "everything else".
Hiccup is put to his final exam the next day, but when he tries to show the village the dragon's true nature, Stoick stops the fight, inadvertently angering the dragon and endangering Hiccup. Toothless hears Hiccup's cries and flies in to save him, but is captured himself. Hiccup, attempting to explain his actions, reveals how to find the dragons' nest. He tries to warn his father of the danger, but Stoick refuses to listen to his son, disowns him, and sets off with another fleet, using a restrained Toothless as their guide. Astrid talks with Hiccup about why he didn't kill Toothless before. Hiccup reluctantly admits that he didn't kill him because he looked as frightened as he was. Hiccup, then, concocts a plan to save the Vikings with the help of the school's captive dragons and his classmates.
The teens arrive after the Viking fleet has already uncovered the gargantuan dragon. Hiccup's classmates distract it while Hiccup goes to save Toothless. Hiccup and Toothless almost drown, but both are saved by a now-repentant Stoick. Hiccup and Toothless lure the giant dragon into flight, ultimately setting fire to the flammable gas inside its mouth and forcing it into an inescapable dive back to earth, killing it in a massive explosion. While attempting to flee from the crashing dragon, Hiccup falls off Toothless, and Toothless dives into the flames after him.
After the explosion has settled, Stoick finds Toothless, who reveals an unconscious Hiccup safely wrapped in his wings. Hiccup wakes up back on Berk, finding an eager Toothless greeting him. As he leaves his bed, he discovers part of his left leg has been replaced by a prosthetic leg made by Gobber. His grief is turned to joy however, as he steps outside to find the Vikings and dragons working together to rebuild their village. He is greeted by everyone and Astrid rushes to kiss him on the lips. The film ends with the war between Vikings and Dragons finally over with Hiccup and his friends racing their dragons.
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.[6] In the novel, Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is a Garden Dragon, a breed that is equivalent in size of the Terrible Terror breed in the film. 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. Elements of Toothless's behavior were inspired by a domesticated mountain lion owned by Dean DeBlois's uncle.
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 film and to "add a live-action feel".[6]
John Powell returned to DreamWorks Animation to score How to Train Your Dragon, making it his sixth collaboration with the studio, following his previous score for Kung Fu Panda (which he scored with Hans Zimmer). Powell composed a very orchestral score, combining bombastic brass with loud percussion and soothing strings, while also using exotic, Scottish and Irish tones with instruments like the penny whistle and bagpipes. Additionally, Icelandic singer Jónsi wrote and performed the song "Sticks & Stones" for the film. The score was released by Varèse Sarabande on March 23, 2010.
Overall, the score was very well received by film score critics. Powell earned his very first Academy Award nomination for his work on the film, ultimately losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their score for The Social Network.
The film was released March 26, 2010.[7] The month before, 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.[8] 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.[9]
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 Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. As theater multiplexes often had just one 3D screen, theaters were unable to accommodate more than one 3D presentation at a time.[10]
How to Train Your Dragon topped the North American box office with $43.7 million in its first weekend of release.[11] The film grossed $217,581,231 in the United States and Canada and $277,297,528 in foreign countries with a worldwide total of $494,878,759.[1] How to Train Your Dragon is Dreamworks Animation's highest-grossing film in the American and Canadian box office other than a Shrek film. It is the fifth highest-grossing animated film of 2010 with $494.8 million, behind Toy Story 3 with $1,063.2 million, Shrek Forever After with $752.6 million, Tangled with $576.6 million, and Despicable Me with $543.1 million and the 10th highest-grossing movie of 2010.[12]
The film received broad critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 98% of 163 professional critics have given the film a positive review with an overall rating average of 7.9 out of 10.[13] Among Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[14] the film holds an overall approval rating of 93%, based on a sample of 27 reviews.[15] 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."[13] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 74 based on 33 reviews.[16] 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.[17]
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".[18] 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."[19] 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."[20] Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel, who 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."[21] 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".[22] 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."[23] Village Voice film critic Ella Taylor panned the film describing it as an "adequate but unremarkable animated tale".[24] Film critic James Berardinelli of 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."[25] 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."[26]
How to Train Your Dragon was released on single-disc DVD, 2-disc Double DVD Pack and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack in Canada and the United States on Friday, October 15, 2010. Among the features available in the 2-disc DVD edition is an original sequel short film, Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon.
In addition, Samsung has signed a deal with DreamWorks to gain exclusive distribution rights to a Blu-ray 3D version of the film. Beginning on October 15, 2010, How to Train Your Dragon appears alongside and replaces Monsters vs. Aliens in the Samsung 3D Starter Kit which retails for $349.99, contains two pairs of active-shutter glasses, and offers a choice between either Monsters vs. Aliens or How to Train Your Dragon on Blu-ray 3D.
A sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, was confirmed on April 27, 2010.[27] The film is being directed and written by Dean DeBlois, the co-director of the first film. Bonnie Arnold, the producer of the first film, is also returning, with Chris Sanders, who co-directed the first film, only exec-producing this time.[28] The film is scheduled for release on June 20, 2014.[29] It was announced that the entire original voice cast – Baruchel, Butler, Ferguson, Ferrera, Hill, Mintz-Plasse, Miller and Wiig – would return for the sequel.[30]
On December 3, 2010, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed that at least one more sequel is being planned after How to Train Your Dragon 2, making for 3 total films[31]
On October 12, 2010 it was announced that Cartoon Network had acquired worldwide broadcast rights to a weekly animated series based on the movie, scheduled to begin sometime in 2012.[32] In January 2011, producer Tim Johnson confirmed that work had begun on the series and that, unlike the TV series spin-offs of the films Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon's series would be much darker and deeper, like the movie. This would be the first Dreamworks Animation series to air on Cartoon Network, rather than Nickelodeon.[33]
An action adventure video game released by Activision called How to Train Your Dragon was released for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo DS gaming consoles. It is loosely based on the film and was released on March 23, 2010.
A Broadway-style production named How To Train Your Dragon ON ICE is currently on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.[34]
How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular is an arena show adaptation of the first film featuring 24 animatronic dragons, acrobats and projections. It will have its premiere on March 2, 2012, in Melbourne, Australia.[35]
|
|