5 Stars out of  5
How to Train Your Dragon is one of those movies that is done just right. Even though I thought the plot  in many ways and the characters were very similar if not modeled after another animated movie “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”. (which made the movie very predictable)  it did not make the movie any less enjoyable and by no means took away the movies charm. It was one of those few movies I could take the kids to and enjoy myself  without feeling guilty about some of the content. It was a fun time for all movie that had a little everything for everybody. Action for the big boys like me and humor and lovable characters for the kids.  It is a must see in 2D and 3D.

(Plot source  from Wikipedia)

How to Train Your Dragon  a computer animated fantasy  film by Dreamorks , directed by Chris Sanders and Dean  DeBlios  with the voices of  Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, and David Tennant.

Plot

In the village of Berk, fighting dragons is a way of life. When a herd of dragons attack, the Vikings fight back under the command of their chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler). Hiccup, Stoick’s son, is not strong like the other vikings, instead he has a weird sense of humor and thinks things through. In order to prove himself to the other vikings, Hiccup decides to try and capture a dragon, and not just any dragon. Hiccup sets his sights on the rare and dangerous Night Fury: a breed of dragon that has never even been seen. Hiccup manages to shoot one down but is unable to convince the other vikings that he has.

Following this, Hiccup is enrolled in a dragon fighting class taught by Gobber the Belch (Craig Ferguson), whom Hiccup is apprentice to, with other teenage vikings, Astrid (America Ferrera), Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and Ruffnut and Tuffnut (Kristen Wiig and T. J. Miller), while Stoick takes a search party to find the dragons’ nest. While taking these classes, Hiccup sneaks off and finds the Night Fury he shot down, but cannot bear himself to kill it. He releases the Night Fury and it leaves.

As Hiccup learns more about dragons, he finds the Night Fury trapped within a small canyon, unable to fly out of it. As Hiccup slowly gains the Night Fury’s trust, Hiccup now naming him “Toothless”, he discovers that half of Toothless’ tail wing has been ripped off, grounding him. So, Hiccup constructs a saddle and artificial tail for Toothless, and the two fly together.

Stoick’s search party returns, suffering light damage and having no luck finding the nest. He discovers his son’s natural talent with the dragons and congratulates him by giving him a helmet made from his mother’s breastplate, like his own. Hiccup eventually becomes the top student in his class using everything he has learned about dragons from observing Toothless and gets the chance to slay a Monstrous Nightmare, one of the most dangerous dragons. However, Hiccup doesn’t think he can do it, so he plans to leave Berk with Toothless. However, Astrid follows him to their hideout and discovers Hiccup’s friendship with Toothless. She runs back to the village, but Toothless kidnaps her and Hiccup asks for a chance to explain. They take her for a ride and Astrid begins to see how amazing dragons really are. During their flight, they get caught in a herd of dragons carrying food and follow them to their nest.

There, they discover that the dragons steal food to feed a much larger and more threatening dragon that eats them if they do not provide enough food. After they leave, Astrid wants to inform the village of the nest’s location, but Hiccup decides against it in order to protect Toothless from the other vikings.

The next day, during Hiccup’s battle with the Nightmare, he throws down his weapons, saying he’s not one of them and tries to show everyone that dragons are not as bad as they seem. Stoick shouts to stop the battle before Hiccup can continue, and the Nightmare attacks in reaction to Stoick’s rage. Meanwhile, Toothless senses that Hiccup is in danger and races off to Berk. Just before the Nightmare can finish Hiccup off, Toothless comes in and defeats the Nightmare.

Hiccup pleads Toothless to flee, but he ignores him, fearing that the other vikings pose a threat to Hiccup. Toothless is quickly overpowered and captured. Stoick confronts his son angrily at learning about his son’s friendship with a dragon. Hiccup accidentally tells him that he has been to the nest, and Stoick decides to use Toothless to lead them there. Hiccup begs him not to hurt Toothless and warns them of the giant dragon that they likely stand no chance against.

The vikings set sail with Toothless, chained, to finish off the dragons for good. Astrid comforts Hiccup and asks him what he is going to do. Hiccup decides to use the dragons that the vikings use for dragon fighting practice to fly to the nest. Meanwhile, Astrid has gathered Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout to help. Each mount on the dragons and set off after the vikings.

As the other vikings arrive, they prepare for battle, but all the dragons flee the island. Stoick discovers the even bigger dragon, which sets all of the boat on fire, including the one Toothless is chained up on. Hiccup and the others arrive and while he goes to free Toothless, the others try to learn of any blind spots or shot limits of the giant dragon.

The boat collapses and Toothless sinks, still chained. Hiccup tries to free him but nearly drowns. Stoick saves his son and jumps back in to save Toothless. Hiccup and Toothless then lead the giant dragon into the air and shoot at its wings. They then dive into the ground and set fire to the dragon’s insides. The giant dragon tries to pull up, but the shots fired previously have torn holes in his wings, sending him crashing into the ground. Hiccup falls off Toothless, falls into the fire and Toothless tries to save him, despite his saddle damaged and artificial tail destroyed.

Stoick searches the rubble for his son and only finds Toothless, who had wrapped Hiccup up in his wings to shield him. Hiccup reawakens in his home and finds Toothless by his bedside. He also finds that his left foot had been lost in the battle with the giant dragon. With Toothless’ help, Hiccup slowly makes his way outside and sees that vikings have invited dragons into the village and are constructing shelters and giant feeding bowls for them. Everyone welcomes Hiccup back as a hero. Astrid then appears and kisses Hiccup and is given new equipment for Toothless built by Gobber. Hiccup and Astrid ride their dragons through the newly reformed Berk as the long war between Vikings and dragons is put to an end.