'How to Train Your Dragon' breathes visual fire into 3-D tale of friendship

MOVIE REVIEW

Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, the team that created Disney's surprise hit "Lilo & Stitch," are back with this visually striking DreamWorks feature about a nonconformist Viking teenager, Hiccup, who befriends rather than slays a dragon.

It's the kind of behavior that could be regarded as treasonous on Berk, the exposed island where Hiccup (charmingly voiced by Jay Baruchel) has grown up. He was raised to regard the foul- tempered, fire-breathing creatures as vicious enemies.

But Hiccup isn't like other Viking kids, and his father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), has all but given up on turning him into a hunter. Another father figure, the blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson), is less judgmental.

The movie's stylish first half is stronger than the rest, deftly mixing 3-D spectacle with wry wit and a carefully mimed tale of two strangers gradually deciding that they can get beyond established boundaries and open up to each other.

The graceful, felinelike dragon, Toothless, doesn't have a lot to say, but he invites the boy to enjoy a "king of the world" moment as he takes him on a spectacular flight through the clouds. They use so few words to bond that you may find yourself thinking of "The Black Stallion" (which is almost a silent film during its opening boy-taming-horse scenes), or, for that matter, "Lilo & Stitch."

As they did in that 2002 film, the filmmakers depend on an unlikely relationship to launch their gags and make their case for vulnerability over hostility. Lilo was a Hawaiian outcast, Stitch a gruff alien, and their relationship had a similarly eccentric punch.

Characterization is the key, and that's true again in "Dragon." Baruchel, Ferguson and Butler supply a contagious sense of eccentricity that spreads to the supporting cast, especially the Viking teens played by America Ferrera and Jonah Hill.

It's when "Dragon" strays from the kids and the families/friendships they form that it flirts with trouble. The visuals are sometimes as fluid and shadowy as anything in live-action film noir, but the sense of mystery eventually gives way to a formulaic finish.

The script is based on a book by British author Cressida Cowell, whose other works include "How to Speak Dragonese." It also recalls a forgotten 1941 Disney cartoon, "The Reluctant Dragon," which now suggests an early sketch for Toothless.

DeBlois and Sanders' success with "Lilo & Stitch" led to sequels and a television series. "How to Train Your Dragon" seems poised to accomplish something similar, especially if the filmmakers remember to tap into the rich load of characters they've introduced here.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com