[b The sequel is gleeful and smart, funny and serious, and surpasses the endearing original with gorgeous animation and one stirring human encounter after another[/b Most sequels get made for commercial reasons, whether or not the world needs them. "How to Train Your...

THE out-of-nowhere smash "How to Train Your Dragon" was one of the first movies to break the Pixar monopoly on first-rate animation. Still, we know what franchising does to animated movies, so we half-expected this newly minted profit center to come down with a case...

From the fashionable day-old scruff on Hiccup's 20-year-old Viking chin to the amped-up fire power of Toothless, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" has made good use of the years since the villagers of Berk and the boy who'd rather not be chief first charmed us. The growing...

All Rise... Judge Roman Martel hopes this DVD will give pointers on dealing with an ornery Hungarian Horntail. The Charge I usually get worried when the main characters in any story have names like Hiccup and Toothless. If there's a viking named Farty or B.O. in this...

I have enjoyed the growing trend over the past 15 years or so of animated films, which are just as much for adults as for children. "How to Train Your Dragon," the newest animated film from DreamWorks Studios, is no exception, using fantastic visuals to keep children...

How To Train Your Dragon is the latest from the stable of Dreamworks, but apart from the animation style, you'd never know it. How to Train Your Dragon is the story of Hiccup, a Viking who feels out of place since he's not a fan of killing the dragons the Viking's...

There's a good number of reasons that Dreamworks' “How to Train Your Dragon” reclaimed the top box office spot this week against a handful of new releases (including “The Back-up Plan,” “The Losers”) despite being in theaters for nearly a month, but the...

A young Viking befriends a creature that is his sworn enemy. With Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera. Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders (1:38). PG: Fiery and growly battles. At area theaters. Dragons, second only to dinosaurs and fairies in their grasp...

The creative pairing behind the 2002 Oscar-nominated animated sci-fi feature "Lilo & Stitch” helps the fantastical new animated adventure "How to Train Your Dragon” soar far higher than anticipated. Loosely based on Cressida Cowell's 2003 children's book, "How...

"How To Train Your Dragon" is, like "Kung-Fu Panda," an exemplary, confident, streamlined piece of entertainment that suggests that when they get it right, Dreamworks Animation can stand toe to toe with Pixar in the realm of computer animation for family audiences. In...

DreamWorks, the makers of the "Shrek" series is at it again with "How to Train Your Dragon", a movie based on Cressida Cowell's children's book. We must admit that our first peek at the movie's trailer did not actually make us jump up and down with excitement and...

The movie's main character, Hiccup, is a classic misfit. His searching, intellectual nature has no place in a society of stubborn, manly Vikings who prefer to solve their problems with brute force rather than understanding. It quickly becomes apparent that we are...

Mythology rules in "How to Train Your Dragon," even if the themes are entirely real and relevant. That merge, and the film's relative complexity, make it one of the best outings in the DreamWorks Animation canon, and very close to Pixar-level storytelling ingenuity....

I had quite a time trying to train my dog when he was a young pup. Finally I gave up and called a dog trainer. Curiously, the trainer spent more time “training” me and my wife than Champ. Go figure. So when it comes to training a dragon (assuming you have one as a...

What a refreshing change "How to Train Your Dragon" brings to the cartoon world: The creatures are not all that cute, and they do not speak a word. DreamWorks Animation has been at the head of the pack for adorable, fast-talking critters with such movies as "Over the...

Almost everything you knew about dragons is wrong. They don't just breathe fire. They can belch lightning and toxic gas, too. They come in every color and shape imaginable, not just lizard green. They curl up into a ball and fall asleep when you tickle their chins,...

A Paramount release of a DreamWorks Animation presentation. Produced by Bonnie Arnold. Executive producers, Kristine Belson, Tim Johnson. Co-producers, Karen Foster, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Michael Connolly. Directed by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois. Screenplay, Will...

Bottom Line: A lively though disjointed 3D cartoon that never quite entices an audience to invest emotionally in its fantasy world. "How to Train Your Dragon" pits dragons against Vikings with one small child standing between them crying, "Why can't we all just get...