Overall this film is fun and refreshing animated adventure that can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike. While this movie is moving and entertaining, it isn't perfect. Negatives The animation quality. This film looks like it was made in the early days of CG animation, which sounds passable until you realize that it was made in the same year as Toy Story 3. Spending more of the budget on animation could've added a lot more to the scenes that focused on the beauty of the landscapes and could've made the characters look more realistic. The supporting teenage characters. Because they barely got any screen time, their few lines were cliche and stereotypical, and their switch to Hiccup's way of thinking at the end seemed sudden and unsupported. This also seemed like a waist of some excellent actors like Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig.Positives The pacing for the relationship between Toothless and Hiccup. This was excellent, and it allowed the audience to grow to love these two characters as they built a friendship with each other. It was believable and moving.The score; Especially Forbidden Friendship, Test Drive, and Romantic Flight. These were so original and imaginative, and kept the audience engaged and emotionally attached to the story.The voice acting for Hiccup. Although it gets some criticism, I personally think Jay Baruchi's voice fits Hiccup's character perfectly, and portrays an awkward boy who becomes both more confident and equally as terrified when he befriends Toothless. Overall, this movie isn't perfect. But it's one of the few non-Disney animated movies that takes you on an emotional journey. The characters- especially Toothless, Hiccup, and Astrid- are lovable and gain the sympathy of the audience with their exellent development. The climax is action packed but relied heavily on the characters' relationships with each other, and the emotional moment at the end was heart wrenching. All-in-all this film is fun and entertaining while also being refreshingly emotional, with a great story, exciting action, and lovable characters.

While the plot arc is nothing original and quite predictable, the setting is an uncommon one and there are great moments, mostly in the third act. Many of the plot details seemed forced and lacking in depth. For example, the ease with which Hiccup made dragons who have been trapped and spent years fighting humans just surrender seemed unrealistic. Minor points, like the lack of clarity with whether or not Hiccup needed to be there to help him fly, or how they got Toothless to guide them, were not well explained. The relationship with the girl was quite token and predictable. However, I did really like the theme of confirmation bias and assuming other groups are enemies. The soundtrack is very good, and the climax is fun, if (like many parts of the movie) people acquiesce in a way that's convenient to the plot despite being contrary to who they seemed to be before. All in all, it's a good, fun family movie, but to me it didn't live up to the hype.

...not that this is necessarily saying much, since the films of the past decade are either made for the Academy Awards with some social message that hits the audience over the head with a social justice sledgehammer, or they are action films with lots of car chases and explosions and comic book heroes or they are 50 shades of obscene. But I digress. This animated film is beautiful to watch, but that is not the main drawing point. The drawing point are the characters. Even though this is set in some fictitious land full of Vikings beset with fire breathing dragons who are always raiding their livestock, you can easily relate to everybody. The main character, Hiccup, is the son of the warrior king of the Vikings. Hiccup is mild mannered, lanky, awkward - your typical teen of about age 14. He likes to build and invent things. Dad wants his son to be a dragon slayer. So one day, during an attack by the dragons, Hiccup actually catches one with one of his inventions. He grabs a knife and runs into the forest to kill the dragon to make dad happy. But he just can't. This "fearsome" dragon is tame, passive, dog-like before people had dogs. And so "Toothless" as Hiccup names him, becomes like a pet to Hiccup. The pair develop this beautiful unbreakable bond. And Hiccup learns about dragons.Hiccup is signed up for Dragon Killing class with the rest of the island's teens. Hiccup quickly rises to the top of his class but manages to not kill even one dragon. Instead he uses the techniques of bonding with dragons that he has learned from Toothless to subdue them into harmless pets. Nobody questions what is going on but Astrid, a tomboyish teen girl who just knows Hiccup is up to something.This film has genuine laughs, thrills, the real problems of sons and fathers disappointing and misunderstanding one another, the awkwardness of that first romance, and the idea that sometimes your enemy may be your enemy for reasons you don't understand. I watched this for about the tenth time last night and I have to say it just never gets old. Highly recommended.

For animated films, this movie is a masterpiece. It has perfect visuals, an amazing soundtrack, breathtaking scenes, a perfect story, perfect characters, and so much more. There's no doubt that this film is now a longtime classic and will be taught as one of the perfect animated films in universities in the future. Everything just went right with this one. It's so rewatchable, as well. This film is what makes me love movies. And that final fight scene- just epic. Awesome, in the truest sense. My only complaint is that it should have been longer- more time to develop the background and other characters. But overall, a great movie. It will no doubt stand the test of time as an animated movie masterpiece.