South Philly Review

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“How to Train Your Dragon,” DreamWorks Animation’s latest kid-friendly creature feature, benefits greatly from its ability to replicate — and, in some ways, enhance — the core emotions and sensations brought on by old school dragon flicks (you know, the ones that weren’t equipped with 3-D technology to sate spectacle-hungry eyes).

A fantastical spin on the boy-and-his-dog tale, the quietly charming film establishes a solid, adorable bond between young Viking Hiccup (the voice of Jay Baruchel) and his pet dragon, Toothless, calling to mind the live-action-meets-animation favorite, “Pete’s Dragon.” It also takes viewers soaring through the air in awesome sequences reminiscent of those with Bastian and his Luck Dragon in “The Neverending Story.”

The movie’s tried-and-true merits outweigh its copious clichés, which have an especially degenerating effect on the power of the relationship between Hiccup and his father (the voice of Gerard Butler), a burly, bearded super-Viking who’s long felt embarrassed that his scrawny son can’t quite fit in among the axe-wielding townsfolk in their mystical Nordic homeland. Like his fellow Vikings, Hiccup wants to slay dragons, which come in many nifty types and colors and ravage the village on a nightly basis, but it’s not in his nature — something he comes to embrace when he befriends Toothless, the most elusive of the beasts. Hiccup’s coming-of-age is believable enough, but the circumstances with both dad and a plucky love interest (the voice of America Ferrera) are way too screenwriting 101 to be regarded fondly.

There are some lively arena-set skirmishes, a showdown with a satisfyingly nasty queen-bee dragon, additional voice work from funnymen Craig Ferguson and Jonah Hill and an extraordinary, bagpipe-suffused score by John Powell, but the strength of the film ultimately rests on the scaly black shoulders of its chief fire-breather, a unique-looking, well-realized critter with endearing facial expressions. Of course, on those shoulders also is where our hero sits, and, despite the flaws, as we watch this unlikely pair ascend above the clouds, we get the feeling there may just be a new kids’ classic taking flight.

How to Train Your Dragon

PG Three reels out of four
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Sherlock Holmes

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In Guy Ritchie’s stylized new take on the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s dashing detective, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) doesn’t don the famous deerstalker hat, but he does adopt a thick British accent, convey a manic brilliance and dispense a flood of campy dialogue with deliciously cheeky delivery.

The diabolical-villain-seeks-world-domination plot is hardly engaging, but that doesn’t diminish the rollicking action scenes, the detailed industrial production design, the exciting and distinctive music by Hans Zimmer or the amusing bromantic rapport between Holmes and Dr. Watson (Jude Law). Rounding out the cast is Rachel McAdams who plays a mysterious woman from Holmes’ past and literally adds color to the proceedings.