2010 remains the greatest year in the history of animated film. It’s easy to overlook this fact because animated film doesn’t get taken seriously. It is, however, also important not to ignore historical phenomena; 2010, like no other year ever, can boast five long-lasting, impactful, unique, moving, and conventionally delightful animated films:
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- Despicable Me, the one I rated highest at the time; it has already spawned three sequels, two spin-offs, a prequel and an endless line of toys. I even once hand-made a Minion for a friend.
- Megamind, my favorite superhero/supervillain film ever. Period.
- Toy Story 3, the one that will make you cry. Even those who could endure the first eleven minutes of Up will fall victim to this one. You’d be heartless not to.
- Tangled, the most underrated Disney of all time.
And the film I’m going to talk about today, which -imho- bests them all: How to Train Your Dragon.
How good was 2010 for animated film? Well, let me put it this way: Disney put out a beloved, high-quality film –one currently rated 7.7 on imdb- and there were four better films than it. No other year in animated film has come close to that boast. No FUTURE year in animated film will ever boast that.
Today, however, is not about Minions or toys or superheroes or magical hair. Today is about an unassuming boy and his exotic pet. Lemme qualify that – on the (medieval) Scandinavian Isle of Berk, dragons aren’t exactly exotic so much as feared and despised pests. It would be a little like owning a pet spider.
Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel) is a sadly underfed and awkward teenager on an island where “larger than life” is the way of life. Carrying a reputation as an unteachable screw-up is only half his problem. The other half is that his dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the chief, and Stoick ain’t got time for Hiccup’s bullshit …especially with all the dragon attacks.
Oh yeah, the film is non-stop dragons, opening on a nighttime raid pitting fire-breathing flying beasts of all shapes and sizes against angry Vikings. Hiccup is a Viking, but you’d never know. Starving in dad’s shadow and living down his own ugly reputation, Hiccup is desperate to make a positive impact. And, would you believe it? He does! Hiccup’s new bolo-type catapult downs a dreaded “Night Fury,” a dragon so dangerous and elusive, island lore has no record of one ever being caught.
The victory celebration, of course, is short-lived because Hiccup 1) can’t find what he hit and 2) took no precaution when he entered the battlefield. As far as the village is concerned, Hiccup was, once again, not where he should have been thus endangering both himself and other villagers alike.
Berk-sters are paranoid folk. They see dragon raids regularly and have but one response: KILL! KILL! KILL! It is neither difficult to understand this mentality nor difficult to sympathize with it. But it comes from a distinct 
lack of understanding. It is as unevolved as humans believing the sun rotates around the Earth. This is an important distinction as that particular primitive belief was once accepted science among humans.
The picture thrives when it captures Hiccup discovering and befriending the dragon he’s downed. Hiccup managed to maim, but not kill, the beast. Instead of finishing him off when he has the defenseless animal trapped, Hiccup studies the beast, learning things that come in very handy when he is sent to dragon-killing school the next week. The picture has a winning collection of consecutive scenes juxtaposing Hiccup’s discoveries with his bizarrely pacifistic success in battle training. After all, why kill a dragon when you can you can conquer it with a belly rub?
Hiccup names the downed Night Fury “Toothless” which I suppose fits with all the other silly names in the film. And we discover exactly as Hiccup does that Toothless isn’t so much a fire-breathing villain as a really intelligent flying cat.
The plot is all on one level of entertainment; How to Train Your Dragon can be enjoyed immensely without insight into its humor, its characters, or its symbolism. On this level, the film works for pet-challenged children and zookeepers alike. Yet How to Train Your Dragon is a much deeper animated study into the fields of evolution and pacifism and disability.
Study is the correct term, too. You know what this film is really about? Science. And once you realize that, you’ll realize the depth of the genius within How to Train Your Dragon. How to Train Your Dragon is 
essentially about a plot about nerd scientist … one constantly questioning, questioning, questioning, forming theses, challenging theses, testing theses, and that one small person –however cowed, for Hiccup often comes off as meek and perhaps cowardly- speaking truth to power and willing to defy an entire village to demonstrate what he knows is scientific fact.
This is an exceptional film for everyone, but especially young scientists, ones that need to question authority and accepted truth. I’m not talking QAnon; that’s just idiots pretending contrarianism is truth. I’m talking about genuine future scientists … or anybody that has looked at a parental default declaration and said, “WHAAAA?”
Now, who wants to hear the Trump/GOP version of the film? Too bad; the comparison is just too juicy.
At the beginning, during the dragon attack:
“There are no dragons”
“The dragons are a hoax”
“The dragon problem will disappear on its own.”
“We can solve this by deporting all the Chinese dragons”
“Many houses spontaneously combust every year”
“Being bitten in two is a natural condition; it has nothing to do with dragons”
“Ivermectin is the cure to dragon attacks”
“This is all Hiccup’s fault!”
At the end, when the villagers have found harmony with the dragons:
“I solved the dragon problem. I don’t get enough credit for it”
“Dragon fuel prices are too high”
“We have an inflation of dragons”
“This is all Hiccup’s fault!”
Of course, the metaphor is far from perfect – I mean, the current GOP would happily invite any social, cultural, or economic regression so long as there was political power to be gained. In the film, the fearful, self-righteous, 2nd amendment lovin’ Berk-sters actually identify and attempt –however misguided- to solve a legitimate problem. If this were really about Trump & the GOP, the well-armed citizens of Berk would spend their days exacerbating tensions with dragons while simultaneously complaining about Critical Visigoth Theory, Vandal Culture, and claiming fraud in the village elder’s decision to champion Hiccup.
Revisit this film at some point and see if you still love it as much as I still love it.
♪Don’t know much about stratocracy
Don’t know much of zoology
Don’t know much about this dragon book
Don’t know much ’bout Astrid’s dirty look
But I do know the Fury went down
And I know if I look all around
Perception will help set me free
Don’t know how to make my own posse
Don’t know much about mythology
Don’t know how to win the tribal base
Don’t know how to use an axe or mace
But I do know I can train this ‘zard
And if you check out this wooded yard
What a jubilant nerd I would be♫
Rated PG, 98 Minutes
Director: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Writer: William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Genre: Educational?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Underdogs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Authoritarians
♪ Parody Inspired by “Wonderful World”
