How To Train Your Dragon

[a_person]

Agree with superhero on his review. 9/10 from me - I very much enjoyed that! At Apollo too - much better than Haymarket!!

I hear they got water, popcorn and poppetts at Vue Westfield; shame it was too far out for me!

[tilly]

Just seen this at Westfield and very packed! There were kids activites beforehand and everyone got popcorn, chocolate and water! I thought it was quite a nice film, not sure about the accents. I felt it was very predictable but I guess it was a kids film. Wish it was funnier. Overall 8/10.

Very glad saw it at Westfield as brand new.

[susancs]

We went to Westfield this morning and had a lovely time. They had an areas set aside for free kids activities. They had face painting (or in elder daughters and friends case they had dragon tattoos painted on instead), balloon modelling and photos. The photos are lovely as our group photo was inserted in the film advertising poster and put in a folder. A lovely memento of the day I thought. They even gave us a photo each. In the cinema itself we had free water, fairly big bags of popcorn and a box of poppet sweets each. We all enjoyed the film and the preview trailer of the new 3d Shrek movie. When asked the children gave it a 9/10.

[kevinknapman]

Saw this today at the Vue Westfield and was glad that we got to see it in the VueXtreme screen. Not entirely sure the wristbands were necessary, though I assume that was for the kids fun area (Although I saw a few adults enjoying this as well) There was a bit of a wait to get in to the screen. Presumably so they could put all the free popcorn, poppets, mineral water and 3D glasses on the seats. There were quite a few kids but thankfully most of them were well behaved around me. The only disruption came beforehand when a drinks spillage had to be cleaned up directly behind me. After a short mostly inaudible speech from a representative of Pearl and Dean, we got a trailer of the new Shrek. Can't say I'm too impressed by that. The only decent joke in the entire trailer involves a fat Puss in Boots, which doesn't bode well.

On to the film itself. Okay, niggling criticism out of the way first. As has been pointed out elsewhere all the adult Vikings had Scottish accents. Now I would be willing to let that slide (after all who needs a kids film to be realistic), but what really distracted me at the beginning was the fact that all the kid Vikings had American (or in the case of 'Hiccup', Canadian) accents. Why? Ignoring that slightly odd voice casting choice, which I got used to, I really enjoyed this. It was thankfully free of the post modern gags and musical choices that you usually get in Dreamworks animations. The makers clearly felt no need to throw in gags that would keep the adults amused and was all the better for it. I was dreading a dragon training montage set to some modern rock song but thankfully that didn't happen. It was a fun story and the animation looked outstanding (Having Coen Brothers regular DP Roger Deakins as a visual consultant clearly helped). The 3D was also effective and not too distracting. The flying scenes in particular where pretty impressive. A solid and entertaining movie.

This was the first free preview I've been to at the Vue Westfield (I have pa*d to see a few films there already) and I hope they use it more in the future.

[Beate]

Brilliant film. Loved every minute of it. Funny, warm, engaging and beautiful to watch. Toothless was adorable, as were the little dragons snuggling up to Hiccup. I even shed a tear or two when the Viking Dad told his son how proud he was of him. Altogether now: AWWWW. The Apollo wasn't full by any means and thank God only a handful of kids and they all behaved, which was wonderful. I felt like clapping at the end! What more could you want? Some free popcorn and chocolate maybe, but then we brought our own provisions anyway.

Would watch again.

9/10

[pcRock]

I also went to Apollo Picadilly Circus, since it's closer to my place. We were running late because the tube was taking ages today due to all the engineering works that were taking place. We arrived only 10-12 minutes before the film was due to start, and were relieved to see that there weren't that many people there. So we got really great places. I love this cinema, I really do. The chairs are so comfy.

The dragon reminded me of my neighbour's cat that keeps showing up at our kitchen's window and is very happy to be stroked. I was expecting the film to be slightly funnier, to be honest. Having said that, I really enjoyed the story and the animation was really good. 8.5/10

[Beate]

I agree that the 3D wasn't distracting, and all the better for it - I hardly noticed I was wearing the glasses after an initial "oh God where have I put the glasses?" scare rooting through my handbag!

[EthanRunt]

pa*d £8 for a 3D ticket at my local, annoying kids crying, man wouldn't turn his phone off.

Still, in between the idiots, I got the greatest Dreamworks film since Kung Fu Panda, which was their sole good outing.
And with the beautifully executed 3D, well crafted characters, and, well, Jay Baruchel in the lead (He flat out rules in everything) I loved it.
10/10

One of those films that proves animation needn't be pandering to children to get the laughs and heart it wants, only the singular excretion joke in this one.

[Beate]

Oh and to the lady who tried to cut in the queue before us: we were the first and we had been there since 10.10am. If you think you can outrun me, you have another think coming! Good manners are something else...

[pcRock]

Oh and to the lady who tried to cut in the queue before us: we were the first and we had been there since 10.10am. If you think you can outrun me, you have another think coming! Good manners are something else...

Hey, now I know who you are, Beate. You were at the start of the queue, weren't you?