How to Train Your Dragon

Most children would be unlikely to put "dragon" on the list of creatures they'd like to tame, befriend or housebreak. That flaming-belch habit is something even a small and very open-minded human would recognize as inconvenient. But "How to Train Your Dragon," Dreamworks' visually and emotionally enchanting new 3-D animated fairy tale set in Viking times, could create a seismic shift in anti-dragon public sentiment. It features a dragon with the emotional and aesthetic appeal of the Black Stallion and the heart of Good Dog Carl.

Toothless is a so-called Night Fury, allegedly the most threatening of the many varieties of dragons that regularly torment the Viking village of Berk. The dragons fly in at night, set fire to the ramparts and make off with as many cute Viking sheep (which look like something out of "Wallace & Gromit") as they can carry. The Night Furies are the stealth bombers of dragons, black as the Nordic night, impossible to see and highly destructive. Or as the Vikings call them, "the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself."

The movie starts with one of these dragon raids, helpfully narrated by the village pipsqueak Hiccup (winningly voiced by Jay Baruchel). Hiccup is about one-tenth of the size of a proper Viking. Virtually every other teenager in the village, including Hiccup's crush, tough as nails Astrid (America Ferrera), is being raised to kill dragons, but Hiccup has been relegated to the blacksmith's shop to train with Gobber (Craig Ferguson in heavy brogue mode). Hiccup is creative with metals though, and he's come up with a cannonlike catapult that actually manages to knock Toothless out of the sky. No one, including his father Stoick (Gerard Butler), believes Hiccup when he claims he shot down a Night Fury. They're just annoyed he got in the way.

It's just as well that no one has any faith in Hiccup. This gives him the chance to sneak off the next day and find the creature in the woods, all trussed up by Hiccup's invention. They examine each other and Hiccup sees fear and resignation in the creature's great green and golden eyes. He has too much compassion to actually slay the injured dragon, and thus begins a cautious caretaking relationship that eventually blossoms into a secret friendship.

The great cinematographer Roger Deakins, who makes the Coen brothers' movies look fantastic, served as a visual consultant to "How to Train Your Dragon" co-directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, and whatever they paid him, it was well worth it. Visually, the movie has unusual depth, subtlety and beauty; the scenes in which Hiccup and Toothless get to know each other next to a mountain lake or go flying around the craggy coastline near Berk are certainly as magical as anything in the much-vaunted "Avatar."

The movie was inspired by Cressida Cowell's 2003 book of the same name (the first in a series), although, of course, for many generations writers have been retelling the story of a lonely boy (or girl) who finds comfort in a relationship with an animal and vice versa. This version has unexpected creative juice, though. That's partly because the Viking background and the northern setting are so surprising and fresh. Baruchel also deserves credit for his warm, witty voice work; we quickly grow fond of this village cast-off. But Toothless really completes the package. He's far sleeker than his dragon colleagues, resembling a cross between a fish, a dog, the Cheshire cat and perhaps a bat. Not what you'd think of as an appealing combination, but somehow it works.

Lamentably, however, this beautiful, PG-rated movie is too violent and scary for small children. Throughout the film, the fire-breathing aspect of the dragons mimics the sense of exploding bombs, and the climax of the movie involves a nearly apocalyptic encounter with the biggest dragon of all time. The scale is vast and, particularly in IMAX, utterly impressive, even from an adult standpoint. It's overwhelming and will (or should) be too much for anyone under 8. I feel like a broken record, but why do talented filmmakers, capable of pulling off the feat of making an interaction between a boy and a scaly dragon genuinely touching, continually wrap up their stories by transporting our kids into vivid and spectacular battle sequences? You would think this narrative path was the only one we had.

Mary Pols is a Bay Area-based journalist. She reviews movies for Time.com and was for many years a film critic for the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times. She is also the author of a memoir, "Accidentally on Purpose," published in 2008 by Ecco/Harper Collins. When she's inspired, usually by something weird, she blogs about it at www.maryfpols.com.