The Cinematheque

All Ages

“Undoubtedly Dreamworks’s best film yet, and quite probably the best dragon movie ever made.”

Matt Risley, Variety

One of our favourite kids’ films of the decade, this smart, super funny, and humongously big-hearted CG adventure boasts the most affecting human-animal palship this side of Lilo & Stitch. (No surprise, it’s made by the same writer-director duo!) On a Viking island plagued by livestock-nabbing dragons, Hiccup (voiced by Canadian Jay Baruchel), the misfit son of the village’s muscly chieftain, is deemed too scrawny to tussle with fire-breathing reptiles. But when one of Hiccup’s homemade contraptions actually captures a dragon, he finds himself unable to handover — let alone kill — the injured creature. Hiccup resolves to nurse his new companion, whom he names Toothless, back to health — in secret! The top-prize winner at the 2011 Annie Awards (besting Toy Story 3), this Oscar-nominated triumph sparked a full-fledged Dragon franchise, with two sequels, a six-season TV show, and video games to boot.