Dragons Among Men

One of my favorite Chesterton quotes involves dragons: "You can make a story out of a hero among dragons; but not out of a dragon among dragons. The fairy tale discusses what a sane man will do in a mad world. The sober realistic novel of to-day discusses what an essential lunatic will do in a dull world." In the past, this nonsense was perpetrated metaphorically; nowadays, particularly with movies like Shrek and Tangled, it's done blatantly.

Shrek and Tangled are essentially fairy tales, but they reverse everything we know about monsters, princesses, and "once upon a time." In Shrek, the hero is the ogre; in Tangled, the princess saves the prince. It's deconstruction of the worst kind, because on the one hand we're led to believe it's done with no sense of purpose, while on the other the purpose is very clear: these new stories tell us that nothing we know or believe is as it seems.

I expected to hate DreamWorks' How To Train Your Dragon. I figured it would be more of the same, a fairy tale turned on its head, a story about how dragons are the good guys and men are just a bunch of brutes who like picking on animals. What I got was something completely different.

Yes, it turns out dragons aren't exactly what everyone thinks they are. And yes, the main character (Hiccup by name) is kind of scrawny and not good at the normal Viking pursuits his father (Stoic, the village chieftain) and the rest of the village hold in such high esteem. But Hiccup is the hero, and he becomes so through equal parts ingenuity, bravery and sheer nerve. He also becomes the greatest dragon slayer who ever lived.

The filmmakers redeemed fairy tales in two ways. First, they didn't get rid of a big bad dragon who wants to kill and eat everything and must himself be killed. There's a ferocious battle near the end, and Hiccup ends up victorious. Second, while it seemed like they might make tough-girl Astrid the hero in the end, they didn't; it is Hiccup who saves her, and wins her heart through unaided heroism and pluck. So what if he rides a dragon around and smaller dragons are more like dogs than reptiles? It's just a clever touch to an old story.

Also, unlike so many animated films, the animation was actually good, and the humor was actually humorous. Hilarious, in fact, and there was no reversion to the usual crass jokes and stupid slapstick that so many studios (DreamWorks in particular, ironically) rely on. It was largely visual, largely intelligent, and largely not "adult" in the sense that phrase is usually meant in our cynical era.

I'm not usually a fan of animated movies, but I loved this one. I'll buy it, watch it again, watch it with my kids. Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson in the same cast was pretty awesome. I'd say something negative if I could think of anything, but I can't. Well, one thing: I consider this a fluke, and don't expect more of the same from DreamWorks. Still, one major success is worth a good word, and I offer mine here without reservation.