How to Train Your Dragon

Last year I saw How to Train your Dragon at the cinema.  When the DVD came out, I bought it. I love that movie.  Over Christmas I "discovered" the book. The movie is based on the book. Actually there is an entire series of seven books on the theme writen by Cressida Cowell. Last week I ordered the first two books.  This week the books arrived. Hum, there are vast differences between the book and the film.  The book is more suited to kids, especially boys. The names are, by and large, the same. Hiccup and Toothless are the main characters and Stoick is Hiccup's dad.  Stoick does briefly disown Hiccup, and Hiccup is not the image of the viking type. There is a monstrously HUGE dragon which Hiccup and Toothless manage to defeat thanks to the help of the other kids.  And basically there is the end of all similarities.

If you're a "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" type person; then you, perforce, MUST prefer the book to the movie - because the book came first... whether or not you'd even heard of it before now, it was first.  If you're more the "let me consider the evidence" type; then you will want to watch the film and read the book, afterwhich you will decide whether or not you like: a) the movie, b) the book, c)neither, or d) both.. If you're an opinionated type then you'll have a firm opinion and defend it. Finally, if you're influenced by other people's opinions, then do go read and watch before you finish reading this blog, because I am about to give my opinion!

I love the movie. It makes me feel good. I like feeling good and happy.  Don't get me wrong!  The book is good too, but it's good for totally different reasons. It is written for kids and it is meant to appeal to kids, especially boys. I don't have a problem with that at all.  While the book definitely amuses me, and certainly keeps me reading, it doesn't provide me with those delightfully happy moments that the movie does. I suppose for many people the movie may be "too happy"- perhaps unrealistically so, so for them the books ought to be realistic enough.  The movie is perhaps "older" - Astrid is not part of the book, which seems for a slightly younger audience of boys at the "yuck - girls!" stage of life.  In that sense, the book is very realistic. The movie is meant for everyone.  There's enough action for the boys and that Astrid thing for the girls. There's the typical sense of "aloneness" that most kids go through in both book and movie. Movie Toothless is more like a Norman Rockwell Labrador retriever to movie Hiccup - the friend who is a friend when there are no other friends. Book Toothless is more like a pain in the butt to book Hiccup, so more like dealing with a real pet dog.  The language and art in the book is very appropriate for the intended audience... although some parents may think I am being overly generous for saying that. 

Wanna know? Then ya gotta investigate this truth for yourself and have your own opinion!