Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury

While the original movie and its sequel were both excellent, this short is a huge disappointment; a bland kids' movie with an inane story and little of the humor and excitement of the features. As the short begins, all the dragons fly off. The kids are sad, and wonder where they've gone, but they don't do anything to try and figure it out. If this were a two-hour movie, it would turn into the adventure of someone trying to find them, but it's 20 minutes, so they don't have time for anyone to even wonder too deeply. ************** SPOILERS ******************** There are other things in the movie that don't make much sense. One kid chains up his dragon to prevent it from leaving, but it's unclear how he would know he needed to chain it up. When the dragon is set free, it flies off to join the others, even though the others had flown to an island to lay eggs, and this dragon had laid its eggs where it was chained (which means it simply left them behind without a thought). And while the protagonist could have used his disabled dragon to follow the others, instead he makes it a way to fly off on its own. And it follows a different course than all the others, which doesn't really make that much sense either.

Another great edition to this Epic Franchise!!!!!!! Keeps you glued to your screen from start to finish, bursting with hilarious fun and deep emotions all the way!!!!!!!!!

This is a half-hour (well, actually a little over 20 minutes) animated short film which came out four years ago, between the two first "How to Train Your Dragon" movies. The voice cast are the actors from the feature films as well. The writer and director have very long and prolific careers in the industry already, so here they are getting a good chance with a prestigious project that could even result in them being in the same position in future movies if the HTTYD-franchise runs for a couple more entries. Sadly, I have to say I was fairly underwhelmed by this short film. I don't think it is really better than any the episodes of the series. The heart and great moments from the two feature films are almost completely missing here. The relationship between Hiccup and Toothless gets elaborated on a bit further, but nothing that really goes much under the surface. The dragon babies are cute and maybe the best thing about this film. But beyond the cuteness, there isn't really a lot either. Dragons fly away and people wonder where they have gone. And that exploding dragon egg storyline was actually pretty bad and just added some "animated special effects" to the movie, but did nothing at all otherwise apart from randomly bringing some chaos to Berk. Disappointing short film. Not recommended.

It's the Snoggletog holiday in the Viking town of Berk. Their dragons suddenly leave. The only one left seems to be Toothless. Hiccup installs a new tail and Toothless also leaves. Later, Hiccup happens upon Meatlug who had been chained up by Fishlegs. Meatlug escapes and carries Hiccup to a secret volcanic island where the dragons are hatching the next generation. It's a perfectly good holiday special for this children's franchise. It's a continuation rather than a new chapter. There are no real drama and there is no villain or opposition in this short. It's fine for anyone who likes the movies.

These days went their is a hit animation film, not only will there be a slew of sequels there will be bonus short films as well that turn up as DVD extras or made for television specials to keep the franchise name going. The Toy Story and Shrek films do it. The How to train your Dragon films have followed with the CGI short, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury. Following from the original film where the Vikings now have dragons for pets who nearly all disappear during the holiday season of Snoggletog leaving the Vikings bemused. Toothless gets a new tail to allow him to be independent but he flies off as well and is thought to have disappeared. However the kids hatch a plot to find out what has happened to them. The short will keep the children largely entertained, adults who have not seen the original film will be left bemused. The quality of the animation is very good though.