Directed by Dean deBlois, Chris Sanders

Based in the book by Cressida Cowell

We meet Hiccup, the unlikely Viking hero in the animated movie How to train Your Dragon, as his hamlet is being attacked by dragons, once again.

The dragons sweep over the village setting the thatched roofs afire and breaking havoc among villagers and sheep alike, while the warriors retaliate with arrows and mighty blows of mallets and swords.

This, Hiccup tells us, is how things are, how things have been for as long as everybody remembers.

Hiccup, who is the chieftain’s son, wants to kill a dragon and prove himself a warrior, but being scrawny and uncoordinated, he has a novel approach. To his father’s dismay, he builds sophisticated devices to capture them. And this time, he succeeds. He shoots a mighty dragon out of the sky. And not any dragon, but a Night Fury, the fastest and deadliest of them all. But when the time comes to kill it, Hiccup hesitates, and a friendship is born between dragon and human.

That summer, while the Viking warriors go into yet another quest to find the dragon’s legendary nest and Hiccup and his peers learn how to fight against captured dragons, Hiccup trains his dragon.

The return of the defeated warriors and a timely discovery sets humans against dragons in a final battle that will destroy them both unless Hiccup finds a way to stop it.

How to Train Your Dragon is, no doubt meant for children, but it has a lot of charm and a strong story, not to mention a sympathetic protagonist, a cute dragon, and a girl with the coolest outfit (check her boots) this side of animation. So if you need a family movie to go to in Mother’s Day, give How to train Your Dragon a chance.

My children (14 and 17) loved it. And I can’t wait for Mother’s Day and see if they bought me what I asked them for: An action figure of Hiccup and Astrid ridding Toothless.

One last thing, if you have a choice, do go to the 3D version. It’s worth it.