In Writer and Director Dean DeBlois’s live-action remake of his original animated How to Train Your Dragon, smart compassionate Mason Thames played wondrous bright eyed Hiccup, the nerdy inventor son of legendary Viking Chief Stoick, played by loud bold Gerard Butler. They live on the Isle of Berk, home to the Viking Tribe of Dragon Slayers. In Dean DeBlois’s screenplay based on Cressida Cowell’s book and his original animated screenplay, humans and dragons have killed each other for centuries. A dragon killed Stoick’s wife, Hiccup’s mother.
Although talking head Stoick loved his son, he was disappointed that Hiccup was not the Badass Viking. He was disappointed that his son was not like him. Mason’s Hiccup sadly got that he was not good enough. That he was not good enough for his father. That he never would be. I know what that’s like. I was Hiccup.
Hiccup invented the dragon weapon he used in the violent dragon night attack on Berk. He wounded the mythical Night Fury Dragon in the camouflaged sky. He found the crippled Night Fury Dragon with his dismembered tail the next day. The Dragon is rightfully pissed. They looked at each other. Then Hiccup gently touched his hand on the Dragon’s head. They became friends.
While feeding him fish, Hiccup humorously gave him the name Toothless. Staring with his kind bright green eyes, Toothless unconditionally loved Hiccup, what Hiccup wished his Father did.
As his rites of passage, Hiccup went to dragon slayer school taught by Weapons Smith Gobber, played by comically mad genius Nick Frost. Hiccup was joined by his mad crush Astrid, played by smart, strong, pretty Nico Parker, along with dragon encyclopedia Fishlegs, played by geeky funny Julian Dennison, smart ass Snotlout, played by earnest Gabriel Howell, and Twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, played with charming swag by Bronwin James and Harry Trevaldwyn.
Hiccup’s friendship and study of Toothless provided his distinct advantage over the students, including star Astrid, much to her chagrin. Astrid discovered Hiccup’s secret, Toothless. She asked Hiccup why he didn’t kill the injured Toothless. After all, a dragon killed his mother. Hiccup poignantly said, “He was frightened. When I looked at him, I saw myself.” He saw the fear inside wounded Toothless, his own fear inside himself that he wasn’t good enough for his father Stoick. That sublimely landed for me.
Some of Dean DeBlois’s How to Train Your Dragon is the uneven narrative mess. The Dragon Slayer Viking kids’ whining swagger was annoying. In the beginning, Gerard Butler gnaws on the scenery as the masculine know-it-all Stoick. Yeah, he was the GOAT Viking. We got it, already.
Brilliant inventor Hiccup designed the wing attachment for Toothless to fly again. When Hiccup and his great love Astrid ride on Toothless as he careens over mountains and the ocean, How to Train Your Dragon cathartically transcends. It’s about freedom. With his friend Toothless, Hiccup was free to be himself. He was finally good enough. He always was.
In the touching climatic narrative arc as Hiccup and Toothless prepared to battle the powerful Dragon Queen, Stoick tearfully said, “I’m proud to call you, my son.” Hiccup cried. Me, too. All parents want their children to be great. Some like Stoick, want their son to be like them. Be them. Still, everyone is different. Everyone does the best they can to be as great as they can be. That’s all they can do.
Regardless of their imperfectly human relationships with their fathers, all sons want to make their fathers proud. Hiccup made his father proud. His father Stoick loved his son. He always did. Still, that’s nice to know and hear from Dad. That makes How to Train Your Dragon something very special, indeed.
