Dragon Taming Made Easy - Blu-Ray + DVD Edition

Film: Wickie gets competition. Because now the Viking boy Hiccup is vying for viewers' favor in the animated adventure "Dragon Taming Made Easy" and not only does he have lots of colorful effects, but he also has some real dragons on his side.

Based on the popular books by Cressida Cowell, the film tells of lanky Hiccup, whose father Haudrauf "the Stoic", leader of a Viking tribe, wants nothing more than for his son to become a famous dragon hunter like him one day. But Hiccup is better with his head than his sword, and Haudrauf soon buries his hopes of being the father of a great warrior. When the Viking village is attacked one night by a dragon armada, Hiccup sees his chance has come: with one of his many inventions, he intends to capture a legendary nightshade, one of the most dangerous dragons of all, and thus win his father's respect. In fact, he also succeeds in shooting down a nightshade. However, instead of handing the dragon over to the men in the village, Hiccup befriends the creature, which he names Toothless. As a result, he learns more about the world of dragons and becomes something of a dragon whisperer. When the unlikely friendship is exposed, it has fatal consequences, as Hiccup has violated the honor of all Vikings.

"Taming Dragons Made Easy" is advertised as being the new film from the makers of such films as "Shrek" and "Madagascar". This raises a certain level of expectation in the viewer that this work can't really live up to. And that is meant in an absolutely positive way. Whereas "Shrek" repeatedly makes use of allusions to contemporary pop culture and is accompanied by a snappy soundtrack consisting of current pop and rock songs, which gives parts 2 and 3 in particular a certain shelf life, "Dragon Taming Made Easy" is much more traditional, action-oriented and timeless. The more appropriate tagline, therefore, would be that this animated adventure is the new film from the two directors of "Lilo & Stich". Because here, as there, the focus is on a very special friendship, told with a lot of heart, warmth and wonderful humour.

The animations are great, but deliberately kept cartoonish. As a result, the story never loses its fairy-tale charm, which plays an important part in making the film appealing and enchanting to children and adults alike. Enriched with many little gags, fantastic ideas and wonderfully charming characters, this creates an engaging overall picture that would definitely have the makings of a small classic.

Because "Dragon Taming Made Easy" is simply a beautiful, entertaining, funny and exciting film, where the story and a certain warm-heartedness seems to be even more important than many colorful and quickly cut effects. And that is exactly what makes this work then absolutely recommendable for young and old!

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of both the DVD, as well as the Blu-Ray can be confidently described as an all-round success. The picture is clean and crisp. Rich colors and good contrasts also please the eye. The sound comes up with some very good surround effects. Especially during the dragon attacks, the sound convinces with a pleasant dynamic. Dialogues and soundtrack are also harmoniously matched. Very good!

Extras: Not nice at all for all fans of the film: who wants to enjoy the brand new short film "The story of the bone robber dragon" come, which must reach for this rather expensive variant, because this nice extra is included neither on the normal DVD, nor on the simple Blu-Ray edition. Now the question is whether the short film alone is worth the extra investment. Although the main film is really very nice and makes you want to see more, the answer is clearly: not really!

Because even if "The Story of the Bone Robber Dragon" offers some nice moments, the mixture of computer animation and cartoon remains overall well below the level of the main film and has little of its charm to offer. The short film is definitely worth seeing, but it doesn't necessarily justify the quite significant price difference to the simple Blu-Ray.

Besides the new adventure, the disc also has a picture-in-picture featurette with storyboards, interviews and more, an audio commentary by the filmmakers, three featurettes worth watching on the making of the film, some unfinished cut scenes, amusing clips created for the Winter Olympics, and some interactive games for little Blu-Ray fans. The DVD, on the other hand, contains only the audio commentary and two of the featurettes.

Conclusion: "Dragon Taming Made Easy" is a wonderful animated film for the whole family, with the enchanting story absolutely at the forefront - not a given in this genre. Technically, the Blu-Ray and DVD are very well done, but the full bonus package is only available on the expensive double combo and not on the single discs. For those who are satisfied with the film and the reduced extras, the single discs are a good choice. But if you want to call the new short film and all the extras your own, you unfortunately can't get around this variant.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp