The Boy with the dragon pet too
ANIMATED ADVENTURE’S PLOT WILL BE FAMILIAR TO FANS OF HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON... BUT IT LACKS THE SAME MAGIC
BASED on German author Cornelia Funke’s best-selling 1997 children’s book, director Tomer Eshed’s computer-animated adventure glides in the slipstream of the vastly superior How To Train Your Dragon.
Both pictures chronicle the coming of age of an alienated boy through a touching friendship with a benevolent winged beast, which has yet to realise its potential in a cruel, unforgiving world.
For hundreds of years, dragons have lived in peaceful seclusion from destructive, avaricious humans.
Bottleneck (Glenn Wrage) presides over the last remaining herd in a valley, which is also home to creatures called brownies. When deforestation threatens their sanctuary, outcast silver dragon Firedrake (Thomas Brodie Sangster) and his brownie best friend Sorrel (Felicity Jones) plan to find the fabled Rim of Heaven, which wise elder Slatebeard (Peter Marinker) rhapsodises as “a paradise for dragons”.
Taking flight to a nearby city under cover of darkness, Firedrake and Sorrel seek temporary refuge in a riverside warehouse so they might consult an all-knowing oracle called “the internet”. Instead, they encounter an orphan named Ben (Freddie Highmore) and mistake the teenage thief for a mystical dragon rider. The bickering trio glean valuable clues about the Rim of Heaven from Australian conservationist Professor Greenbloom (David Brooks) and folklore expert Subisha Gulab (Meera Syal). Meanwhile, dragon-hunting behemoth Nettlebrand (Patrick Stewart) learns of their plan and gives chase.
Dragon Rider harnesses the vocal talents of its starry British cast to lend gravitas to a lightweight globe-trotting yarn that gently plucks heartstrings and occasionally dazzles with slick action sequences.
Comic flourishes in Johnny Smith’s script sometimes miss the mark and a protracted narrative interlude in India, which welcomes lively vocal sparring between husband and wife Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, unabashedly promotes lazy cultural stereotypes for easy laughs.
However, there is a big heart beating furiously beneath the film’s digitally rendered scales.
The execution may be a tad clumsy but director Eshed and legions of animators successfully claw their way to a crowd-pleasing resolution.
Dragon Rider doesn’t shy away from obvious comparisons and introduces the character of Ben during the red-carpet premiere of an animated film entitled How To Tame Your Dragon.
Firedrake is no match for the childlike wonder of How to Train Your Dragon’s titular beast Toothless and Highmore’s heartfelt vocal performance pales next to Jay Baruchel’s moving portrayal of Viking boy Hiccup in that franchise.
Judged on its own modest merits, Eshed’s odyssey boasts impressive visuals while Stewart roars through his supporting role with a generous serving of theatrical ham.
Streaming from February 12 on Sky Cinema