Wulfila, this is one for you

I went to see “How to Tame Your Dragon” yesterday and was absolutely charmed.  I think if you like dragons and heroes who don’t quite fit in because they’re too clever and too wimpy/compassionate for their culture then this one is for you.  Toothless the dragon completely steals the show, and I wish I could find a clip of the bit where he draws a kind of maze around Hiccup (Hiccup the Viking, that is) which the boy has to negotiate before the dragon decides to allow the human to touch him.

It struck me as one of the best love scenes I’d seen in a long time, this literal dance of trust and learning to accept each other’s boundaries, and it’s amazing to see how much emotion and communication can be done without any words at all.  (Not, I hasten to say, that I’m thinking of slashing boy/reptile, but just that there is no doubt whatsoever that the quality of the friendship between the two of them is the kind of deep link that Anne McCaffrey’s books try to establish between her dragons and their riders and she never quite achieves in such an obvious way.)

Anyway – funny film.  Comedy Vikings who nevertheless have a touch of grandeur, a surprisingly likable hero, and one of the coolest movie dragons ever.  Actually all of the dragons in this film were great, but Toothless was definitely the star.

Blue fire, and that jet intake sound just beforehand?  Awesome!

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