‘How to Train Your Dragon’

Decisions, decisions: Dragon slayer or dragon whisperer?

Such is the what-to-do dilemma faced by Hiccup, the young hero of "How to Train Your Dragon."

The movie's title alone should clue you to Hiccup's decision in a 3-D animated romp that plays like a Viking version of "Lilo & Stitch."

Which hardly seems coincidental, considering that directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois directed the 2002 animated tale of a plucky Hawaiian girl who inadvertently adopts, and then tames, an extra-terrestrial creature.

Although the setting -- the ancient land of the Vikings -- is far different, this adaptation of British author Cressida Cowell's book recounts a similar story, albeit with less humor and more derring-do.

Indeed, there's so much action -- and so many scary-looking dragons -- that the PG rating (unusual for an all-ages animated feature) should be taken seriously by parents with nightmare-prone toddlers.

Of course, they're not the only ones frightened by dragons.

The ancient Vikings also have a horror of them. No wonder they're the primary prey for the fierce fighting folk whose motto is "It's only fun if you get pain out of it!"

And no wonder Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (voiced by "She's Out of My League's" Jay Baruchel, Hollywood's nerd du jour) feels out of place.

The scrawny misfit ranks as an embarrassment to his father, the aptly named Stoick the Vast. (Mucho macho Gerard Butler supplies Stoick's brawny brogue.)

As village chieftain, Stoick has apprenticed Hiccup to blacksmith Gobber (voiced by dependably daft Craig Ferguson) because his son's definitely got the wrong stuff as a potential dragon slayer.

But dragon tamer? That's another matter -- especially when Hiccup wounds a stealthy Night Fury dragon with a homemade weapon and discovers that he's rendered the creature flightless.

For most Vikings, that would be a cue to hack the wounded beastie into little beastie pieces. But for Hiccup, it's a cue to fashion a new tail wing for his victim -- and help him fly once again.

Together, Hiccup and the Night Fury he dubs Toothless forge a devoted bond -- because dragons aren't really the fearsome killers the Vikings have made them out to be.

The lessons Hiccup learns from Toothless come in handy when Hiccup joins his fellow trainees (voiced by, among others, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig) in the ring, proving you don't have to slice and dice dragons when you can train them to respond to your soothing commands.

Those lessons also come in really handy when Hiccup's father and his fellow fighters find themselves confronting the real enemy: a monstrous, dino-sized terror who's enough to petrify even the fiercest dragon.

Throughout "How to Train Your Dragon," writer-directors DeBlois and Sanders conjure a visually striking world, made all the more striking thanks to visual consultant Roger Deakins, the Oscar-winning Coen brothers' brilliant resident cinematographer.

Indeed, "How to Train Your Dragon" is one animated movie where the background images are at least as interesting -- and sometimes more interesting -- than what's in the foreground.

In part, that's because the movie's human characters are a relatively characterless lot, rarely developed beyond their defining clichés, from Stoick's blowhard aggression to Hiccup's kinder, gentler instincts.

Fortunately, the animators manage to inject a lot more personality into the movie's dragon menagerie -- especially the endearing Toothless, who looks like a giant winged gila monster and acts like a mischievous puppy. That is, when he's not soaring aloft with Hiccup on his back.

And when they take to the skies, "How to Train Your Dragon" truly takes off, spiriting audiences along on an exhilarating flight of fancy.

If only it didn't take quite so long for them (and the movie) to get off the ground.

Contact movie critic Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.