Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (2011)

Expected more

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

While the original movie and its sequel were both excellent, this short is a huge disappointment; a bland kids' movie with an inane story and little of the humor and excitement of the features.As the short begins, all the dragons fly off. The kids are sad, and wonder where they've gone, but they don't do anything to try and figure it out. If this were a two-hour movie, it would turn into the adventure of someone trying to find them, but it's 20 minutes, so they don't have time for anyone to even wonder too deeply.************** SPOILERS ******************** There are other things in the movie that don't make much sense. One kid chains up his dragon to prevent it from leaving, but it's unclear how he would know he needed to chain it up. When the dragon is set free, it flies off to join the others, even though the others had flown to an island to lay eggs, and this dragon had laid its eggs where it was chained (which means it simply left them behind without a thought).And while the protagonist could have used his disabled dragon to follow the others, instead he makes it a way to fly off on its own. And it follows a different course than all the others, which doesn't really make that much sense either.

These days went their is a hit animation film, not only will there be a slew of sequels there will be bonus short films as well that turn up as DVD extras or made for television specials to keep the franchise name going.The Toy Story and Shrek films do it. The How to train your Dragon films have followed with the CGI short, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury. Following from the original film where the Vikings now have dragons for pets who nearly all disappear during the holiday season of Snoggletog leaving the Vikings bemused.Toothless gets a new tail to allow him to be independent but he flies off as well and is thought to have disappeared. However the kids hatch a plot to find out what has happened to them.The short will keep the children largely entertained, adults who have not seen the original film will be left bemused. The quality of the animation is very good though.

can be a lovely Christmas movie. because it has the entire spirit of holiday, remember a splendid movie events, gives to the original few original lines and preserves its air.and atmosphere, humor, the characters are at right place. a film who has the role of gift more than second part of a real good movie. more human, in same measure nice, impressive animation and inspired lesson about life. it is short and not so great but it is touching and gives a not bad story, a frame for the source. and, more important, seems be a nest for a lot of adventures and amusing situations. it is not the original. but it can be seed for another impressive part.

The original "How to Train Your Dragon" was a dandy film and I thought it was the best full-length animated film of the year (though it lost the Oscar to "Toy Story III"). It was very original and had absolutely gorgeous CGI. "Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" is a recently released short based on the characters from the film and comes on a disk with another short (a far inferior one, if you ask me)."Gift of the Night Fury" occurs following the original film--and now it's common for the Vikings to have dragons as pets. However, when their big holiday of 'Snoggletog' arrives, it coincides with a VERY strange thing--nearly all of the dragons fly off--disappearing for some mysterious reason--which isn't discovered until much later in the film. Another plot line involves Toothless getting a new tail--one that SHOULD enable him to live independently. But, there is a surprise catch... I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil it.In many ways this is like a Christmas short--without Jesus or any of the other Christian trappings (since these Vikings are of the pagan variety). It's quite enjoyable...and even a bit heartwarming at the end. But, it's not exactly original and isn't so amazing after you've seen the original film. But, the animation is very nice and it's well worth seeing if you are a fan of the film. Cute.Merry Snoggletog, y'all!