MOVIE REVIEWS: "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON"

Forget adults, what readers want to know is how their kids will react to a movie with the word “Dragon” in the title. And critics are providing the answer. Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times writes that the action scenes in How to Train Your Dragon will keep “the adrenaline pumping and the kids squealing (though not so scary that you can’t take most little ones).” Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News says that even small kids should appreciate “the sweet connection between a boy and his beast.” Moreover, he adds, “those older than 7 should have no problems at all, not even with a giant cave creature’s three-dimensional jaws.” Linda Barnard in the Toronto Star writes that the scenes in which the boy and his dragon take to the air “are pure, heart-stopping magic and two epic battles add a dose of action that will engage adults and older kids.” And Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun Times writes that while there’s not much to the story, “it’s bright, good-looking and has high energy. Kids above the easily scared age will probably like the movie the younger they are.” But Kyle Smith in the New York Post senses a hidden liberal agenda in the storyline to propagandize children. “Really, it’s never too soon to get your kids to accept that their own culture is pathetic,” he writes acerbically, “and that the alien one their society is at perpetual war with is really friendly, peace-loving and misunderstood.”