Dragones: El regalo de Furia Nocturna

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!

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.

Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (2011)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Very entertaining spin off from HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON has the viking town of Berk about to celebrate their winter holiday when everyone notices that the dragons are all missing. The children of the village set out to try and locate them and see what's going on. DRAGONS: GIFT OF THE NIGHT FURY is without question one of the better shorts that Dreamworks have released over the years. A lot of this is due to the terrific screenplay, which comes up with a very entertaining story full of wonder, imagination and action. I thought the visual style of the film was also a lot better quality than what we've seen in some of the shorts from the studio. I've often felt that some of the shorts look their smaller budgets but that certainly wasn't the case here because the look was quite professional and right on target with the original film. I thought the look of the film was exception and especially the scenes where the dragons are flying around. I can't (or won't) spoil the ending with what happened to the dragons but it was quite funny and especially the aftermath. Fans of the feature should really love this short but even if you're not familiar with it there's enough entertainment here for two movies and this comes highly recommended.

This is an alright addition to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. Taking place between the first and the second, it focuses on a winter holiday. It is pretty much a counterpart to Christmas in this franchise. Dreamworks seem to do quite a few Christmas based specials about their franchises. Though they might always not be about a holiday called Christmas since the culture their films are based on or the one they made, they're Christmas counterparts that are meant to be for the Christmas season. I haven't seen anything Christmas from Pixar for their franchises. It would be good if they did do a couple Christmas specials.

I do like to see more Nordic based content. When it comes to mythological based content, there seems to be more Greek based than Norse based. How To Train Your Dragons is way more Norse based, even if it doesn't feature the gods.

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.