Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon

As with so many animated films, How to Train Your Dragon created this short film I presume to go on the DVD as an extra. The plot is that the gang of children set out in search of a completely mythical dragon called the Boneknapper – a dragon only known via the highly dubious stories told by Gobber. While the main parts of the short are CGI, the stories snap into a nicely effective cartoon style which I liked as it differentiated it from the "reality" of the rest of the film. I can understand why some would see these sections as "cheap" because they clearly are less expensive to produce, but this didn't mean that this was the motivation – it worked as a device for me, not as a cost-saving.

The plot is simple and most of the laughs do come from the exaggeration in the story-telling in the cartoon sections. It isn't great but I did like the "and what came rising out of the water/volcano/ice" bits as they were out of nowhere and consistent. The rest of it comes and goes pretty quickly though and I certainly don't think the short is worth making an effort to seek out and it certainly doesn't stand up to the standard of the main film. But as a throwaway extra on a DVD? Sure, why not?

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010) is the first short film in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and it was fun.

Positives for Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010): This short film does its job at giving you enough entertainment in this franchise. The Boneknapper Dragon is a cool idea and it looks good. The humor was very good. You get a solid chase sequence at the end. And finally, the ending was nice.

Negatives for Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010): This short film exists to capitalize on the success and fandom of the first movie in the franchise. I did have fun with this short film, but you can tell this was obviously a cash grab for DrewmWorks.

Overall, Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010) was a good short film on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and that is cool.

This is a How to Train Your Dragon short. Gobber claims that a Boneknapper Dragon burned down his home. Nobody believes that species exists. Gobber sets off to find the elusive dragon which uses old dragon bones as armor. Hiccup and his friend join him to ensure his safety. Gobber tells them about hammerhead whales and hammerhead yaks in his previous encounters with his Boneknapper Dragon. This is good solid fun. It's absurd and funny. It fits the franchise nicely.

WARNING YOU MUST WATCH THE FULL LENGTH MOVIE BEFORE WATCHING THIS SHORT!!! Let me start off by saying I'M A HUGE FAN OF THE FULL LENGTH MOVIE!!! I was so excited to see a short film. The movie started out good just like the original but then when Gobber (Craig Ferguson) starts telling his stories it turns into this crappy cartoon, that looks like the Garfield cartoon. It spends 5 minutes of it in this cartoon. The cartoon's were funny but it should have been done just like the other 11 minutes of it! It was funny especially Fishlegs, he's so nerdy and voices his character perfectly! The dragon looked really good! But, this movie still had some cheesy factors that the original did not have. This short was good I just expected more out of it because the original was so good. But, it wasn't a waste of sixteen minutes.

This animated short is a sequel to How to Train Your Dragon and released as a DVD extra.

The film follows Hiccup and his friends accompanying their mentor Gobber on a quest to kill the mythical Boneknapper Dragon.

The dragon is recalled by Gobber in some dubious stories which we see presented in traditional 2D animation. I presume using such as animation technique was also quicker and cheaper to produce.

The normal story is done in CGI. It is amusing enough for kids and I liked the voice acting of Craig Ferguson who plays Gobber the Belch.