GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This 13-minute animated short movie does not even feature the dragon main character from "How to Train Your Dragon". instead it is all about the Boneknapper as the title already suggests. Gobber is almost obsessed with finding it and the kids just cannot take him seriously. I have to say this was a fairly forgettable effort for the first half in terms of drama and humor, but when the Boneknapper actually entered the picture it became a lot more entertaining. I did not like the way they animated the tales that Gobber narrates at all. Of course, they have to make it look differently from the usual animation here, but they could have come up with something better than that. Boneknapper, on the other hand, is nicely animated and the story around it is a bit predictable, but still not bad at all. Also nice is that the voices of all the actors from the real movie, including some big names, are included in here. It's a decent watch I might say. Not a must-see by any means, but nicely done all in all. Oh yeah, now there are a couple more short films out there about this franchise, a television series and of course a second movie. A third will follow. Give these a chance if you enjoyed the first "How to Train Your Dragon" movie. I personally would love to see Boneknapper in the third film. I kinda like the character. Oh yeah final note: The director here, John Puglisi, also worked in the art department of several animated films including HTTYD. You can check out the other ones on his filmography. As director in charge, however, he has not been too prolific to this day.

bob the moo 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?

Caleb Stevens 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.

Elayis See, now this is what you get when you inject British humor into a film primarily viewed by Americans. They don't get it. I haven't laughed so hard since I last watched Monty Python or read a Douglas Adams novel (or maybe a Doctor Who episode).This short was definitely quite outlandish and different than the feature film. And guess what! It was supposed to be! This being a short film, it allowed the filmmakers to get away with a lot more creativity and freedom than a big blockbuster would've allowed. It seems that any idea, no matter how ridiculous, that leapt to the writers mind ended up on the page. And it was damn funny, too. So get over yourself people and enjoy the ride.I actually enjoyed these 16 minutes more than the entire theatrical film. And it was all because of The Mighty Craig Ferguson. God bless him. Watch his show. Or you're a terrorist.