Monday marked the UK DVD release of, frankly, the best family film of the year. Audiences everywhere were invited back to the Island of Berk to join Viking Hiccup and his lovable Night Fury; Toothless the Dragon. If the first film warmed the cockles of your heart then the impressive sequel is sure to triple that then break you. It's a more mature and emotional story about a boy and his dragon that is also one of the best sequels of recent years.
As well as producing the two blockbuster Dragon films Dreamworks have also moved the Berk characters to the small screen for the Riders and Defenders of Berk series. Both are set in the five years between the features and focuses on how the village adapts to a life with dragons as friends not foes
As well as the series, if that were not enough, Dreamwork's produced shorts of the adventures between Hiccup and Toothless. Gift of the Night Fury follows the duo as as the Island of Berk prepares to celebrate Snoggletog, the Viking equivalent of Christmas. The boy and his dragon are closer than ever as the two rule the skies. Yet mysteriously all of the dragons fly away with no explanation. Toothless must stay as he cannot fly with out Hiccup. Testing their relationship to the limit Hiccup choses to build his best friend a new tail which allows him to fly away alone. But just where have the dragons gone and will them and Toothless return?
Where as you may expect a short to lack the quality of a full feature this is not so here. The animators have gone to great trouble to make sure every frame is just as accomplished as the film. The island is still detailed, the humans still life like and each dragon has been given character. With main dragon Toothless, his actions are once again based on those of a cat and dog. Majestic and powerful but mostly cute.
The voice cast of the film have all returned here led by Jay Barachel as Hiccup. Although the accents are mixed and not in keeping with the Scottish Viking setting they each suit their characters to a tee.
At twenty two minutes in may not have the full impact if the two films but if you need something to keep the Toothless withdrawal at bay till 2017 then this is for you.