Come and re-live the Old Time Drive-In Movie experience at Uptown Station’s Central Park!
Tonight’s Movie is How To Train Your Dragon
Plot
Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the son of the chief Viking, Stoick (voiced by Gerard Butler), on the island of Berk. The Vikings have been plagued by attacks of dragons raiding their livestock and destroying their homes; Stoick has searched for the dragons’ lair in vain. Hiccup, scrawny and destructively clumsy compared to others in his community, attempts to compensate by building contraptions to kill dragons, specifically the most dangerous dragon known, the mysterious Night Fury, whom no one has ever fought and survived. He hopes to earn some respect from the village, most importantly from Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera), a competently aggressive girl of his age intent on joining the Viking ranks.
After the latest dragon attack, Stoick organizes yet another search for the dragons’ nest, while signing Hiccup up for dragon killing lessons with other children under the tutelage of Gobber (voiced by Craig Ferguson), the local blacksmith. Between lessons, Hiccup explores the nearby woods and finds that one of his inventions has indeed trapped a Night Fury, damaging its tailwing. Hiccup tries to kill it but cannot bring himself to do so, and instead cuts the dragon free. The dragon pins him down and roars at him but then disappears. Hiccup returns later to find the dragon cannot fly away from a small depressed glade due to the condition of its tail. Hiccup becomes friendly to the dragon, and over time he learns what actions please or distress the Night Fury. In understanding how he can make the Night Fury react, Hiccup is able to transfer this knowledge to his dragon training classes and “defeats” the foes Gobber sets on the class through pacification, becoming renowned in his community as a formidable warrior, much to Astrid’s dismay. Due to the dragon’s retractable teeth, Hiccup names the Night Fury “Toothless”.
Hiccup secretly fashions a make-shift prosthetic tail and riding assembly, allowing him to guide Toothless in free flight. Hiccup and Toothless develop a close bond over time, and Hiccup finds that other dragons can be similarly domesticated. One day, Hiccup finds Astrid spying on them; worried that Astrid will reveal this to the rest of the village, Hiccup has Toothless bring Astrid aboard, then shows Astrid the joys of flying. However, while soaring, Toothless finds himself lured along with a flock of dragons returning with stolen livestock, heading towards a volcanic island. Inside, they find the dragons fearfully serve a gargantuan dragon (a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus) living inside the island, feeding it the stolen livestock to avoid being eaten themselves. Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless escape and return to Berk. By this time, Stoick and the fleet have returned, having failed to find the lair themselves.
The next day, Hiccup is put to the final test, and when he refuses to kill the offered dragon and instead tries to pacify it, Stoick attempts to end the fight, scaring the dragon and putting Hiccup’s life in danger. Toothless hears Hiccup’s screams and saves his life from the other dragon, but is soon caught by the other Vikings. Hiccup is forced to reveal his training and the lair, and Stoick, after disowning his son, sets out with another fleet, using a chained-up Toothless to guide them. Left alone, Astrid helps the aggrieved and heart-broken Hiccup come to a personal epiphany that his empathy and daring inventiveness with Toothless are in fact strengths of a worthy warrior. Thus inspired, he convinces Astrid and the other teenagers to pacify and mount the other training dragons to set off to try to stop the Viking fleet, yet unaware of the giant dragon awaiting them.
The children are too late to prevent the Vikings from rousing the monstrous dragon against them, but they are able to delay it long enough for the Vikings to retreat safely, and for Hiccup and Stoick to free Toothless. Hiccup and Toothless lead the giant dragon on a dangerous flight, eventually into a direct descent to the ground. As the giant dragon nearly devours them, Toothless turns around and ignites the dragon’s breath; the dragon cannot stop and collides into the ground, killing it and releasing a giant fireball. Hiccup is struck in the head by the falling dragon’s armored tail, and Toothless saves his boy and protects him from the flames with his wings, much to Stoick, Astrid, and the other Vikings’ relief.
Some time later, Hiccup wakes up from the injuries and finds himself back in Berk. Toothless is in his home, and Hiccup finds out that he has lost his left foot and is now wearing a prosthesis built by Gobber. Whatever regrets he has are quickly forgotten when he exits the house to find that the Vikings and dragons are living together. Hiccup is celebrated as a hero by everyone, particularly Stoick and Astrid. Hiccup and Astrid race their dragons through the newly-reformed Berk, signifying a new beginning for both worlds.
[edit]
Cast
- Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. The earnest, talkative, bright teenaged son of the Viking chief, Hiccup plans to become a Viking warrior. Unfortunately, in the crude world of the Vikings, Hiccup’s sophisticated observations and sarcastic humor make him an outsider. Other contributing factors include his skinny, and far from muscular, figure. He ultimately becomes the first Viking in history to ride a dragon, although no one knows about it until later in the movie. His dragon and best friend is Toothless, a Night Fury. Hiccup also is in love with Astrid.[3]
- Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast: Stoick is the chieftain of the Viking tribe and Hiccup’s father. Immensely strong, utterly fearless, and a fierce warrior, he embodies the traditional Viking virtues. He does not understand his son. They have little-in-common and are complete opposites. Hoping to bring out the man in him, Stoick sends Hiccup into dragon training. Upon learning of his son’s friendship with a dragon, he disowns him, but has a profound change of heart in the climatic battle when he truly sees Hiccup’s wisdom and courage as well as Toothless’ unbreakable loyalty and love to his son.[3]
- Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, a close friend of Stoick and the seasoned warrior appointed to drill the new recruits. He runs a blacksmith shop where Hiccup is his apprentice. Gobber believes in “learn on the job” training, and dispenses questionable advice. He is missing his right foot and his left hand, the latter of which he has replaced with a variety of specialized prosthetics. In the ‘Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon’, it is revealed that Gobber has been running from a dragon that the other Vikings don’t believe exists. Apparently he is the only person to ever see the Boneknapper because his belt buckle (found in a treasure chest in the hands of a frozen Viking when he was Hiccup’s age) is the final bone the Boneknapper needs to finish his coat of skeleton armor. By doing this, it is finally able to roar.[4]
- America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson: Striking, energetic and tough, Astrid is a teenage embodiment of the Viking way. Her competitive, determined persona makes her difficult to impress, but Hiccup cannot help but try. Like all the other Vikings, Astrid at first dislikes Hiccup, although she never mocks him like others her age do. When Hiccup begins to show the strain of leading his double life, Astrid is the first to be suspicious after he starts showing her up in dragon training. After her terrifying, then exhilarating ride on Toothless she apologizes to Hiccup and, after a while, befriends both him and Toothless. Eventually, she grows to see Hiccup as a powerful Viking warrior in his own way, eventually falling in love with him, which leads to them sharing two kisses. She rides a Deadly Nadder.
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman: Hiccup’s other friend, Fishlegs normally acts nervous and frightened, but is smart and expresses his knowledge in role-playing game terms. He has memorized the manual of dragons, (saying he has read it seven times) and is able to figure out the weak points of the giant Red Death in the end.[5] His dragon is a Gronckle.
- Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson: One of Hiccup’s dragon-training classmates, Snotlout is brawny, boastful, dimwitted, and overconfident. Though he initially makes fun of Hiccup for being weak, by the end of the film he comes to respect Hiccup’s intuition, wisdom and bravery. He also seems to have an interest in Astrid and makes several attempts to impress her, but eventually concedes to her relationship with Hiccup.[3] His dragon is a Monstrous Nightmare.
- T. J. Miller and Kristen Wiig as Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston: Tuffnut the elder twin, a boy, and Ruffnut the younger twin, a girl, are fraternal twins. Both are thugs with ferocious intents and foul tempers, especially regarding each other. They, like all the other Vikings, made fun and laughed at Hiccup for all the trouble his clumsiness brought, but was later impressed by his sudden excellence in handling the dragons during their training sessions. Despite their rancorous relationship, they eventually flourish as a dragon riding team, each riding a head of a Hideous Zippleback.
- David Tennant as Spitelout: a Viking who is not named in the film, he appears to be Stoick’s Second-in-Command, and bears a striking resemblance to Snotlout, implying that he is Snotlout’s father. Spitelout is seen at the end of the movie with a Terrible Terror on his shoulder, as well. Tennant has previously narrated a series of Hiccup adventures on audio book.[6]
Every two weeks, through the summer, we show movies on Saturday night in Central Park. Usually we also show at least one movie per month during the winter too!
We have the Emerald Coast’s only giant 30′ inflatable movie screen, which we put up in front of the Flag Pole in Central Park. We have a great sound system, and in some movies you can feel the ground vibrate!
Folks bring their lawn chairs and blankets and spread out on the grass at Central Park to enjoy a wide range of family friendly movies. You can also sit in your car and listen to the soundtrack on FM 106.9.
There are always concession stands with drink and snacks, just as you’d expect. Plus of course, we have all the dining experiences at Uptown Station. Wine World Outlet open late on Movie Night and have a special selection for movie audiences, with cheeses snacks and non-glass containers.
Details of the upcoming movies are published on this website, in Upcoming Events, and the Events Calendar. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter so you’ll get updates and reminders. Check the calendar and Movie Nights info for details of show times, movie trailers and synopsis of the movies.
We’re always open to suggestions for what movies to show, so please send us your suggestions.
Most importantly, Movie Nights at Uptown Station are FREE!
In some cases of bad weather, we have to cancel the movie but we post updates on this site and we send out information on Facebook and Twitter.
The only things we don’t have at Movie Night are pets and glass containers, so please help us with that.