Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010 TV Short) User Reviews (13)

Not on par with the original, but still a very good CGI short to watch

[gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 · 8/10 · 10 September 2011]

Let's just say I'm a fan of the original. Everything about it was amazing. The plot, characters, voice acting, animation, action, humor, heart and music score were so good it will always be highly recommended for both kids and adults as one of the best animated films ever made.

When I heard that Dreamworks made a short film like this one, I became very interested and watched it a few times to make sure it doesn't disappoint me. The reason why it was because I was disappointed with one of the user comments in this short. I mean, sure it's a short film, but that does not take away everything that I like about it.

First, there are two problems that I do have with this short. 1) The humor was okay, but there were barely a few jokes even though some of them gave a few chuckles here and there. 2) The tone for HTTYD was dark and very mature which was one of the few reasons why that movie was a success. The tone for this short, however, was a little bit dark, but I guess it was fine.

Everything else turned out great. I enjoyed the 2D animation sequences of how Goober met the Bone Knapper Dragon. Although it kind of reminds you of a Garfield cartoon, at least it was good. The computer animation, characters, voice acting, the story and the action were impressive.

LOTBD isn't on par with the original, but it is a very good CGI short made for kids and it's really worth watching.

P.S. I don't have the short film on DVD (save the original on DVD almost a year ago during Christmas break), but I think I'll get it someday.

8.2/10

A good short but no Toothless

[MihaiSorinToma · 8/10 · 8 September 2017]

Hiccup and his friends embark on a quest to find the legendary Boneknapper dragon, which, as told by Gobber, tried to get him and his treasure numerous times. It's a short story from the "How to train your dragon" universe and although Toothless is missing, it manages to be quite entertaining through its cartoony inserts. It's finale is a laugh and predictable but it's a good short overall. Nothing out of the ordinary unfortunately.

Missed Toothless. How to train your dragon is nothing without toothless.. Toothless is the main hightlight of the movie

[sajedabegum-77468 · 6/10 · 8 July 2022]

It's fantastic. Others were so good... And I'm writhing this review cause they Won't let me watch it without the review... Aish.... How the review is even matter? Other than that I love the movie.

Good, for 11 minutes

[stevenscaleb98 · 21 February 2011]

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.

Toothless is not the only mystic dragon out there

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 28 June 2015]

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.

fun little adventure

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 1 September 2019]

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.

Them dragon bones

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 1 April 2015]

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.

It was good!

[shuvcat-1 · 10/10 · 14 November 2010]

I imagine the one poor review below was due to the reviewer believing (as I did) that LOTBD would be another feature film like HTTYD. True, it turns out to only be a short, but for what it is it's very good! No, the "stars" are not the main characters Hiccup and Toothless from the first film, but is that so strange? Lots of shorts spotlight secondary characters from the original movie. In this sequel, Gobber goes on a hunt for his old nemesis, the Boneknapper Dragon. He enlists Hiccup and the other junior Vikings, none of whom are quite sure the so-called "Boneknapper" even exists. Since the focus is on Gobber this is Craig Ferguson's party and that's just fine with me; his performance was awesome in the first movie, and here his expressive rantings narrate the growingly ridiculous exploits of Gobber perfectly. The plot is pretty much the same as HTTYD's but that's not such a bad thing. All around, it's a charming little extra chapter of the wonderful original film.

Four Words: Hammerhead Whale & Hammerhead Yak

[Elayis · 10/10 · 21 January 2011]

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.

So Funny!!!!!!!!!!!

[stringycas · 10/10 · 30 April 2022]

This is a wonderful little short story, which gives an in depth look at a much loved character, filled with barrels and barrels of laughs!!!!!! Its so hilarious!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Gods, what have they done?!

[Velvet_Nightmare · 1/10 · 9 January 2011]

Let me start out by saying that I'm a huge fan of the original HTTYD film. The plot and characters, the voice acting, the visuals, and the score were all superb and I rank the movie highly amongst all of the animated films I've seen.

I'm aware that this is supposed to be a "short film" and not a full- length sequel to the movie. However, that is no excuse for throwing together a half-arsed job in an attempt to milk what looks to be a very promising franchise. If I could erase my memory of viewing this short, I would. Let me break down everything that was wrong about this "film" for you:

The plot: Technically, HTTYD is a "family" movie aimed towards kids; I get that. However, being in my 20s I still found the original story to be highly enjoyable (if a bit predictable) but still with a respectable level of emotional maturity. Still, the dialogue was witty and the story flowed well. I'm well aware that you can't do much in the span of 15 minutes, but the story in LOTBD was embarrassingly juvenile such that anyone over the age of seven would find "uncool" to watch. Did they hire the same writers? Jokes were lame, and everyone's personalities were reduced to stereotypes. Toothless had more of a cameo than an active role, despite the fact that he is one of the principal characters. Heck, the hammerhead sharks and yak had more screen time (take from that statement the content of the plot)! The film was more about Gobber, who I found to be quite funny in the original but I hated how he was portrayed here as a paranoid, stubborn, bumbling oaf.

The visuals: This was what shocked me the most, aside from the horrendous script writing. What happened?! The original movie had absolutely mind-blowing visuals; the details they put into both the characters and environment were stunning. The environments were incredibly stale and unpolished, like something I would have expected from the 90's in terms of quality. And to cut even more corners, they stuck in some lame 2D schlock-fest to fill up about half the time.

The score: I loved John Powell's soundtrack to the movie. It's on my iPod and I've listened to it about a dozen times. To make it even more obvious that this film was a last-minute idea, they didn't both to re- hire Mr. Powell to create a new score, and they instead re-used everything from the original. I was looking forward to hearing some more original stuff, but it became a predictable disappointment.

Frankly, I'm also disappointed with the voice actors that they would lend their talents to such a shoddy production. If the quality of this film is a preview of what I can expect from the second and third full- length sequels, then Dreamworks will have lost my support for this once- promising franchise.

Amusing supporting short film but nothing special

[bob the moo · 26 January 2013]

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?

A Horrid Slap in the Face to fans.

[shadowotaga · 1/10 · 11 November 2010]

I can't quite put into words how much I was disappointed in this.

I love HTTYD, especially for the flight and fight scenes, I enjoyed the dialog and the film was fun.

This "film" doesn't deserve to be packaged with HTTYD. It does literally EVERYTHING wrong. All the character don't interact with hiccup except for one scene, he's just there because he has to be, and of coarse he has the "smart" part at the end.

Toothless is seen for approximately 10 seconds and only in the background! he was the true star of the original film, the only reason to leave him out would be to cut cost due to animating him. He doesn't do anything funny, make a sound, or interact with anyone. They get him in the film in the beginning and thats it.

All the shots are static and simple, no artistic merit behind them at all, the background seemingly thrown together in 5 minutes by a studio intern.

The dialog, dear god the dialog is atrocious, consisting mostly of clarifications and terrible puns.

Gobber: "A BONENAPPER!"

Ruffnut: "A whatnapper?"

It's so atrociously bad that I'm actually saddened the original voice cast returns. It shows me they will lend there voices to anything as long as they are paid.

Do not watch this, it will be very painful to anyone over the age of 3.