I took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon" yesterday: a great story, beautifully done. Maybe it just proves I'm a big kid (or that having kids I see a lot of kid movies) but the films I've enjoyed the most over the last few years have been kid movies - most of the Pixar stuff is indispensable.

This one comes from the 2nd place CGI-animation house - Dreamworks. These are the Shrek guys. And, since the Shrek franchise has sagged a little lately, my expectations for "Dragon" were... medium.

But this was Dreamworks in top form - the Dreamworks that gave us the first Shrek movie and Kung Fu Panda. Just awesome.

I'm reviewing this movie here because as I was watching I realized the contribution of a particular sub-set of geekdom - particularly roleplaying gamers.

Very mild spoilers coming up.....

The movie is about Vikings living under the scourge of a particularly nasty group of pests - Dragons. Dragons in many varieties. Being literate in this society is not exactly the most important skill. If you can wield an ax, a hammer, a bow, or some other variety of weapon - great - if not, try to help out at the blacksmith's hut. Being a smart Viking... well, what's the point of that?

Within the story some past Viking had begun writing, in effect, a Monster Manual. In the manual each variety has different capabilities and vulnerabilities. The book even recorded the number of times a dragon can shoot fire during an encounter. I laughed at one dragon fighter trainee quoting these stats like a gamer each fight. And then, the protagonist - a different sort of Viking who relied more on wits than brawn - began adding what he came to know about dragons to the Manual. He was, in effect, updating the game system. And the importance of balanced parties was an important plot point also.

The nods to RPGs and wargaming was subtle, but there. Good geeky stuff, beautifully done. The kids loved it and, obviously, so did I.