So, you and the family want to see How To Train Your Dragon, and now you have a newly-minted, dragon-obsessed youngster on your hands? Are various members of your family stomping around the house, roaring and pretending to burn things with their breath? Boy, howdy – have we got a list for you! So, following is our list of the 12 best dragon characters from TV, movies and books of all time arranged by the audiences they most appeal to.
For The Wee Ones
Fondness for fire-breathing, winged reptiles can crop up surprisingly early in life, so be ready to nurture it with age-appropriate fun. For the littlest dragons in your house, give these a go:
1. The Dragons from Dragon Tales – This light-hearted animated children’s television show follows the adventures of brother and sister Max and Emmy, and more recently, their friend Enrique as they use an enchanted dragon scale found in their playroom and a simple rhyming verse to transport themselves to Dragon Land, home of friendly dragons who have quirks and personalities all their own.
2. “Dragon” from the Dav Pilkey’s series of Dragon books – The author of the uber-popular Captain Underpants book series for children has written many fantastic books for youngsters, but none more charming than his Dragon series. Dragon is a simple, sweet, somewhat lonely fellow whose gentle heart shines from every page of these easy-to-read books. Titles include A Friend For Dragon, Dragon Gets By, Dragon’s Merry Christmas, Dragon’s Fat Cat and Dragon’s Halloween. Oh, there’s something else you should know about Dragon – just like Dav Pilkey himself, he LOVES ketchup. You won’t find a Dragon story that doesn’t include ketchup, somewhere!
3. Puff The Magic Dragon – Take a walk down memory lane with your wee ones with this animated classic from 1978. Jackie is a young boy painted into the corner of non-communication by his fears, and neither his parents nor his doctors know how to help him. Then, just as everyone has nearly given up hope of reaching out to Jackie, along comes Puff, the Magic Dragon. Puff takes Jackie to the land of Honah Lee, and together they overcome obstacles and share adventures, which only serves to bolster Jackie’s imagination and his confidence. Be sure to get the original, though – it’s the only one for which the wonderful Burgess Meredith voiced the role of Puff!
Girly Dragons
What’s that you say? You’ve got a pretty princess at home whose head is firmly in Fairy Tale Land? Well, dragons aren’t just for boys, you know. Here, let me prove it:
4. “Diane” from the movie Shrek- Yes, I know Shrek is an ogre, not a dragon. But Donkey’s super-sized love interest Diane is a dragon, and she saves the day more than once, to boot! While Donkey may be less than thrilled with Diane the Dragon’s tender ministrations, she is a fierce heroine to all the beloved main characters of the story, and even manages to do away with Lord Farquaad at the end in one very big bite!
5. “Millie” and “Audon” from The Dragon Princess and Dragon Kiss books by E. D. Baker – Part of the delightful Tales of the Frog Princess series, these two delightful tales focus on Millie, a beautiful princess…who happens to turn into a huge, terrifying dragon whenever she gets angry. As one might imagine, this pesky curse is making it difficult for Millie to find her Prince Charming. In Dragon Kiss, we meet Audun – an ice-dragon hopelessly in love with Millie. Audun must pass the challenges set forth for him by the Dragon King before he will be permitted to become human and finally allowed to woo Millie. Young ladies ages 9 and up will adore reading these tales, but girls even younger will soak up these stories when read aloud.
6. The Dragons from Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George – The first in a series of thoroughly winning books about a young lady named Creel, whose aunt is hoping to bring an end to their destitution by dumping Creel in the local dragon’s lair and hoping a rich prince will rescue and marry her. Creel rebuffs her arrogant royal rescuer and chooses instead to befriend the dragons and trust both her instincts and her burgeoning talents.
Movie Night For The Whole Family
Parents today will likely remember enjoying some or all of these classics as children, themselves. Share them with your own kids and watch them light up for these treasures of yesteryear:
7. Elliott from Pete’s Dragon – In this classic Disney film from 1977, a boy named Pete and his guardian dragon Elliott manage to elude the evil Gogan family, who use Pete essentially as a slave. Pete and Elliott find their way the town of Passamaquoddy, where the dragon inadvertently causes town gossip and rioting. Pete is sheltered by Nora and her father, Lampie, the proprietor of the local lighthouse. Dr. Terminus, a phony con artist posing as a doctor, sees Elliott the Dragon as the get-rich-quick solution for which he searches relentlessly. The mix of real-life actors and the animated Elliott make for a sweet and funny film that will charm your whole crew.
8. The Reluctant Dragon – Made in 1941, this is a wonderful look behind the scenes at the way the truly classic animated films were once made! Comedian Robert Benchley visits the Disney Studios to sell Walt on the idea of animating the story of “The Reluctant Dragon“. While evading an officious young studio guide, Benchley stumbles into various studio activities and departments, including an art class, a sound effects session, the multi-plane camera studio (at which point he notices the film has switched to Technicolor), the paint lab, a storyboard session for the “Baby Weems” segment and a screening of a Goofy cartoon. Finally, he catches up with Walt in a screening room just as he’s previewing the studio’s latest film… The Reluctant Dragon!
9. Bryagh and Smrgol from The Flight of the Dragons – This thoughtful animated movie from 1982 is based on the book of the same name by Peter Dickinson, whose character namesake is crucial to the storyline. The movie follows the decline of magic and the rise of science in respective kingdoms. An evil wizard named Ommadon (voiced by…trumpet flourish, please!…none other than James Earl Jones) seeks to bring war and chaos to the world. His three brothers share his wizardry, but not his penchant for evil. The good wizards enlist the help of a brave knight, a man of science (the aforementioned namesake for Peter Dickinson) and two exuberant dragons named Bryagh and Smrgol to defeat Ommadon. The voice acting alone is worth seeking out this treasure – it features Harry Morgan, John Ritter, Larry Storch and Victor Buono in addition to the irreplaceable James Earl Jones.
Advanced Dragon Studies
Since we’ve given ample attention to appropriate material for the true youngsters, let’s wrap it up with some suggestions that we do NOT recommend for the whole family. In each case, the imagery is probably too vivid, violent or overwhelming for young children…but each of these merits a place on the list for those old enough to handle them!
10. Draco from Dragonheart- Bowen is a cynical, disillusioned knight who seeks to destroy the dragon Draco (richly voiced by Sean Connery). Why? Because Draco saved the life of a child named Einon, who grew up to be the evil and tyrannical King Einon. When Bowen and Draco find themselves in a fight neither can win, they agree to join forces to stop King Einon and rediscover the virtues of honor, sacrifice and duty along the way. Made in 1996 with CGI that still looks great today, the film is rated PG-13 for scenes of war and violence that would best be seen by older children and adults.
11. The gang of menacing dragons from Reign of Fire – Set in a bleak future, the earth has been devastated by vicious, fire-breathing dragons. The few human survivors are grouped together in small, rag-tag tribes…one of which contains Quinn and a few others, holed up in a ruined castle in England. As a boy, Quinn watched his mother die while protecting him from one of the dragons. When a group of brash American rogues shows up, will they be able to work together to defeat the dragons and face their fears? This one is also rated PG-13 for scenes of intense action and violence.
12. Saphira from Eragon - Because reading will always beat movie-watching in terms of general awesomeness, let’s wrap this up with a recommendation to bypass the movie version and go straight for the behemoth of a book entitled Eragon. The debut novel by homeschooler Christopher Paolini became a smash hit worldwide after steadily gathering momentum from the time Christopher had begun writing it at age fifteen, through his parents’ decision to self-publish the tome, to the word-of-mouth wildfire that propelled his novel to the top of the charts. Young Eragon is a farm boy who finds what he believes to be a stone in the mountains near his home. In reality, the stone is a dragon’s egg, and the egg hatches to reveal the dragon Saphira (Paolini’s artwork of Saphira graces the cover of the novel). The evil King Galbatorix gets wind of Eragon and his dragon, and sets soldiers out to capture them both. Eragon and Saphira are forced to flee, and decide to try to locate the Varden, a band of rebels who seek to dethrone Galbatorix. Filled with myth and magic, the sheer size and complexity of this novel demands an audience of slightly older readers, much like classic Tolkien novels from which this book draws much inspiration.
Speaking of Tolkien, I’ll leave you with one last tantalizing tidbit: Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is producing a two-part epic film odyssey of The Hobbit set to be released some time in 2012…which means we can look forward to a big-budget rendition of the dragon that (arguably) started it all: the most maleficent dragon, Smaug. Happy dragon hunting!
