Dreamworks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” shares more than a few similarities with a certain blue-man adventure that recently broke a gazillion box office records.

Both “Dragon” and James Cameron’s “Avatar” follow a hero who bonds with a skyscraping lizard, fights against his own people and tries to save a race of misunderstood creatures.

The big difference: “Dragon” is fun, exciting and, thankfully, about an hour shorter than the overrated Oscar nominee.

“How to Train Your Dragon” doesn’t tell a particularly original story beyond its novel subject matter of Vikings vs. Dragons. And while it sometimes resorts to familiar kiddie-movie story techniques, the characters are developed enough to add relevance to the film’s spectacular flying sequences.

The story follows young Hiccup (voice of Jay Baruchel), a total mess-up of a Viking who dreams of becoming a ferocious dragon-hunter like his tribe-leader Dad (Gerard Butler). Just when expert trainer Gobber (memorably voiced by talk show host Craig Ferguson) lobbies for Hiccup to join the dragon-slaying course, the young upstart finds a captured dragon in the forest. Rather than killing the creature, Hiccup sets it free and realizes the fantastic animal (Name: Toothless) poses no ill will toward humans. And with the proper training and a saddle, Toothless can be an even cooler pet than a snapping turtle or cockapoo.

The story inevitably leads to several aerial flights and firefights. Whether seen in 3D or traditional format, “Dragon” is a visual assault. As the film goes on, the dragons get bigger and the action gets more intense.

While “Avatar” had some mighty nifty action scenes as well, “Dragon” provides some context and humanity to the onscreen mayhem. Hiccup’s relationship with his father is believably conceived, and his potential love interest (voiced by America Ferrera) contributes much more than a standard romantic subplot. Even though all the characters are animated, there’s much more personality on screen than the photo-realistic “Avatar.”

Directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders brought similar pathos to their 2002 2D Disney effort, “Lilo & Stitch.” Their most refreshing contribution to the film is the casting. Yes, there are a number of celebrities in the cast, but unlike several other Dreamworks films, the voices fit the characters. They sound like the right actors for the job instead of the right actors for the advertising campaign.

“How to Train Your Dragon,” while somewhat conventional on the story front, is still one of the better efforts from Dreamworks. It also clocks in at a reasonable 90+ minutes, well short of that extraneous “Avatar” count. “Dragon” may be advertised as just kid-stuff, but it will also fill that spring craving for screen spectacle that won’t insult your intelligence.

Grade: B+