OK, here's a question for you: If a company brings back a popular series/character, are they making the fan-base/audience happy or are they in it simply for the money? This is an excellent and far-reaching conundrum. In some cases, it's very clear when a "money-grab" is taking place. At other times, one feels that a genuine affection for the characters is at work, and the powers-that-be are actually trying to please the viewers. With that, I give you Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury, which is truly a judgment call. It's less than one would expect, and yet, still fun.

Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury is a truncated sequel to the 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon (which has now been abbreviated to simply "Dragons" in this case). The Viking village of Berk is about to celebrate Snoggletog, their annual holiday tradition, and this year's celebration is especially festive, as everyone is very pleased to be at peace with the dragons. Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) loves spending time with his dragon, Toothless, and his friends -- Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera), Snotlout (voiced by Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Tuffnut (voiced by T.J. Miller) and Ruffnut (voiced by Kristen Wiig) -- feel they same way about their winged companions. But, the entire village in thrown into turmoil when all of the dragons suddenly fly away. The Vikings, who have grown accustomed to their new friends, are both confused and sad. As Toothless can't fly without Hiccup, he is left behind, and as the one who opened communication with the dragons, the townspeople look to Hiccup for answers. The solution will be something which is both mysterious and wonderful.

The Blu-ray Disc doesn't give much indication of this, but Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury is simply a 22-minute holiday special. I can't accuse Paramount/Dreamworks of any sort of false advertising here, but one must really scan the back of the box to note the 22-minute running time, and I feel that many consumers will pick this up thinking that it's something more. Yes, they'll know it's a direct-to-video product, but many will probably expect something which is at least an hour long. (The "Book of Dragons" co-feature is prominently promoted on the box, but, as you'll see below, it plays like more of a bonus feature.)

Once you're armed with that knowledge, Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury is a pretty good special. OK, this is a short one-shot, which will no doubt be shown on television as a holiday special sometime in the near future, but it is a quality piece of work. For starters, it's nice that Dreamworks was able to bring back all of the original primary voice cast from How to Train Your Dragon. This may seem like a small thing, but if you're a fan of the movie, it makes it easier to jump into this piece. Secondly, the CG animation looks very good. It's a notch below the feature film, but just a small notch, as it's very detailed, and moves very fluidly.

The makers of Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury made the very wise assumption that the very had seen How to Train Your Dragon, so the short takes off quickly without losing ground with recaps or character introductions. True, this many stymie newcomers, but it works to the show's advantage. Gift of the Night Fury also understands what was appealing about the feature film and promotes those attributes here. The cat-like behavior of Toothless is very endearing (especially if you are a cat lover), and we get a healthy dose of that here. There is a nice amount of slap-stick comedy and some good one-liners. Overall, the story is a bit pedestrian and predictable, but the Snoggletog celebration is kept very low-key and there's not elbow to the ribs "Hey, it's Christmas! Get it? Get it?!" happening.

I'll admit, I was taken aback by Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury's brief running time, but it's still a fun and charming piece. Is it worth the current full retail price? Only if you are a die-hard fan of How to Train Your Dragon. Otherwise what we have here is a nice, but short sequel which plays like a made-for-TV special (which is what it probably is). This is akin to when a band follows an album with a 4-song EP. It's good, but you may want to wait for the next full-length release.

Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury made me realize that I still can't believe that he lost his foot on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The special has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 31 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. I can only assume that this is a digital-to-digital transfer, as the picture looks great. The image is very crisp and there is a nice amount of depth here. The picture is very detail and we can easily make out the dragon's scales. The colors look great and the image is never overly dark or bright. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.2 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The surround sound effects are nicely done, most notably during the flying sequences. A scene of destruction in the village brings us a nice combination of stereo effects, as commotion takes place off-screen, and subwoofer, as explosions rock the area. These effects are detailed and we can pick out individual sounds.

The Dreamworks' Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. "Book of Dragons" (17 minutes) is actually meant as a co-feature here, but it plays more like an extra. This short combines animation from the film, along with hand-drawn animation, as it uses the story of the original dragon scholar to give us information about the different kinds of beasts. This is sort of interesting, but it really drags. "The Animators' Corner" offers a picture-in-picture feature in which we watch Gift of the Night Fury along with the animators, as they explain the motivations behind particular shots. We also get storyboards as well. "Ultimate Book of Dragons" is an interactive feature which takes us inside the "Book of Dragons" and allows us to read more about the various types of creatures. "Gobber's Training Secrets" (2 minutes) contains six very brief chapters in which each of the main characters is shown working with their dragon. We get four DELETED SCENES from Gift of the Night Fury which run about 5 minutes, complete with introductions from Director Tom Owens. These are all in pencil and ink test form. "Spot the Difference" is a set-top game, while "Learn How to Draw: A Baby Gronkle" (6 minutes) has Owens sketching one of the characters.