THANKFULLY, March didn’t prove to be the total abysmal month for movie as I had lamented about last week. March ultimately delivered two fine films: the Dreamworks’ 3-D animated “How to Train Your Dragon” and the historical drama “Vincere.”

“Dragon” immediately catches your attention with its fast, furious and full-volume open, with its Viking denizens under siege from yet another dragon attack. Led by the red-bearded, massive Stoick (voiced by Gerard Butler, very much in his element as he gnashes each line), the career path for the clan’s youth is mainly dragon slaying; in fact, the town has its own highly specialized trade school to support it. When we meet Stoick’s scrawny, American-sounding son, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), he’s truly of another time and place. He doesn’t fit in as a Viking and clearly would rather invent things than follow the town’s footsteps. One night, Hiccup takes his catapult slingshot and successfully hits and hacks off half a tail of a Night Fury dragon (one of many dragon types, but the most elusive as it can only be glimpsed as a purplish streak against the night sky). Hiccups later finds the dragon nursing its wound and a friendship begins as Hiccup helps rehabilitate the dragon he nicknames Toothless.

The film’s 3-D technology certainly enhances the story’s visual and visceral impact. During the dragon and boy flight sequences, “Dragon” feels like a soaring, exhilarating ride almost like no other film, making us keenly aware of nature’s wonder and vastness – land, sea and sky - and how they are experienced at different speeds. The bond that develops between Hiccup and Toothless is quite touching and deep, and the ending packs an emotional punch not anticipated at all.

“Vincere” (which means “win” in Italian) is a riveting story about Ida Dalser, the “secret” wife of a young Benito Mussolini in the early 1900s. Directed by Italian master Marco Bellocchio, the film stars the wonderful Italian actress, Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida, who bore the soon-to-be Fascist despot (played by Filippo Timi) a son before his political ambitions began to take hold and his “legitimate” wife became his public wife. Ida was sent to an insane asylum for demanding recognition of their marriage and the paternity of their son Benito Albino Mussolini, and refused to give up until she died in 1937. As an adult (also played by Timi), Benito Albino became vocal about his famous father and sent to an asylum where he died at age 26 in 1942.

Bellocchio beautifully blends his filmed sequences with archival newsreel heightening the drama, especially the overly dramatic tendencies of “Il Duce.” But it’s truly Mezzogiorno’s performance that provides the depth of Ida’s despair and determination - in every frame her eyes full of passion, rage and torment when dialogue is neither heard nor required. Timi may not resemble Mussolini but nonetheless astonishes as he channels both father and son.

“How to Train Your Dragon” is MPAA-rated PG (sequences of intense action, some scary images and brief mild language) and in nationwide release.

“Vincere” is not rated and in limited release. Also available “On Demand” on some cable systems.