Gift of the Night Fury is a 2011 computer-animated short film by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Tom Owens. It was released on November 15, 2011, on DVD and Blu-ray, along with another original animated short film Book of Dragons.
Based on How to Train Your Dragon, the short takes place in the middle of preparing for the Viking winter holiday. After all dragons inexplicably fly away, the last one of them unwittingly kidnaps Hiccup.
The film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T. J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Plot[]
- “This is Berk, boasting the kind of balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that will give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday. We call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery. But with the war long over and dragons living among us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember.”
- ―Hiccup's Narrative.
The film opens similar to the first movie, with Hiccup providing a narration about the upcoming Snoggletog festival being one to remember now the war between the Vikings and the dragons came to an end.
Hiccup is promptly woken by Toothless jumping on the roof, grabbing his helmet and heading out flying with his friend (almost slipping on ice along the way but quickly caught by Toothless). They practice a trick they worked on for some time during their flight, Hiccup stands on the saddle as Toothless approaches an arch of stone and jumps over it as Toothless passes underneath. Hiccup lands on Toothless and reopens his tail fin finally pulling it off, as the other villagers put up Snoggletog decorations with the help of the dragons. While Stoick proclaims how this'll be a wonderful Snoggletog, all the dragons in the village hear a distant roar; the villagers witness flocks of dragons flying high past Berk.
One village dragon makes a similar roar, at which all of Berk's dragons also take off, to the shock and confusion of the Vikings. Hiccup and Toothless come back from their ride, when they fly straight into the storm of oncoming dragons, knocking off Hiccup's helmet into the ocean. Although Toothless attempts to get the helmet back, Hiccup decides it's best to return home to figure out what is going on.
After landing, Hiccup is immediately bombarded with questions about where the dragons have gone, but he has no idea. Stoick calls everyone to the Great Hall to discuss further plans and Hiccup and his friends walk outside. Astrid tries to keep up the Snoggletog cheer, Tuffnut remarking how it must be nice for Hiccup to have a dragon that can't go anywhere without the rider. Hiccup looks at Toothless staring sadly out to sea on a cliff.
The next morning, Astrid came up with a new drink called "yak nog", (a version of egg nog) which she hopes to become a new Snoggletog tradition. Snotlout, trying to get on her good side, tries some and silently regrets it, especially since he has to swallow it instead of spitting it out in front of Astrid. Fishlegs is at first eager to try some, but awkwardly declines after Snotlout shakes his head behind Astrid's back, warning him the concoction isn't fit for human consumption. The twins refuse based on the smell alone, so she goes to see Hiccup.
At Gobber's smithy, Hiccup builds something for Toothless. He came to agree with what Tuffnut said, as Toothless not being able to fly like other dragons wasn't fair to him. Therefore after working all night, he came up with a new tail which allows him to fly by himself. Astrid is impressed, but wonders out loud for briefest of moments if the Night Fury would never return, then rejects the notion. After spitting out the yak nog he accepted from Astrid, her words are in the back of his mind, but Hiccup takes a calming breath and takes the automatic tail to put it on Toothless.
After he succeeds, Toothless doesn't like the feeling of the new contraption and tries to fling it off; when he extends his tail fin on reflex, he stops in surprise when the auto tail also opens and realizes what it's for. After looking at Hiccup for a few moments, Toothless takes off, leaving Hiccup saddened at his sudden departure.
Three days later, Hiccup gets up, hearing a thumping noise on the roof. Thinking it was Toothless, and falling on the patch of ice again, it turns out the noise was Stoick putting up decorations. Stoick reassures his son Toothless is probably with the other dragons, and since he couldn't find Hiccup's helmet, he reminds him to get it as that's where Odin puts their presents.
Hiccup walks along with a pair of oars on his shoulder, intending to row out and fish his helmet out of the sea when he bumps into Fishlegs coming up from the docks, who acted suspicious the past few days. Observing him carrying a basket full of fish, Hiccup remarks it's enough to feed a dragon. Upon Fishlegs' nervous reaction, he follows Fishlegs to a barn where Fishlegs' Gronckle, Meatlug, is chained up to prevent him from leaving. As soon as Hiccup opens the doors, he immediately flies out, snapping the chain and taking Hiccup along with him to parts unknown.
Fishlegs and Astrid see Hiccup fly away, and head into the barn where Meatlug was being held captive with the twins and Snotlout. As Astrid yells at Fishlegs for basically kidnapping his own dragon, Tuffnut notices objects obscured in a pile of straw. To their surprise, they find out Meatlug laid eggs, making "he" into a "she." Astrid realizes the dragons took off for the same reason, to lay their eggs. She has the idea to wrap up the eggs with ribbon and put them in the other Vikings' homes as gifts for another Snoggletog tradition.
Hiccup is taken to an island full of their dragons, quickly realizing they come here to lay their eggs. A Gronckle pushes her eggs into water, hatching into little baby Gronckles with a light explosion, safely damped by the water. Hiccup notices a missed one, which promptly explodes in his face when he bends down to get it, knocking him back. He comments it's a good thing those don't hatch in Berk, information the blissfully unaware Astrid could of used back home.
The teens finished placing the last eggs and talk about how this was a great idea, until one egg explodes and its occupant is propelled at high speed into Fishlegs' face. It doesn't take long until every other egg hatches and sets fire to some houses, and the big wooden Snoggletog tree. Noticing the teens standing there, Stoick demands an explanation.
Hiccup looks around the island for a bit and finds Stormfly (Astrid's Deadly Nadder), Hookfang (Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare), and their own babies. Determining he ought to go home for Snoggletog, he persuades Hookfang for a ride as the other dragons follow with their hatchlings in tow despite Hiccup's protests not to, inadvertently starting the return migration. The hatchlings fly for a moment, but being so small, the wind blows them back to the island. After a few seconds of thinking, Hiccup remembers something from when he flew to the island and gets an idea about what to do.
In Berk, repairs are being made. Stoick rants about how this is a horrible Snoggletog until everyone stops working, staring off into the distance. They see a huge cloud of dragons with Hiccup, carrying an old Viking ship with ropes Hiccup saw on the way there. The ship carries all of the dragons' hatchlings, allowing them to safely return home. Everyone congratulates Hiccup on a job well done, and reunite with their respective dragons. Soon, they all celebrate in the Great Hall on Stoick's statement of the fact they finally have something to celebrate considering this year's rotten luck at Snoggletog. Hiccup looks around, smiling at the returned dragons and the babies, but is still without Toothless himself. Astrid comes and sympathetically congratulates him as well, giving him a quick kiss and a hug. He asks her about Toothless as she sees the Night Fury pushing his way past the door of the hall behind Hiccup.
Astrid teases him about how she wouldn't want to be him at the moment, seeing as how he brought back everyone's dragon, except for his. Hiccup replies sarcastically, until Astrid excitedly turns him around to see Toothless, who he runs up to and hugs. He scolds the dragon for a moment (who gets distracted by Hiccup wagging his finger) until he notices something in Toothless' mouth. Toothless plops the object onto his head, getting Hiccup wet with drool, but revealing he found the Viking's lost helmet: he worried about the helmet and the auto tail gave him the freedom to look for it the entire time he was gone. Hiccup gives him another hug in gratitude as Astrid exclaims, "Happy Snoggletog!"
The next morning, similar to the opening except for the fact he apparently decided his helmet is better left at home, Hiccup wakes to find Toothless placed his old tail and saddle out in front of him in the snow. Hiccup says how Toothless has a new and better tail now, but instead of letting Hiccup get up on his back, Toothless keeps persisting. Eventually, the dragon looks back at his new tail and smashes it into the ground, ignoring Hiccup's protests as he flicks it far away behind him. Toothless picks up and places the saddle on the snow in front of Hiccup and nudges it towards him, eyes round with request. Realizing Toothless would rather fly with him, as opposed to just carrying him like all the other dragons, Hiccup is all too happy to go out for another flight. The two of them perform another daring trick as Hiccup ends the story with another narration:
"Winter in Berk lasts most of the year. It hangs on with both hands and won't let go. And the only real comforts against the cold are the those you keep close to your heart. Turns out, that was the best Snoggletog ever. That year, I gave my best friend a pretty great gift. He gave me a better one."
Voice Cast[]
- Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Haddock III
- Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast
- Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch
- America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman
- Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson
- T. J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston
- Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston
Gallery[]
Home Media[]
Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15, 2011 along with Book of Dragons. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD as part of the DreamWorks Holiday Classics. It was re-released on DVD on October 1, 2013 along with Shrek the Halls, Merry Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda Holiday, and The Croods.
External links[]
Gift of the Night Fury on Wikipedia
Gift of the Night Fury on IMDb- Gift of the Night Fury at the How to Train Your Dragon Wiki
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