- “One adventure will change two worlds.”
- ―Tagline
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 American computer-animated action fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation based on the 2003 book of that same title. The film is directed by Lilo & Stitch directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who worked at Disney. The film stars the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, T. J. Miller, and Kristen Wiig.
The film was released on March 26, 2010. It received widespread universal acclaim and was a commercial success, grossing $494 million worldwide against it's $165 million budget.
A sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, was released on June 13, 2014.
Synopsis[]
Hiccup is a Norse teenager from the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. His progressive views and weird sense of humor make him a misfit, despite the fact that his father Stoick is chief of the clan. Tossed into dragon-fighting school, he endeavors to prove himself as a true Viking, but when he befriends an injured dragon he names Toothless, he has the chance to plot a new course for his people's future.
Plot[]
Hiccup is the only son of the Viking Chief on the island of Berk, beset by dragons that raid their sheep stock. Hiccup works as an apprentice to the blacksmith. Hiccup explains to the viewer that he is a small Viking, and doesn't have the strength or skill his fellow Vikings have, and is somewhat overlooked and not taken very seriously among his tribe. He also explains that his tribe celebrates strong dragon slayers, and he desperately seeks to become one. His father does not wish for his son to be hurt, especially because he doesn't have the strength to survive, and generally avoids having him included in the more violent aspects of the tribe.
During a raid, Hiccup shoots down a rare and greatly feared dragon called a Night Fury with a bolas cannon that he made, but no one believes him. Attempting to get proof, Hiccup goes to the woods and finds the downed dragon, but cannot bring himself to kill it. He frees it and it aggressively sizes him up before flying off to a canyon.
Stoick enrolls Hiccup in dragon training with the other village youths and leaves with a search party of Vikings to find the Dragon’s Nest, in order to wipe them out and finish the war. After being told that dragons are vicious and will always "go for the kill," Hiccup returns to the forest, wondering why the Night Fury didn't. The Night Fury is still trapped in the canyon, and is missing a part of its tail from the previous crash landing, leaving it unable to fly properly. Hiccup decides to befriend the dragon, which he names Toothless, and eventually fashions an artificial tail fin and control harness. While helping Toothless fly again, Hiccup gains an extensive appreciation of dragons. With this knowledge, Hiccup is able to progress in dragon combat training to the amazement of his classmates and the jealousy of Astrid, who becomes strongly suspicious. He is given a book by Gobber that contains much knowledge of the different species of dragon that assail the village, and he quickly finds through his own interactions with the dragons that the information within the book is wrong.
Stoick and his army return battered and tired, without having found the nest. However, Stoick's spirits are lifted when Gobber and others begin congratulating him on Hiccup's rise as a formidable warrior. Feeling a chance to bond with his son, Stoick honors Hiccup with a Viking helmet made from half of the breastplate of Hiccup's late mother.
When Hiccup earns the right to kill a dragon as a graduation rite, he decides to leave Berk with Toothless to avoid performing such an act. Astrid follows him to the hideout and discovers his friendship with the dragon. She tries to run back to the village, but Hiccup and Toothless stop her by picking her up and flying her to the top of a nearby tree, where she is stuck. Hiccup asks for a chance to explain, and they take her for a ride. In their flight, they get caught in a herd of dragons carrying food and follow them to their nest. They discover that the dragons steal food to feed a much larger, parasitic dragon (aka the Green Death, called the Red Death in the film) that eats them if they do not provide enough food. After they leave, Astrid wants to tell the village of the nest's location, but Hiccup decides against it to protect Toothless. Astrid agrees to keep quiet for the night.
The next day, during Hiccup's graduation, he throws down his weapons and tries to show everyone that dragons are not as bad as they seem. Stoick shouts to stop the battle before Hiccup can continue, and the agitated dragon attacks Hiccup. Toothless hears Hiccup's screams and rushes to save him. He quickly overpowers the dragon, the Vikings sent to capture him, and finally Stoick. He opens his mouth to kill the tribe leader, but at the last second, Hiccup screams "No!" Toothless backs off and becomes tame and docile and is quickly pinned by Vikings. Stoick confronts Hiccup angrily at learning about his son's friendship with a dragon. Hiccup accidentally tells him that he has been to the nest, and Stoick decides to use Toothless to lead them there, ignoring his son's desperate warnings about the nest's true danger and disowning him in the process.
The Vikings set sail with Toothless, leaving Hiccup with Astrid. He notes that this situation would not have happened if he had killed Toothless initially, but he also discovers that he was merciful towards Toothless because of compassion, not weakness. Invigorated, Hiccup decides to use the dragons the Vikings use for dragon-fighting practice to fly to the nest to help his tribe. Astrid gathers fellow classmates Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, and Snotlout to help and mount the training dragons and set off after the Vikings.
As the Vikings arrive at the nest, all the dragons flee the island in the resulting attack, and the roused giant dragon sets all the boats on fire, including the one to which Toothless is chained. Hiccup and the others arrive, and while he goes to free Toothless, the others try to distract the giant dragon. As the boat is sinking, Hiccup tries to free the still-chained Toothless but nearly drowns. Stoick saves both his son and Toothless. Before Hiccup flies off on Toothless to fight the Red Death, Stoick apologizes and states that he is proud to call Hiccup his son.
During the aerial battle, the Red Death and Toothless face off. The Red Death burns away Toothless's prosthetic wing, but Hiccup manages to get Toothless to set the Red Death's insides on fire. The Red Death then crashes to the ground, causing an explosion. Hiccup is knocked out and falls into the explosion and Toothless dives in to save him. Stoick searches the rubble for his son but only finds Toothless; at first, everyone thinks Hiccup has died in the explosion, but Toothless reveals that he saved Hiccup by wrapping him in his wings.
Hiccup reawakens in his home some weeks later to find Toothless by his bedside. As he is getting out of bed, he realizes that his left foot was lost in the explosion and has been replaced with a prosthetic made by Gobber, parallel to the artificial tail-fin created by Hiccup for Toothless; outside, he sees that the Vikings have invited the dragons to live in the village. Hiccup is welcomed back as a hero and receives a passionate kiss from Astrid. After Hiccup gets a new prosthetic wing for Toothless, Hiccup and Astrid race their dragons through the newly-reformed Berk, signifying a new beginning for both worlds.
Voice Cast[]
- Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Haddock III
- Randy Thom as vocal effects for Toothless
- America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson
- Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast
- Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch
- Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman
- T. J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston
- Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston
- David Tennant as Spitelout Jorgenson
- Robin Atkin Downes as Ack
- Philip McGrade as Starkard
- Kieron Elliott as Hoark the Haggard
- Ashley Jensen as Phlegma the Fierce
See full cast at IMDB here
Production[]
In initial development, the plot followed the original novel closely but was then altered. About halfway through production, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the writer-directors of Disney's Lilo & Stitch, took over as co-directors. The original plot was "heavily loyal to the book", but was regarded as geared to a too-young demographic and too "sweet" and "whimsical", according to Baruchel. In the novel, Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is incredibly small for a dragon. In the film, Toothless is a Night Fury, the rarest of all dragons, and is large enough to serve as a flying mount for both Hiccup and Astrid.
The filmmakers hired cinematographer Roger Deakins (known for frequently collaborating with the Coen brothers) as a visual consultant to help them with lighting and overall look of the film and "add a live-action feel".
Reception[]
The film was a critically acclaimed triumph. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 98% critic score, based on 150 reviews, with an overall rating average of 8.0 out of 10.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- After the boy sitting on the moon in the DreamWorks Animation logo at the begining of the film flicks the fishing line, a black shadow can be briefly seen obscuring some of the stars to the right of the moon as it flies past. This is likely Toothless, as he is the only black dragon shown in the movie.
- This is the first time that DreamWorks Animation releases three films in the same year, while the other films are Shrek Forever After and Megamind.
- However, if films that were not released theatrically are taken into account, 2010 marks the second time DreamWorks releases three films in one year, with the first being 2000, which saw the releases of The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, and Joseph: King of Dreams.
- This was the first film to use the 2010 DreamWorks Animation logo until 2017's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
- This is the only How to Train Your Dragon film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
- This is also the second movie Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse were in together since 2007's Superbad.
- This is the 6th computer-animated film by DreamWorks Animation to be produced at their Glendale studio, along with Shark Tale, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens, the 7th if you count Flushed Away.
- This is also the 10th or 11th overall film produced by their Glendale studio, which also includes their four hand drawn films such as The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
- This is the second DreamWorks Animation film not to use the "DreamWorks Animation Presents" credit, After Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
- This is the highest grossing Dreamworks Animation movie that isn't one of the Shrek movies.
- Throughout the film, Hiccup was the only character who referred to Toothless by his name. This could be a reference to the first Shrek film. In that film, Donkey and Fiona were the one characters who referred to Shrek by his name.
- Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse were also in This is The End with Kung Fu Panda 2's co-stars; Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson. These co-stars also appeared in Shrek Forever After, which was released 2 months after the release of this film.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be released in the 2010s.
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