How to Train Your Dragon (film)

''This is about the film. You maybe are looking for the book or website.''

How to Train Your Dragon is a computer animated comedy adventure movie loosely based on the book by Cressida Cowell of the same name. The film was directed and written by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and stars Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Craig Ferguson. The film was released on March 26, 2010 by DreamWorks Animation / Paramount Pictures, receiving very positive reviews. It grossed an estimated $43.3 million dollars in its opening weekend.

With the success of the film, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg formally announced in The Hollywood Reporter that How To Train Your Dragon will be further developed as a major media franchise for the company. DreamWorks have announced a 2013 sequel, a television series, an online interactive simulation, and a live touring show.

Plot
How To Train Your Dragon is centered around a teenaged Viking named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) who lives on the island of Berk with the rest of his tribe. Over the course of 7 generations, Berk has been continuously raided by dragons of all different species, prompting a war between them and the tribe. Like every other young Viking on Berk, Hiccup is expected to fight and kill a dragon in order to be considered a true Viking. However, he is very small for a Viking his age, can hardly lift and use traditional Viking weapons and also has a tendency to cause accidents. His father Stoick the Vast, who is also Chief of the tribe, tries to keep Hiccup indoors as often as possible.

During one particular attack on the village while working in Gobber the Belch's workshop, Hiccup decides to prove himself as a Viking and capture a dragon using his own methods rather than standard Viking brutality. Using a bola shot from a cannon he built himself, Hiccup is overjoyed when he hits a dragon in mid-air, thinking that it is the rare and dangerous Night Fury. No one else in the village believes him because no one has ever even seen a Night Fury, yet alone brought one down. Hiccup decides to go to the forest at Raven's Point to bring back the dragon's heart as proof to Stoick. Stoick and Gobber discuss Hiccup's behavior, after a meeting is held in the main hall, and how to make him into a proper Viking. Although initially hesistant, Stoick agrees to enlist his son into Dragon Training in the hope it will toughen it up before preparing to lead an expedition to take out the Dragon's Nest. {C {C Despite being told to go home, Hiccup disobeys his father and heads out to the forest. He searches for some time but cannot seem to find where the dragon went down. Luckily, Hiccup manages to find a broken tree and churned up ground, leading him to the downed dragon which is tied up in the bola shot. He attempts to cut out the dragon's heart with his knife, but notices how afraid the dragon is of him and can't bring himself to kill it. After cutting it free from the ropes, the Night Fury pounces on him and roars angrily before attempting to fly off into the trees. Hiccup faints from the encounter.

On the first day of Dragon Training, Hiccup is nearly killed by a Gronckle after a rather sudden start to their teaching from Gobber, prompting the other students to make fun of him. Gobber states he was lucky because a dragon "always goes in for the kill". Hiccup then returns to where he found the Night Fury, wondering why it didn't do the same to him. Following the path the dragon flew off to, Hiccup notices that half of the Night Fury's tail fin was torn off in it's crash and cannot exit the small cove which it has become trapped in. Attempting to finally record some actual information about Night Furies, Hiccup drops his pencil and alerts the dragon to his presence. Curiously, the Night Fury only stares him down and makes no attempt to attack.

After barely surviving a Deadly Nadder in Dragon Training shortly afterwards, Hiccup attempts to get closer to the dragon. The Night Fury cautiously takes the offering of fish using its retractable teeth and then regurgitates some of it for Hiccup to eat. To stay on good terms, Hiccup eats the fish with some disgust and is surprised to see the dragon attempt to imitate a smile. However, his attempts to touch the Night Fury cause it to fly off to the other side of the cove. Later that same day while attempting to sleep, the Night Fury is curious that Hiccup hasn't left and walks over to see the boy drawing an outline of the dragon in the dirt. Curious about the drawing, the dragon snaps off a tree branch and attempts to do the same, making deep impressions in the ground of random scribbles to try and draw Hiccup. Hiccup is amazed by it and takes care not to stand on the drawing before finally getting close enough to the Night Fury to touch it.

Hiccup continues Dragon Training along with several other teenagers in the village and continues to prove he is unable to accomplish even the most simple tasks necessary to fight dragons. One night after such a battle, Hiccup learns from Gobber that a dragon without it's wings cannot fly, explaining why the Night Fury can't leave the cove. Hiccup attempts to get the Night Fury, which he names Toothless, to fly again through the use of an artificial tail fin. It soon becomes clear after a test run the design needs improvements and that Toothless cannot fly on his own. Through testing new versions of the fin, Hiccup begins to learn things about dragons from experiences with Toothless. He ends up pushing a Hideous Zippleback into it's cage through learning the dragon's distaste for eel and also incapacitates a Gronckle using knowedge of Toothless' love of garlic grass. The other Vikings of Dragon Training continue to watch in awe as Hiccup continues to improve his skills. He uses an observation of Toothless chasing beams of light like a cat to lead a Terrible Terror away from the group and incapacitates a Deadly Nadder by scratching it below the chin. Shortly after, Hiccup perfects his design of the fake fin and helps Toothless take a sucessful flight around the island.

As Hiccup starts to become very popular with his technique of incapacitating dragons rather than killing them, Astrid, one of the other teenagers in Hiccup's training, notices his strange behavior of leaving after every session. After losing out on the right to kill their first dragon in a final test, an angry Astrid follows Hiccup to the small cove where he is planning to leave Berk with Toothless to avoid taking part in his final exam. Toothless, thinking that Astrid is a threat, attempts to attack her and subsequently making her find out about Hiccup's relationship with the dragon. In an attempt to keep Toothless a secret, Hiccup stops Astrid from telling the Vikings and offers her a ride on the dragon's back to show her that he means no harm. Astrid accepts Hiccup's offer, but a cautious and annoyed Toothless fakes extreme attempts to throw her off. After Astrid admits she's sorry for what she tried to do, Toothless stops his acrobatics and takes them on a calming romantic flight above the clouds. Astrid's view on dragons is changed and she comes to think that Toothless is amazing.

Hiccup and Astrid are both surprised when Toothless suddenly changes course and begin to fly alongside other dragons that are carrying food to their Nest. Toothless follows them and hides as Hiccup and Astrid discover that the dragons are not eating their kill themselves. Instead, they are feeding it to the Red Death, a huge Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus. The dragons are forced to feed the Red Death with what they steal from Berk or else they will be eaten by it instead, as proven with an unlucky Gronckle. After they escape the Nest and return home, Astrid promises to keep Toothless a secret and punches Hiccup in the shoulder for "kidnapping" her before kissing him on the cheek for "everything else".

Stoick returns from his unsucessful attempt to find the Dragon Nest and is surprised to hear how well Hiccup is doing in Dragon Training. His son is placed into his final test to become a Viking: kill a Monstrous Nightmare in the battle arena. Instead of killing it however, Hiccup tries to tame it to prove that the dragons are not dangerous creatures. His father's insistence of killing the dragon scares the Monstrous Nightmare into attacking Hiccup. Toothless hears his human friend's cries of fear from the cove and rushes to save him, managing to climb out of the cove walls by himself and run through the forest. Astrid enters the battle arena in an attempt to save Hiccup, but fails to fight off the Monstrous Nightmare. Stoick helps Astrid to get out of the arena but Hiccup is stopped short when the dragon blocks him from escaping. Toothless arrives in the nick of time and saves Hiccup by fighting away the Monstrous Nightmare. The other Vikings realize that Toothless is a Night Fury and jump into the arena to capture him. In defence, Toothless begins to attack the Vikings, including Stoick, to stop them from harming his human friend. Hiccup tries to order Toothless to leave before he is captured, but Toothless' strong devotion to protecting Hiccup causes him to stay put. Hiccup barely manages to stop Toothless from using his fire on Stoick before the Vikings eventually overwhelm him.

Hiccup tries to explain to his father that dragons are nowhere near as harmful as they think they are, but Stoick refuses to listen, outraged that his son has befriended his enemy. During his attempt to explain, Hiccup accidentally mentions the Dragon's Nest and says only a dragon can enter the Nest, giving Stoick the idea to use Toothless as the ticket to get there.

Hiccup tries to explain again to his father why the dragons were so fierce when they took the Viking's livestock, attempting to mention the Red Death and it's treatment of the dragons. Stoick refuses to listen and simply says to Hiccup that he is no longer considered his son.

The Vikings prepare themselves and leave to fight the dragons, keeping Toothless chained up aboard one of their ships. Hiccup watches them leave from the village's harbor as Astrid encourages him to do something. Asking why Hiccup didn't kill Toothless, Hiccup explains that he saw Toothless was just as afraid as he was and realises the mess he's caused from being the first Viking in 300 years who wouldn't kill a dragon. Astrid's words convince him to do something to get back Toothless. He teaches the other Vikings to ride the other types of dragon in the arena before they then follow the others to the Dragon's Nest.

The Vikings reach the Nest using a shackled Toothless as a guide and use explosives to blow a hole in the Nest's lower base. Upon doing so, they enrage the Red Death, causing it to break through the walls and attack the Vikings. This sets all of the Viking ships on fire, including the one Toothless is chained up on, leaving them with no escape. Stoick realises the scale of the fight and tries to sacrifice himself along with Gobber to let the others escape. However, both he and the Red Death and halted in their efforts when Hiccup and his friends arrive on dragonback.

Whilst the other Viking teens keep the Red Death at bay, Hiccup attempts to resuce Toothless from the burning ship he's trapped on and almost ends up drowning along with his dragon friend. Stoick, amazed at what Hiccup and his friends have done, dives down and saves them both from the water. After apologising to his son, Stoick watches as Hiccup climbs aboard Toothless and tricks the Red Death into flying after them. After leading it up high enough into the clouds, Toothless' fake tail fin is set alight but Hiccup manages to fire a blast of fire into the Red Death's mouth, setting its insides on fire. As the huge dragon crashes and explodes, Hiccup is knocked off when Toothless is unable to turn away from hitting the Red Death's tail. Seeing Hiccup fall towards the flames beneath, Toothless dives into the inferno of the Red Death's exploding body to save him. After smoke from the battle clears, it is shown that Toothless survived, with his fake tail gone and his saddle empty and burned. Everyone believes Hiccup has been killed in the explosion, reducing Stoick to tears. He apologizes, saying how sorry he was for not listening to his son. Toothless sees this and unfurls his wrapped up wings, revealing he has an unconscious Hiccup safe and sound.

Hiccup wakes up in his bed at home, surprised that Toothless is in his house is to joyfully greet him. As he gets out of bed, after being licked by Toothless, he discovers that he has lost his left foot in the battle against the Red Death, which has been replaced by a prosthetic made by Gobber. Toothless helps him walk outside and Hiccup is surprised to see that the Vikings have invited the dragons to live in the village. Hiccup is welcomed back as a hero and Astrid gives him a kiss on the lips after punching him for scaring her. After Toothless is fitted with a new fin and saddle, Hiccup, Astrid, and the other Viking teenagers ride their dragons through Berk as the new age of a Viking and Dragon alliance begins.

Trivia

 * Although based on the children's book by Cressida Cowell, the film adaptation of How To Train Your Dragon has many fundamental differences in the setting and the way the characters are portrayed. It is said to be the prequel to Cressida Cowell's books, since the books have Vikings and dragons friends already.

Differences From the Novel

 * In the book, Toothless has no teeth, hence his name. In the film, he gets his name from his retractable teeth.
 * In the book, Toothless is a Common Dragon who is small enough to fit on Hiccup's shoulder. In the film, he is a Night Fury, the rarest and most intelligent dragon, who is large enough to allow Astrid and Hiccup fly on him.
 * In the book, Toothless is believed to be dead, although he is in a coma. In the film, it is Hiccup who's believed to be dead after fighting the Red Death, although it was revealed that he was simply unconsicous.
 * In the book, it is part of tradition to train a dragon or become exiled. In the film, it is part of tradition to kill a dragon.
 * Astrid doesn't exist in the book.
 * In the book, Fishlegs is Hiccup's best friend and is skinny. In the film, he is a minor character and is chubby.
 * Common Dragons are replaced by Terrible Terrors.
 * In the book, Red Death is replaced by Green Death, although they are both Seadrangous Gigantous Maximus dragons.