Thoughts on How to Train Your Dragon

April 2024

Hey guys!

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting bored with bare-minimum updates, so I may start sharing my thoughts on various books/movies I’m in the middle of.

Every semester for the storycrafting class I teach at the homeschool co-op my girls attend, I show a film and then we have a discussion about what principles of storycrafting the film uses (or doesn’t). It’s usually super fun!

This semester, we watched How to Train Your Dragon (1). I have yet to read the books, but I seriously love the movie. It’s so good! For those of you who have not watched it (is that even a thing at this point?), the first film is about two nations at war (the Vikings and the dragons) and the pair who create peace between them (Hiccup and Toothless). In some ways, it’s a platonic Romeo and Juliet. Hiccup is the son of a Viking chief and because he’s small, mechanically-inclined, and often creates mishaps, rather than large and focused on fighting, his father and his tribe doesn’t accept him. The film is a story of how that changes. The animation is beautiful. The soundtrack is epic–in fact, I regularly listen to it while I’m writing 🙂 The plot has great twists and turns and feels very satisfying. The character growth is great. The relationships are incredible. It’s really just a stellar film all around.

Some of the things I love about it specifically: I absolutely love the synchronicity of the beginning and the end. Hiccup’s little monologue about Berk and Vikings and the animals (“pests” in the beginning and “pets” by the end) is so genius. Not only are you given a ton of information in an engaging way for the set-up, but it provides this beautiful sense of closure at the end.

Another great storytelling technique that they used in this film is to imbue something with emotional weight by using it multiple times. So at the beginning, Gobber tells Hiccup that his father just doesn’t like “all of this” and Hiccup retorts that Gobber just gestured to all of him. In the end though, Stoick tells Hiccup that they just needed “more of this” and gestures to all of him. The phrase is used a couple of other times as well.

I also love the various character arcs. Watching Hiccup go from being unsure and wanting to be “one of them” in order to be accepted by his father and to get a girlfriend, to being confident on his own, and then finally brave and accepting of himself and willing to let other people in is so glorious. I also LOVE the relationship between Hiccup and his father. In the beginning, Stoick blames his son for their disconnection. It’s obvious from all the “you just gestured to all of me” moments and from how excited Stoick is to finally have something to talk to his son about once Hiccup supposedly aces dragon training. By the end though, Stoick takes responsibility for his part in the disconnection and apologizes for not accepting Hiccup the way he was. When he says, “I did this” it always brings tears to my eyes. Astrid’s responses are pretty great as well. She goes from contempt towards Hiccup to intrigue to respect and then attraction in believable ways. I very much appreciate that her character feels consistent despite the wide gulf between where her feelings start and where they end.

Hiccup and Toothless are also great together. The thought the creators put into making Toothless is mind-boggling. He’s so cat-like that it’s both fun and cute, despite him being one of the most feared dragon varieties. The scene where Hiccup and Toothless draw with a stick in the sand is lovely. Such a great way to show their connection.

The themes in this film are excellent as well. You have the “be yourself” theme because only when Hiccup embraces who he is can he save the people he cares about/succeed in his goals. The creators also went with the “love is stronger than self-protection” theme, which is one of my personal favorites. It’s so great when characters explore the greater capacity that comes with love. For example, Toothless is unable to get out of this valley on his own when he’s just doing it for himself. Later, however, he escapes the same spot when Hiccup is the one in danger.

Honestly, I think my only complaint with the film is that Hiccup says “it snows nine months out of the year and hails the other three” and the weather was nearly flawless the whole film. In addition, characters wander around without coats or long sleeves or in skirts (in the girls’ cases). 

If you haven’t seen this film, do yourself a favor and take time for it 😉

Now, as far as writing went, I got done with about 20 pages. Not ideal, but more than I would have done without the goal. I think I’ll keep that goal. So, May 15th, 40 pages.

Love you guys! See you next month!

Elizabeth