How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 American animated fantasy film directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and written by Sanders, DeBlois, and Will Davies, based on the 2003 novel by British author Cressida Cowell. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, and T.J. Miller. The story takes place in Berk, a mythical Viking village. Hiccup (Baruchel), an undersized teen outcast and son of the village chieftain, wishing to become a dragon slayer like the other Vikings, injures a rare Night Fury dragon but refuses to bring himself to kill it. He instead helps and befriends the dragon, and quickly discovers that things are not exactly as they seem in the conflict between Vikings and dragons.
In 2004, the book series began attracting the attention of executives at DreamWorks Animation. After the success of Over the Hedge (2006), producer Bonnie Arnold became interested in the newly acquired property. The directors of the film wanted to ensure they took advantage of the improvisation abilities of the secondary cast by frequently bringing them together in the recording sessions. The filmmakers hired cinematographer Roger Deakins as a visual consultant to help them with the aesthetics of the film and to add a live-action feel. John Powell composed the film's musical score.
How to Train Your Dragon premiered at the Gibson Amphitheater on March 21, 2010, and was released in the United States on March 26 by Paramount Pictures. The film was a commercial success, earning $495 million and becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2010. It received critical acclaim and is frequently lauded as one of the best animated films ever made. It also received numerous accolades, including two Academy Award nominations, and spawned a multimedia franchise, including two sequels, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). A live-action remake was released in 2025.
Plot
The Viking village of Berk is frequently attacked by dragons that steal livestock and endanger the villagers. Hiccup, the 15-year-old son of the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast, is deemed too weak to fight, so he creates mechanical devices under apprenticeship with Gobber, the village blacksmith who is also Stoick's best friend and advisor. Hiccup uses a bolas launcher to shoot down a Night Fury, a rare dragon, during a dragon raid, but nobody believes him. He enters the forest and finds the Night Fury but cannot bring himself to kill the dragon. Instead, he sets the creature free. The Night Fury then suddenly pins Hiccup down, but to Hiccup's surprise, the dragon spares him.
Before leaving with his fleet to find and destroy the dragons' nest, Stoick enrolls Hiccup in a dragon-fighting class with fellow teenagers Fishlegs, Snotlout, twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid, on whom Hiccup has a crush. Facing little success in the class, Hiccup returns to the forest and finds the Night Fury in a cove, unable to fly because Hiccup's bolas tore off half of his tail fin. Hiccup gradually befriends the dragon, naming him "Toothless" after his retractable teeth, and designs a harness and prosthetic fin that allows Toothless to fly with Hiccup riding atop his back.
Learning dragon behavior from Toothless, Hiccup manages to pass the training by subduing the dragons, earning admiration from his peers but sparking suspicion and jealousy from Astrid. Stoick's fleet returns home unsuccessful. When Hiccup learns that he must kill a dragon for his final exam, he tries to run away with Toothless, but Astrid discovers them, and Hiccup takes her on a flight to demonstrate that Toothless is friendly. During the flight, Toothless is hypnotically drawn to the dragons' nest, where an evil gigantic dragon named the Red Death summons relatively smaller dragons to feed it copious amounts of live food to avoid being eaten themselves. Realizing the dragons have been forced to attack Berk to survive, Astrid wishes to tell the village, but Hiccup advises against it to protect Toothless.
In his final exam, Hiccup faces a captive Monstrous Nightmare and tries to subdue it to prove that dragons can be peaceful. When Stoick unintentionally enrages the dragon into attacking, Toothless arrives to protect Hiccup but is captured. Outraged, Stoick confronts Hiccup until he inadvertently tells him the location of the Dragon's Nest. Thinking Hiccup betrayed the village, Stoick rashly disowns his son for befriending a dragon and prepares the fleet using Toothless as a guide to search and destroy the nest after Hiccup tells him that Toothless brought him to the island. Astrid prompts Hiccup to realize he spared Toothless out of compassion, not weakness. Regaining his confidence, Hiccup shows his new friends how to befriend the training dragons, and they set out after their tribesmen.
Stoick and his Vikings locate and break open the dragons' nest, awakening the giant Red Death, which easily overwhelms them. Hiccup and his friends ride in on the training dragons, distracting the monster. Hiccup attempts to free Toothless, and Stoick, realizing his horrible mistake and his son was telling the truth, rescues and apologizes to both Hiccup and Toothless, telling Hiccup he is proud of him as his son. In a fierce midair battle, Hiccup and Toothless sets the Red Death's mouth ablaze, destroy its wing membranes, causing it to crash fatally and explode. Whilst escaping the resulting explosion, Hiccup gets knocked off Toothless. He is saved by Toothless, but loses his left foot in the process.
Some time later, Hiccup awakens back in Berk and finds dragons frolicking in the village and Gobber having fashioned new prosthetics for him and Toothless. Hiccup is now admired by his village, including Astrid, who at first punches him in the arm for scaring her before kissing him. Berk begins a new era of humans and dragons living in peace.
Voice cast
Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the awkward son of Stoick the Vast."Viking-Sized Cast", How to Train Your Dragon Blu-ray Randy Thom provides the vocal effects for Toothless, Hiccup's faithful Night Fury, and Stormfly, Astrid's Deadly Nadder. America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup's fellow student in dragon training and his love interest. Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, the viking leader of Berk and Hiccup's father. Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, Berk's blacksmith, a close friend of Stoick's, and teacher of the tribe's young dragon-training recruits. Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, one of Hiccup's dragon-training classmates. Snotlout is brash, overconfident, and fairly unintelligent, but reliable. Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman, an enthusiastic youth knowledgeable in dragon lore which he often relates in role-playing game style. Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut's quarrelsome twin sister. T.J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston, Ruffnut's quarrelsome twin brother. David Tennant as Spitelout Jorgenson, Snotlout's father. He is Stoick's aide and deputy. Ashley Jensen as Phlegma the Fierce, a female Viking. Robin Atkin Downes as Ack, a blond-bearded Viking. Philip McGrade as Starkard. Kieron Elliott as Hoark the Haggard, a Viking with a knotted beard.
Production
The book series by Cressida Cowell began coming to attention to the executives at DreamWorks Animation in 2004. Coming off her success in Over the Hedge, producer Bonnie Arnold shortly became interested in the newly acquired property. She kept focusing on the project as time went on, and when DreamWorks Animation co-president of production Bill Damaschke asked her what she wanted to work on next, she chose "How to Train Your Dragon".
Future Dog Man writer and director Peter Hastings was one of the original directors of the film following both DreamWorks vets turned directors: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron helmer Lorna Cook and future Turbo, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Under the Boardwalk helmer David Soren. Earlier versions of the film followed the novel closely but DreamWorks Animation decided that the story skewed too much towards younger viewers, which could negatively impact potential box-office revenue, and Cook, Soren and Hastings were respectively removed but received "Special Thanks" credit afterwards. Damaschke hired Chris Sanders to take over, who in turn called Dean DeBlois, with whom he had worked on Disney's Lilo & Stitch, to co-direct. The original plot has been described by DeBlois as "heavily loyal to the book," but was regarded as being too "sweet" and "whimsical" and geared to a younger demographic.First look: DreamWorks' 3-D 'How to Train Your Dragon' . USA Today. April 11, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2010. In the novel, Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is believed to be a Common or Garden Dragon, a small breed. In the film, Toothless is an injured Night Fury, the rarest species of all dragons, far faster, aerodynamic and more powerful than the other species, 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 to "add a live-action feel". Extensive research was done to depict both flight, as the directors knew they would be the biggest draw of the film's 3D effects, and fire, given animation could break away from the limitations seen in live-action films, where propane flames are usual due to being easier to extinguish. The dragons' designers made sure to create animals that were comical and also innovative compared to other dragon fiction. Toothless in particular tried to combine various dragon traits in a black panther-inspired design, that also had large ears and eyes to convey emotion better."The Technical Artistry of 'Dragon'", How to Train Your Dragon Blu-ray
The directors made sure to cash in on the improvisation abilities of the secondary cast—Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig and T.J Miller—by frequently bringing them together in the recording sessions.
Music
John Powell returned to DreamWorks Animation to score How to Train Your Dragon, making it his sixth collaboration with the studio, following Antz, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda (all of which he scored with either Harry Gregson-Williams and/or Hans Zimmer). Powell composed an orchestral score, combining bombastic brass with loud percussion and soothing strings, while also using exotic Scottish and Irish tones with instruments like the penny whistle and bagpipes. Additionally, Icelandic singer Jónsi wrote and performed the song "Sticks & Stones" for the film. The score was released by Varèse Sarabande on March 23, 2010.
Overall, the score was well received by film score critics. Powell earned his first Academy Award nomination for his work on the film, ultimately losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their score for The Social Network.
Release Theatrical How to Train Your Dragon had its United States premiere on March 21, 2010, at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, and was theatrically released on March 26, 2010, in the United States. It was originally scheduled to be released on November 20, 2009, but was pushed back to avoid competition with Planet 51 and other family films released in November. The film was digitally re-mastered into IMAX 3D, and released to 186 North American IMAX theaters, and approximately 80 IMAX theaters outside North America.