Maturing With Your Audience - How To Train Your Dragon

“NOTE: Gahh, I thought I edited out that glitch around 4 minutes in, but apparently the original BTS footage was wonky and I didn’t even realize it. So, ignore that jump-cut and I hope you can enjoy the final product regardless!!!”

There is something about a coming-of-age story that can speak to a generation, regardless of story or medium. All you really need is a compelling, distinct character with a universal plight. The DreamWorks' How To Train Your Dragon Trilogy does all this and more by taking the character of Hiccup and taking him on a journey, not just through a single movie, but through a series of obstacles over the span of a decade.

Works Mentioned:

DreamWorks Animation Filmmaker Focus Panel at Comic-Con 2013 -

How To Train Your Dragon (1-3)
Directed by Dean DeBlois (1-3) and Chris Sanders (1)
Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and Gerard Butler.

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0

"How To Train Your Dragon" Score by John Powell

Edited Using - Da Vinci Resolve 15

[StormyKopaAMVs]

"I looked at him...and I saw myself."


This line always moves me, because like how Hiccup sees himself in Toothless, I also saw myself in Hiccup. He's the protagonist I didn't know I wanted, but something just clicked instantly the first time I saw the films.

[havenstreamwarriorsandmore]

**watches hidden world
*Sobs*
**Watches this video
*Sobbing intensifies*

[M-.-M]

I remember watching How to Train your Dragon on my 10th birthday, How to Train your Dragon after my 15th birthday and How to Train your Dragon 3 a little before my 20th birthday.

[amourtagabi]

I love how this trilogy is not scared of making sacrifices like that. First, Hiccup's leg, then his dad and lastly, Toothless. It's realistic that's probably why it really resonates with the audience.

[trintrin]

I cried when he let go of toothless. I was remembering when they first touch in the first movie. So deep 😭

[thelastholdout]

"There were dragons... when I was a boy... Where they went, only a few know."

For years on end, this simple sentence will cause people to spontaneously cry, and for good reason. This trilogy is a perfect emotional ride, and the closing out of the trilogy represents the loss of childhood innocence and the wistfulness that comes with it so well. None of us really understood until that moment that we were not ready for a world without dragons, and we will always feel their loss.

[camilaribeiras]

I cried in the trailer, I cried in the movie, and now Im crying in your video.
This movie is just great.

[Asterius_]

Everyone's already talked about this a lot but this movie is incredibly special to me.

The first movie came out when I was 9 years old and the last one when I was 18. Literally half my life, as I went from elementary school to starting college, these movies were always there. I'm so happy that I could grow physically and emotionally as a person alongside hiccup. It really is special.

[mustafasadoon]

I feel empty after httyd 3 and I’m sad to say that there will never be a story like that again. I watched the first part at 2010 when i was 7 years old and now that it ended after I became 16 now i will never be the same.

[reillytrammell]

I saw the first HTTYD in theaters shortly after I turned 7. Walking out, I told my parents that they HAD to make a sequel. My dad argued that there was nothing left in his story so there probably wouldn't be one.


I saw the second HTTYD in theaters a few months after I turned 11. I walked out, smug smile on my face as my dad finally accepted that I had called the sequel as a 7 year old. "But don't expect a third one, there's actually no where else to go now, he's grown up." he said as I rambled on about where the story could go from there.


I saw the third HTTYD in theaters for my 16th birthday. I walked out of the theaters crying and I turned to my dad, "That one. *That* was the end of the story." He agreed.

[LilEuphie]

The entire ending of HTTYD 3 had me bawling.

[whereisgamora]

Whoever produced the score for this movie deserves an Oscar, because that music be making me feel emotional and nostalgic as hell 😭😭😭

[SonOfZeusGaming]

15yo, 19yo, 24yo. I experienced this a little later than the 2000's kids, I'm more towards the Harry Potter gen. And I absolutely LOVE this Trilogy. This trilogy is the definition of masterpiece

[astaxnoelle]

Watching hiccup and Astrid together makes me feel so single.

[niiikolaiii]

"When I was a boy there were dragons" gives me goosebumps every time such an iconic line, that achieves a profound meaning thanks to the context. Always hits me in my feels man

[amogus]

bruh I cried harder at the end of the hidden world than I have at the end of any movie. I was beyond devastated, because I legit grew up with the series. it was so phenomenal, and I don't understand why this series seriously isn't one of the most popular animated movies of all time- frozen has absolutely NOTHING on this absolute masterpiece.

[bebesg]

Finally someone who talks about the growth of Hiccup and understands the quality of this trilogy. many people automatically assume just because it’s a kids film that it isn’t good . But it’s clearly one of the best trilogy’s in history. Best animated trilogy every . U recognize that this story is on par with any other coming of age movie.

[TheTeshTube]

how to train your dragon came out when i was failing a university course i was only doing because my parents wanted me to do it, i had crippling anxiety and depression but didn't know it yet, and in that low i found how to train your dragon, this series may literally have played a part in saving my life, and it still means so much to me today, i may have been a little older than the target audience, but it still applied to me perfectly.
such an amazing series, one i will cherish for the rest of my life, and bawl my eyes out openly while i do it.
Thank you for this video, i may have known most of this already, barring the behind the scenes stuff, but this is beautifully put together, so yea, thank you

[wote]

Movie 1 - Im in elementary school
Movie 2 - Im in Middle school
Movie 3 - Im in College
I wanna cry.
T^T

[matityaloran]

5:13, in the book, Toothless is basically to Dragons what Hiccup is to Vikings. Or at least appears that way due to being small, relatively docile, incorrigibly disobedient and worst of all fang free. As a result, Snotlout derisively nicknames them Hiccup the Useless and his dragon Toothless. (It’s where the name comes from. )