Why How to Train Your Dragon is a Perfect Trilogy

does anyone you like dragons yeah that's what I thought so How to Train Your Dragon a highly misleading title since after three movies to TV series games comic books and all the hype surrounding it and me riding a fallout essing on these films I still couldn't tell you how exactly you are to train a dragon I remember back when the first movie came out I was 11 years old at the time still knee deep into my warriors face yet devouring most every animated film that came out in theaters it was a strong year when it comes to those with some of the most underappreciated films to date a perfect conclusion to a trilogy sure to never return to the big screen and the Space Chimps to one star space champs now don't be so hard in the mad wood revans they worked very hard on that grammatically incorrect catchphrase I'd like to invite you for a moment to go back and picture yourself in the mindset people had going into the trailer for the first one of these movies green mercs came right of the heel of monsters vs. aliens which the best thing I can say for that it was great to show off 3d glasses Madagascar - not born into today's mean culture and at face value a highly mediocre sequel and Kung Fu Panda these three couldn't have been more different conceptually and an execution well you had the rather shallow message of monsters vs. aliens to embrace strangers with kindness and change with positivity and whatever it was Madagascar 2 was trying to tell me besides that I should be on the lookout for bloodthirsty old-timers on my next trip to Africa only Kung Fu Panda stuck out in its message about being yourself and was supported by a cast consisting of celebrity voice actors witch dreamers have become synonymous with but that actually helped improve the film alongside stellar animation writing and music neither of the other films that came after it had that and it really seemed like what dreamer said going for it with that film was a lightening in a bottle that couldn't be captured twice at least not in the foreseeable future but from the first moment that black silhouette first started flying across the screen and soaring through the air and at first she's a trailer it was clear that dream Cement business with this one after all it was actually based on a series of children's books so we already had a vague idea of what this film would turn into what with its charming characters and goofy illustrations this was sure to be a fun romp but during these 10 years of its existence has turned into something so special to so many people even those who have either grown out of their kids field phase or have a dislike for dreamers in general the company as a whole and that's because How to Train Your Dragon isn't just the story of a young Viking befriended a dragon and the friendship they share or a highly ineffective guide to training one in real life but a series of films so consistently strong in its themes it's a coming-of-age story like no other and though each consecutive film had a heavy way to carry on its shoulders was successful in carrying over these themes that it allowed the audience to grow with its characters and the filmmakers to slowly flesh out this world to where it's becoming something so tangible this trilogy only feels like a small part in a hero's overall journey it's time to take a look at that part and find out what makes How to Train Your Dragon such a perfect trilogy now I imagine many of you watching are fans of the How to Train Your Dragon series and for those of you who are what would you say was the number one draw for you to want to check it out was it the premise itself was it just because it was another animated movie was the universe and its inhabitants now what whatever the reason was it's clear that a ton of effort went into these last two points in particular as there are few worlds an animation that feel as tangible and real as burg despite being populated with arguably the most popular breed of fantastical creatures there is a massive variety in depictions of dragons and children's media and they're synonymous with the fantasy genre as a whole I say this because it's an element of these movies that will follow us throughout this whole video how to train your dragon is not unique in this animated movies about a hero befriended a dragon are not a new thing it's no coincidence they chose this title for the franchise and not only has something very playful about it but also taps into a desire of many going in to see these movies to own your very own dragon just as there are many dragons and children's media there are as many that introduced them first take of having something flashy to put in a young adult fantasy movie poster without much going for it in terms of actual relevance to the plot it was crucial to get this element of the film's right not only to avoid falling into this trap but to lay the very foundation of this reality now as these films are based on a book series it probably shouldn't be hard to just take elements from those and translate them to this story right at least finding out what dragons to include shouldn't be so hard well as is the challenge with adapting any story a short children's book series can play out a lot differently from a 90-minute film and whichever part is gonna be left out of the finished product will inevitably disappoint those going in expecting a faithful adaptation of the story the films therefore a largely stepped away from this approach opting for a more loose adaption with even the main dragon tooth lives being a far cry from how he was depicted in the books just like how hiccup has a love interest now from what I've heard there isn't really much in regards to similarities between book and film and that really was the smartest possible move in my opinion to not only make the movie stand on their own but also allow the franchise to grow organically through introducing new characters that can play off hiccup in ways not possible in the books as with many fantasy series it's often not the main character that makes you want to come back to it a protagonists often acting as a catalyst for what would be our own reactions to the world around him and as each of these movies introduces a new element to the world of Berk it makes it seem like there is more to this place than meets the eye which makes it a smart decision to start them off at a smaller scale and escalate their encounters to an entire new world of dragons by the third film lilo and Stitch direct as Chris Sanderson Dean we're about the most suited to offer the job as they've not only proven their talent for designing needlessly adorable mascots but also stories that feel grounded in reality with a twist honestly as someone who never really cared for the whole space invasion aspect of lilo and stitch I feel they did an even better job combining the sense of wonder as we meet new kinds of dragons our foes on a hero's journey with the heartfelt moments that stick with you as you leave the theater the story itself went through a lot of changes in its earliest stages but the world it took place and stayed largely the same and I feel with each movie they became more confident in introducing elements that add to the sense of adventure without feeling like a crux to sell more toys it may seem silly to talk about what seemed like minor details compared to the grand narrative first but I feel it's elements like these that are missing from many other CG films from the 2000s that either too closely resembled a real-life setting when trying to flesh out their world and thereby ended up feeling uninspired or tried coming up with a unique setting of their own that falls flat due to a lack of interesting inhabitants or whose rules on how its world works have you ever heard of dragon hunters it was this French cartoon about two warriors and what I can only describe as a Mario Galaxy prototype a floating land masses how to capture the Dragons of the world to pay retch it was a silly show that didn't ultimately go anywhere over the course of its two seasons but still managed to get a CG movie into 2008 that was released to little fanfare and completely slipped me by even though I was obsessed with the show as a kid now having watched the film just recently it's easy to see why it never really caught on internationally the plot is really shallow the only really interesting characters are a two main protagonists one of which is voiced by Ruben from lilo and stitch and the Dragons themselves are more akin to Mario Galaxy mini-bosses than genuine threats now of course the dragons from How to Train Your Dragon we're never meant to be seen as threats either of course but the film still excelled at providing a contrast between an initial perception of water dragon is supposed to behave versus how wrong you were to assume that only meant expectations like this are already in place you can start to try and subvert them which is the very theme that defined the surest movie in the series and helped us to want to interact with these monsters themselves to see what makes them tick and how many different kinds there are in this world this of course is in no small part thanks to the character designs and animation in arguably some of the strongest aspects of these films particularly in conveying a sense of scale whenever we get a swooping shot of the city of burg or their arriving at a central location in the stories such as the hidden world from will be 3 or the dragon sanctuary from the second film and during some of the film's many flight sequences that offer an exhilarating feeling of speed and gravity that makes you wonder how b-movie ever got away with anything less John Powell's brilliant compositions mixed with cinematography supported through the legendary Roger Deakins make these the most visually stunning and immersive movies in dreamer CG lineup as they know exactly when to take a break from the main meet of the films and let the imagery speak for itself but the score in particular also serves the purpose of maintaining a consistent subconscious narrative over the course of these films that starts with the very first shot this is Berk it's 12 days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death it's located solidly on the meridian of misery now my friends sideways already made a brilliant a section of the school composition in the scene who himself was inspired by another video on the same subject so I think I'm in the clear to paraphrase it essentially the first shot of the movie narration and all introduces us to stoic steam asteroids theme the Viking theme the dragon theme and hiccups theme all the major musical themes that would carry on throughout the entire film and franchise this makes it very easy to not only go back to this opening and unravel how these ideas were introduced from the very beginning making the narrative feel much tighter but also associated these themes with each of the characters and ideas paired up with themes that get introduced later on this is further proof that details like this do matter when constructing a narrative as the soundscape of how to train a dragon is not only one of its most consistently brilliant aspects but enhances the visuals through making us subconsciously aware of these characters presence and giving way to moments where they stray away from this and introduce a new theme for any of the film's villains or other side characters hiccups theme may stay consistent across all three movies but he is far from being a stagnant character in fact he is one of the finest examples in allowing viewers to grow up alongside a film's protagonist over the course of multiple movies [Music] [Applause] ever heard of the concept of the hero's journey it's essentially this narrative model usually depicting 12 steps a hero has to take on this path to glory or just to complete his arc there's the call to adventure so showing the town that dragons really aren't so bad the threshold of guardians Jacob's father the revelation in the form of toothless you get the idea how to train your dragon one was pretty closely modeled after this concept and by the end of it the two worlds were connected everyone was happy and Berk was a better place because of it the future of this town was left open but it was still a self-contained story for the most part where hiccup learned to be a fighter convinced his friends that what they were doing was wrong and his father also saw a great potential in him somewhat hinting at potential sequels in the future the something interesting happened when the next film actually came around as a lot of the same elements can still be found in here but slightly varied to where it evokes a different feeling let me give you an example the inciting incident for hiccup in the first movie was finding toothless he wanted to prove himself as a warrior yet chose to spare him thereby bridging the gap between the two worlds and the second film challenges that tranquility they adapted at living together with the dragons when they find out there are other Dragon Riders wanting to capture the dragons and use them for their own gain and the third film forces hiccup to face the challenge of becoming the town's new leader and make sure their symbiosis doesn't get thrown for a loop with the light fury seeming like a positive for toothless at first but affecting their relationship to where hiccup has to make a choice on whether they can live together in peace this whole element doesn't really come into play until the very last few moments in the third film and I've seen tons of people to scribe it as a lazy way to wrap up this franchise but from where I stand it seems like the most realistic and conclusive outcome to this entire saga that rather than consisting of three separate stories taking place in the same universe tell one whole story split up into three parts you see the hero's journey as a concept is not restricted to individual pieces of work it's just that often it makes sense to structure your film accordingly because you either want to tell complete tale over the course of it and or because it's an easy method of making sure your protagonist resonates with the audience since they can project their own beliefs and struggles onto this character the How to Train Your Dragon films are no different from this but instead chose to revisit different stages on the path to show different perspectives for the struggles one might have to face in a world populated by dragons as the first film dealt with the initial contact between the two worlds the second one saw their beliefs challenged through a new adversary and the third sees them returning to the status quo brought upon by powers out of their control and knowing Jeffrey Katzenberg it would not surprise me if the first movie was never meant to stand on its own in the first place as he's pretty good at predicting what franchises will take the lead for them next he just doesn't know what to stop is all great we get it that way same aback by the way now obviously they haven't planned for things to turn out exactly this way by the time the first movie came out in fact it was only confirmed to be a trilogy by the time the second came out which was also when it was announced Chris Sanders would not be involved with them anymore but it shouldn't ultimately matter what your end goal was at the start of the series if you know how to ended but the time you introduced me elements to it that should go to enhance the narrative rather than distract from it adventure time for instance is a great example of how not to go about this now obviously the two are very different and I don't know if it's fair to compare TV show to such a very self-contained movie franchise but just bear with me for a second you know how in Adventure Time they kept hinting at Finn's arm having some sort of higher meaning they showed this alternate reality counterpart with a mechanical arm in the future even a season two episodes I'm imagine a heroic depiction of himself with a roboticized version and it's dead and he even had a pillow for a hand at one point setting the room Emile in motion people started speculating on what this could imply for the heroes future is this a metaphor is something gonna happen to his right-hand man Jake is there some deeper meaning here oh never mind he literally just loses his arm and then replaces it with a new arm and loses that one and replaces it with new one that turns evil and starts attacking him and there was a bee who had the hots for his arm and I will continue to suppress that part after building up to Finn's appendage for so long and turning it into the main point of contention between Adventure Time fans to call this part of the narrative a missed opportunity would be an understatement so compare that to how to train your dragon where we see hiccup helping out a wound a toothless who thanks to his mistake has lost his ability to fly he helps him get back on his feet the two of them become friends and later on in the film when hiccup loses his leg it is also toothless who was first to comfort hiccup and help him get back on his feet the two of them are connected through the handicap it is not something that makes them lesser individuals but the very foundation on which their friendship is built there's no need to spell this out for the viewer or add some tacky transformation I required the two of them grow back the parts they lost it's a struggle they share and soon doesn't even feel like one anymore as hiccup gets used to it and even upgrades it in the second film harkening back to his craftsmanship it's such a small detail but it works wonders and informing us about the time that has passed between the first and second movie and how much hiccup especially has grown though not necessarily in his voice but honestly you say about Jay Baruchel what he may dream of really had a more iconic voice for its main character than with his depiction of hiccup he's got the perfect fledgling Explorer type voice it's like a modern Michael J Fox and I promise I'll get to those homes eventually instead of just name-dropping them and every other video I still remember when the second film came out and everyone actually lost their minds of their hiccups redesign and that's honestly for a good reason it doesn't happen often that a time skip is made so apparent within an animated franchise even Finn barely changed visually throughout the course of adventure time by the second film hiccup is a much more capable Dragon Rider he stands his ground and knows what he wants yet still retains that innocence that also gets represented through the handicap which like I said is he never even considers one over the course of these films or when he first meets his mom a beautiful moment that her voice actress even considers the greatest character introduction in theatre history so someone clearly hasn't seen Madagascar - adding a mother figure to like these can often seem like a needless addition to somehow expand the cast or to add a twist that didn't need to be there yet she serves as a great catalyst for the loss hiccup has to face when his dad gets trapped away from him later on in the film a decision that was not only bold but very unusual when he considered the narrative as a whole anytime a scene like this occurs it's usually very early on in the film to signal that a hero would need to embark on his journey alone while a stoic faces a pretty sudden demise and I've been sitting on this scene in particular for a while it really stuck with me something about the way it's paced the reaction shots and toothless interactions with hiccup it just doesn't seem right it's a feeling that stuck with me up until the third film came out but there was that one moment from that film that really helped put things in perspective in my eyes it's right after Astrid and hiccup arrive at the hidden world and he is first confronted with the idea of some day eating so that their dragons go which is when he reflects on something his father has told him when he was a kid as part of the deal and I think that's a really great way to address what happened in the second film hiccup still hasn't fully moved on the times get between the second and third it wasn't as big so the memories are still fresh with moments like these acting as more connective tissue that honestly makes me forgive moments like Stoics death death itself is unpredictable and they've honestly just shown it in its purest and most tragic form when you don't see it coming and it's brought upon by someone you thought you could trust it really put things in perspective for hiccup and it's probably his lowest point across these three films which in turn makes it something he can draw the most strength from and this is a growth that can not only be seen in hiccup but the entirety of Berk they have way more different types of dragons with the alphas being a very natural addition and Drago is a threat that cannot be defeated through simply talking your way out of it the three films may seem similar to one another but much like Kung Fu Panda 2 this sequel feels like a much more polished and mature experience we have something different with this movie and it was it was there in the first one as well which is in place of a laugh every minute we have wonder and to me and for the movies that I loved growing up and that I still love today wonder is more important it's fun while you're laughing there in the movie theater but you don't necessarily remember it when you leave but movies that are that are filled with Wonder tend to live with you for a long time and they certainly do with me so one of the big challenges in meeting hiccup five years later was to design him as a 20 year old and we didn't want hiccup to suddenly become this strapping heroic figure even though he is the hero of our story so much of his charm lies in how kind of gangly and awkward and dorky is so it was important for us to to retain as much of that quality as possible while still making him heroic in his own way part of that was really literally physically aging up the characters and I think the whole team was very excited about that and you know wanted to sort of you know pick up the challenge on that one and so to see them grow up a little bit and how they've evolved and changed it makes it even more of a coming-of-age story it makes the trilogy really special so let's talk about the third movie unlike the first and especially the second movie the hidden world is very much a story about toothless if the first movie was about hiccup as an individual and the second was about his past then the third was largely about everything that wasn't him as grimille mainly took an interest in toothless the Night Fury for his own personal gain hiccup was merely a means to an end and I actually really liked this approach it's evidence that the filmmaker said a genuine respect not just for the human characters but us of the Dragons honestly the humans were never really the main selling point for anyone going into these I don't think did anyone actually care about Jonah Hill's love quest for hiccup tsubame in this film was that every someone's wet dream that needed to be woven into the story no it was the relationship between humans and Dragons and between the Dragons themselves that was the draw for this film in particular aside from just being the last in the series but even on the other two films Berk itself was never meant to be the be-all and all place with Dragons resided it was a town that dragons happened to be a part of but if you told this specific tale yet shows different human characters from another town we would have been none the wiser there was never a chosen one or a specific goal any of the characters had to fulfill to save someone in particular it was just people getting by and they never portrayed the human characters as anything above that the third film went about this aspect really well painting Astrid as Martha own character rather than merely serving to reassure hiccup about his actions and emphasizing the relationship between the dragons and their riders feeling like a much more personal experience than the very goal-oriented second movie not to say that one didn't have its high points and it's really not a contest about which of these were superior to another but man just letting hiccup go of to us the same way they first met in the first film ya know it's really surprising to me how big a topic of contention the third film has become among fans yet Maui that he screams gets a pass a continuity across these films is just great hiccup has a scar in its face in the first film use the explanation when they're going up against Drago hiccup is finally able to open the wingsuit after not being able to in the beginning of the film and even though hiccup says in the first film that he was the first not to kill a dragon both his father and mother didn't either and is not a retcon it just shows that all these people are fully capable of making their own decisions like letting go of the dragons for the greater good for everyone it's a harsh note to end the series on but with how much planning went on and structuring and plotting out these films it's 100% a conscious decision like how the father-son relationship was not strong enough at first and how they realized the second movie needed some tweaking after the mom was supposed to willingly leave the village in the first draft which would have turned her into way less of a likeable character not to bring Adventure time back up again but we really didn't meet another Marten situation in these movies I like badass dragon mom we don't get those types of characters that often it's welcome in this franchise that can't exactly be described as the pinnacle of originality I mean let's face it we've all seen these movies before and one or another we've seen the adventurous knock mills trying to get a stats approval we've seen the friendship between a boy and his mythological creature hell even the second and third movie still plot points from one another I wouldn't even say any of these three a perfect on their own but that does not mean the three of them as a whole couldn't be a great trilogy nonetheless okay so as I'm writing the script the new non-canon question mark holiday TV special how to train your dragon' homecoming just aired on NBC and though I've not seen it yet there were so much more fuss about it than I expected usually when one of these holiday specials airs it's not that big a deal or even much of a surprise people are just kind of numb to it but homecoming was different homecomings trailer alone gets so many more views than should be justifiable for what it is and I bring this up because it's easy to forget just what a cultural landmark how to train a dragon has become an Western animation not the most influential not even in a groundbreaking way but this fandom has such a genuine love and affection for these characters and this world that it's really just admire before a simple point meets Dragons story it's hard to say exactly what it is about these movies and though it would be reasonable to assume the Dragons are a huge part I think it's more so how unapologetically coming-of-age these films are that it sees its main protagonists literally growing out of the face he was in over the course of it in hiccup you have someone who needs to get over the loss of a parent finds the love of his life finds a friend for life who also happens to be his pet that he gets to go on adventures with these adventures come to a halt he needs to decide whether this is the right decision to head into he needs to take on the responsibility of deciding that for others too he needs to grow up and make choices that are addressed in a way only animation is able to do each movie represents a step on hiccups journey to becoming something greater than he could have ever anticipated and hearken back to DreamWorks early days of actually creating animated movies grounded in reality where the wrong choices can have a deep impact affect the story moving forward they represent a deep desire in people to go out and explore this world on their own not just the world of Berk that in itself is beautifully constructed and really where's its influences on its leaves but also the world out there to go out and get stuff done cuz if I had to describe this trilogy as a whole with just one word it would be exciting know it exhilarating no yes exhilarating is good it's a coming-of-age tale about a boy earnest dragon fighting stigma against the both of them and coming out on top they're all the hardship it's a tale of friendship and codependence where you don't feel like they need to sugarcoat things to force-feed us a happy ending but to do what's right for the characters it's a hero's journey unlike any other despite in many ways being a hero's journey like any other and whatever you may feel about some of the choices they made along the way there's something we can never take away from them and that's that they've got mother king dragons [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Cosmo

Views: 709,738

Rating: 4.8996096 out of 5

Keywords: cosmodore

Id: XzrRgU28vAQ

Length: 27min 56sec (1676 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/CrisDLZ]

"Ever since the first trailer everyone knew that DW meant business."

What? The first trailer is really really really bad.