As the son of a Viking leader on the cusp of manhood, shy Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III faces a rite of passage: he must kill a dragon to prove his warrior mettle. But after downing a feared dragon, he realizes that he no longer wants to destroy it, and instead befriends the beast – which he names Toothless – much to the chagrin of his warrior father.
Direction
DeBlois and Sanders nail the 'show don't tell'
Cinematography
First Flight remains one of animation's greatest sequences
Score
John Powell's 'Forbidden Friendship' will destroy you
Director
Dean DeBlois
Jay Baruchel
Hiccup (voice)
Gerard Butler
Stoick (voice)
Craig Ferguson
Gobber (voice)
America Ferrera
Astrid (voice)
Jonah Hill
Snotlout (voice)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Fishlegs (voice)
T.J. Miller
Tuffnut (voice)
Kristen Wiig
Ruffnut (voice)
Robin Atkin Downes
Ack (voice)
Philip McGrade
Starkard (voice)
Kieron Elliott
Hoark the Haggard (voice)
Ashley Jensen
Phlegma the Fierce (Voice)
David Tennant
Spitelout (voice)
Randy Thom
Toothless (voice) (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Toothless was redesigned over 80 times; the final black cat/dog hybrid was inspired by Sanders's own cat and a horse's eyes.
The film deliberately subdated toxic masculinity in Viking culture—rare for 2010 family animation—and sparked discourse about 'soft' male protagonists.
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