Why How To Train Your Dragon Has The Best Opening Ever 

"...Just remember this tune" He says. As if any of us could forget.

this movie was ROBBED of the oscar. the soundtrack has got to be my favourite of all time

Test flight gives me chills every time. It's so PERFECT. The fact that it switches theme songs based on if Toothless or Hiccup is in control and then it COMBINES THEM?! And the fact that the TV show plays a huge role in the movies is awesome as well

I find it interesting how there isn't really an antagonist to the first film. The dragons are set to be the bad guys, yet the entire point of the movie is that they're not what they seem. The Red Death only appears at the end as something to fight for an action scene. Stoick is the closest thing to an antagonist as his views are completely contrary to Hiccup's, and he could genuinely kill Toothless, yet he's Hiccup's dad - and not in a Darth Vader way - he's not evil. And even if you consider Stoick as the antagonist, he's away throughout most of Hiccup's development, and he's overcome by coming to an understanding instead of defeating him - Hiccup doesn't use the dragons against him to become the new chief, he makes his father proud by saving his life and showing his views were wrong.

Powell has actually said multiple times that the second film featured only old themes for the entire opening as we re-familiarised ourselves with our surroundings but the moment hiccup opens the map (which is the path to new worlds) is the moment when the first new theme appears

4:25 "So listen, listen to what this film opens with" Me: Bold of you to assume I don't have the entire soundtrack committed to memory

The fact that the opening essentially utilizes EVERY single musical theme from the film in one song/sequence without you realizing that this is what it's doing is so freaking good.

I‘m a hobby pilot and the „Test Drive“ theme really catches that feeling when you perform your very first solo take off with no safety nets and you know it‘s this sink or swim moment. It’s why I love and always will love this movie

“Test Drive” makes me want to fly

How to train your dragon: Elegance, meaning, power, beauty Starwars: *BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB*

10:14 the details of Toothless's eyes and the reflection of the trees continues to be my favorite shot of a movie ever.

While the other two films might not be as strong as the first one, I find that they actually add a lot to the world and character building in a way that's been clearly thought out by people who genuinely cared about the franchise. There's two main narratives going on, the one about dragons and the one about Hiccup: The first film is about Hiccup deciding he doesn't want to kill the dragons and finding a better way, learning to co-exist with them. In the second film, he's already comfortable with Toothless but trying to learn absolutely everything he can about the world of dragons, he obsesses to the point of neglecting his duties. And the third has him learn to let go of the dragons and let them be free and mysterious again. Meanwhile there's the chief narrative where in the first film Hiccup is weak and not what people want him to be, he has to learn to forge his own path and make people proud of who he really is. In the second he has to learn to be chief and accept responsibility, and at the end he's thrust into it before he's ready and has to rise to the challenge and become ready. In the third, he's been the chief for a little while but has to learn to put the tribe first; he's been focusing on his goals and what he wants, and now he has to do what's best for everyone and become the leader he needs to be, yet he still does it in the way he thinks is best and pushes forward keeping the progress he made, ensuring they never go back to warring with the dragons again. And while the shows are clearly just a fun thing for kids to watch (I still enjoyed them as a young adult though), they do a very good job of filling in the blanks between the films and showing Hiccup's development on-screen. Each film starts with a new version of Hiccup, and while the main development happens in the movies, the shows give that transition that shows how Hiccup went from the end of one movie to the start of the next, and show the extent of his research of dragons and his growth into a leader.

4:48 “Remember this tune” That tune is so ingrained in my being that if you unraveled my DNA and held a microscope up to it you’d find that it’s actually a music staff with that song on it. My grandchildren will find themselves humming that tune without ever even seeing the movie. I am never forgetting it.

Finding out HTTYD is 10 years old literally just shot an arrow thru my heart.....am I old?!??

I maintain that "Test Drive" is still one of my favourite (and possibly the best) scenes in animated film, if not film, in terms of blending stunning visuals, tension, comedy, themes, music, and pure exhilaration.

It's kind of insane how Powell is able to introduce and combine themes for each characters, love, vikings, etc. like Tetris blocks

Sideways: How To Train Your Dragon has the best- Me: Yes.

Httyd: this is Berk... Httyd shorts: this is Berk... Httyd riders of Berk: this is berk... Httyd defenders of Berk: this is Berk... Httyd race to the edge: this is Berk... Httyd 2: this is Berk... Httyd 3: nope this is a ship

My husband chose the music to our wedding ceremony. I chose the music for our wedding dance. It was “Romantic flight” from how to train your dragon. Cause the first time I heard it I felt like; “this is what pure beautiful happiness sounds like.” Every time I hear it I tear up and I’m reminded of that magical feeling, dancing with the love of my life; free as if we were flying the skies on a dragon.

The little meta thing that I just love is that because the dragon world tends to be represented by bagpipes, you can feasibly imagine that all of the dragons have heavy Scottish accents and that just makes me really happy

As a side note, the 3D in all 3 films is absolutely gorgeous. Its one of those few films where 3D made the visuals better.

Sideways: "Ya see viewer, a movie score, is the-" Viewers: "is the culmination of leitmotifs" Sideways: " Culmination of- yes, exactly!"

I find it so incredibly poetic that one of the most well known and familiar tracks are the ones where Toothless and Hiccup's motifs merge together, because in reality the most important part of this franchise is the bond that these two share, I just think it all works together really well

Okay they didn't want to call the second one "How to Train Your Dragon 2" they were originally going to call it "How to Train Your Dragon: Secret of The Ice Caves" but they felt like that was too long so they changed it and that's why the 3rd movie doesn't have a 3 on it

Me: Hears Test Drive playing My body: Oh boy, let's get those goosebumps going immediately

Me: *Actually sobbing after hearing test drive for the 50th time, but just now realizing that it's Toothless's and Hiccup's themes coming together* the motifs for this film are amazing and I can literally tell what's happening in this film just from the music.

Our family loves HTTYD! My 13 y/o daughter has spent 1 year in 7th grade concert band. It created such a love and appreciation for music, that she rewatched these movies w/ a focus for the music. She then took an internet deep dive and found this video. She was so ecstatic to find your video she knew that me & Dad would appreciate your knowledge! So we are nerding out over here. Thank you for sharing! We will approach movies so differently now!

4:26 Berk/Viking Theme 5:27 Stoick and Astrid 8:54 Back to HTTYD 9:18 Toothless 10:50 Minor Key and Major Key 11:13 Hiccup 11:55 Hiccup and Toothless

as a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes named astrid who was seven when i first watched this movie, you can tell i idolised astrid HARD

I just noticed something: After they fall and Hiccup gets back on Toothless, they start gliding, and you can hear Toothless' theme (since he's doing most of the work). Then as they are nearing the rocks you can hear the first note of Hiccup's theme, twice. The theme is stumbling to start, the same way Hiccup is stumbling to act. Then he throws the cheatsheet away, and his theme starts full blast for the awesome overlap of them working together

you know the music's phenomenal when you literally start tearing up and flashing back to being an eight year old seeing the original movie for the first time while watching a video essay about it. fantastic breakdown man, liked, subscribed, probably gonna add half your videos to my watchlist

What about Kung Fu Panda, it's always being underrated, also has the best opening scenes even it's 12-13 years. Also very detailed scenes, has a very precise action scenes, heartwarming lessons and soundtracks like Oogway Ascends. All in all Dreamworks has just pure awesomeness in making these kinds of movies.

The music in all three films is just OUTSTANDING. Also OH MY GOD can we talk about that SOUND DESIGN in the entire scene "Test Drive"?! The clicks of the gears, the whooshing air, just ahh so good. Talk about an eargasm. This is why I love animation-while sound design in ANY film is hard to do and a LOT of work, in animation it's even MORE so a lot of hard work...Just imagining how many audio files they must've had to work with in all three films.....man. Animation in western film is extremely under appreciated and it's criminal.

3:21 "And sure, I like -" *orchestral stab* "...I'm not gonna lie -" *orchestral stab* "...is pretty great. I play some -" *orchestral stab* "...when I'm grinding in classic WoW. Who doesn't like -" *orchestral stab* "...but -" *orchestral stab* "...doesn't have anything on How To Train Your Dragon." I lost it right there

I was obsessed with this movie when I was a kid. I watched it on loop constantly (the DVD would actually automatically play the movie if you wait on the menu long enough), and when I wasn't watching it I was listening to the soundtrack. I always appreciated how the _entire_ soundtrack is embedded in the opening number

i find it funny how, when i saw this movie back when it had first premiered, the music was what impacted me the most even though i obviously had no idea how music was supposed to work in a film, etc etc. now i’m finally understanding what it all meant as a part of the storytelling process and falling in love with this franchise all over again

“which how to train your dragon movie is best?” me: “yes”

This video: starts playing HTTYD1 opening tune My brain: "ok time for you to monologue the entire opening together with hiccup"

I’ve watched this movie perhaps a dozen play throughs. Every time that magnificent chord hits as Hiccup and Toothless fly between the rocks, I feel the same elation I felt on my first viewing. It makes you want to cheer, regardless of how many times you’ve seen it play out. I’d argue it stands as the best musical crescendo we’ve heard in our lifetimes.

Even ignoring the music at the start, the first couple of lines, I was SO INVESTED!! Adding on to that, the first look I got into Toothless' eyes, I was breathless. I will forever be glad that I saw this for the first time at the cinema.

"Doesn't have the same impact"? Hearing the opening makes my eyes water

I will say race to the edge is a really good show

I’ve never studied or know anything about music theory. But the EMOTIONS this movie’s music brings out in me is just freaking amazing. The opening just makes me smile. If there is any song I have to say is my favorite it’s Forbidden Friendship. That original BAM and then the growing tension as trust grows and then the mellowing out when the first touch happens is just soooo freaking satisfying! That theme lives in my head rent free and I will forever love it.

The music took so many risks and hit everything you'd want

I wouldn’t call the epilogue undermining the rest of the movie, toothless is still gone, but they’re not back together forever, they’re just visiting each other like old friends

The first httyd has the highest honor of love and nostalgia in my heart

If you guys like the soundtrack of the first movie (which everyone does) DO NOT sleep on the 2nd movie. It's new themes are so incredibly beautiful. Specifically valka's theme, stoick and valka's love motif, and together we map the world. Seriosuly incredible pieces. If this soundtrack is epic, the second is beautiful. Like incredibly beautiful. As beautiful as this soundtrack hits hard. Edit: I'm aware story-wise the movie lacks a bit but I'm just speaking solely on the music where in my opinion it's oddly the most nostalgic for me and possibly even better (for my taste) than the 1st movie's music

I love this soundtrack so much and I’m so excited that at the beginning when you were picking a moment to show off how amazing the music, you picked the “Test Drive” soundtrack! When people talk about how good the score is, most people talk about the “Forbidden Friendship” or “Romantic Flight” tracks because they’re a lot easier to do piano covers of but “Test Flight” is absolutely an amazing piece of music and I’m so excited to see you give it a lot of love in this video!

Fun Fact: the franchise was planned before they even started the first film, so the sequels were *NOT* just cash grabs. They wanted to create a full length story about a boy growing up and they couldn't do that in a single movie so that's what they managed to do. And they don't like being over dramatic either. It never said the dragons would be gone forever in the third movie, it said they'd go into hiding until it was time to come back. Hiccup going to visit is actually realistic because... why wouldn't he? They're basically brothers at this point. And the message was that they'll be able to *come back* after humans manage peace between themselves, so that doesn't mean dragons can't sneak out every once in a while. They had also created the shows as a way to add even more layers of Hiccup growing up; learning strategy and to think around his enemy as well as to form contracts of peace between other islands. The show is really a story of him learning how to be a chief while the sequel solidifies that. And giving the riders armor made from dragon skin was not just so they could sell more toys, it was a creative choice of the design team and it just happened to end up looking like action figures. Plus it actually would be a natural progression after they see Drago use a dragon skin cape to block the fire from Hookfang. Selling toys is something that every big company will try to do to get more coin but God knows DreamWorks NEEDS it so they get a pass. Also do you think maybe you can do a video on Rise of the Guardians music? I'd like to see what you think.

I'm sorry, I just have to get this out of the way: The Hidden World was not saying that "Toothless was gone forever". It was saying that Toothless had to live his life without Hiccup anymore. Live with his own kind and not rely on Hiccup as much as the citizens of Berk have relied too much on their dragons. That's not gone forever. And yes, I know the prosthetic tail needs fixing every once in a while...but that's something the film acknowledges.

Man i got to say,coming, hearing this movie's soundtracks older hits hard.

9:31 Powerful, Primal, Mysterious and mighty. The Perfect representation of a DRAGON.

I am still irrationally angry that this movie lost to "The Social Network" for the "Best Original Score" Oscar in 2009. What an absolute joke. 🙃🙃

I genuinely feel like the musical themes of this movie have been imprinted into the deepest recesses of my brain. I might not be able to recall them at any one moment, but the instant I hear the first few notes it’s like the music clicks into some primal part of me that knows exactly what each tune means without even knowing it. I could be 90 odd years old and losing my memory and I would still react viscerally to hearing any of these tunes.

I love how in the intro, the theme that seems to be Hiccup's is played low, being overshadowed by everywhere motif soon after, but in the end after he's made change to the village, he and the theme stand front and center

I greatly underestimated what music can do for a story. How To Train You Dragon is awesome, and it always will be.

Him: *says something bad about HTTYD 2* Me: _the council will decide your fate_

People can literally train dragons, but when I try to train a Komodo dragon, I’m “ViOlaTIng UN LawS” and “Am NoW a TERoRrisT aNd No loNgEr aLloWed In bRaZiL”

this entier franchise was actually based on the amazing 12 book series by Cressida Cowell, despite the near countless differences. and a lot of things seen on the screen can be referenced back to the books.

In my opinion- and probably many others- the opening is beautiful and sets a feeling of calm in you before *BOOM* dragons, fire, and insane vikings.

Seven-year-old me INSISTED we watch this movie in theaters more than 3 times... good to know I had impeccable taste, even at that age!

Mind you that the “Test Drive” theme is the only theme in the entire film that makes me get goosebumps. Every. Single. Time. I. Hear. It.

Learned about Richard Wagner and his creation of leitmotifs for the first time in my music history class and this movie was immediately the first thing that popped into my head. The test flight scene is honestly one of the most masterful utilizations of leitmotifs I've ever seen/heard.

My favourite musical tidbit is purely emotional, but the first time hiccup does the hand thing with toothless, which is essentially the start of their friendship, the theme drops away and this mix of beautiful vocals and some maraca Esque instrument in background are the only thing we hear, for just a couple seconds. Which is fair, since it’s a very important moment, but that is in the middle of the first movie. The only other time I’ve heard this specific little musical idea is in the third movie, right at the end, where hiccup and astrids daughter does the hand thing. And I cried. Oooooh, I cried. It’s so GOOOOOOOOD

Forbidden Friendship is the best thing I have ever listened to in my entire life.

I’m going to have to disagree with you regarding your opinions of the sequels. While the third installment may not have been as strong as the first two, the theme that echoes throughout the entire franchise is so mature and heart-wrenching that it almost makes you forget how mediocre the final film was. The themes of friendship, maturation, and letting go are all so present in each film and the epilogue of the Hidden World just brings everything full circle. The simple idea that there were dragons long before our modern times came around is so thought provoking no matter how unrealistic it may seem. No matter how hard Hiccup tried, and no matter how much he hoped the world would change, it didn’t. He never got his dream. He learned that it was okay to let it go if it meant the safety of his village and his best friend who he grew to love so dearly. The finale is so well executed. Those last five minutes really make the franchise for me. There is so much heart and thought put into the story, and to see how underrated it is is disheartening. Not to mention the outstanding soundtrack. The fact that the themes in the story and the themes in the music are consistent throughout the entire trilogy leaves me awestruck. This is a story about a boy who makes a friend and grows up with him until it’s time to let go. It’s such a simple narrative, but it’s execution takes these movies to a whole new level.

10:29 Not true! Bagpipes are also used in "New Tail." But it still communicates a sense of foreignness and an association with Toothless during this song, since it's all about Hiccup choosing to do something wild and crazy and make a new tail for his new friend.

9:10 right after this sentence, and ad for farmers insurance played. “All except for one- WE ARE FARMERS BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM-“

The best part is how at the start it says “This is berk. Etc etc... The only downside is the pests.. etc... dragons” etc you get the point but then at the end it says “This is berk.Etc etc.. The only upside is the *pets* etc.. dragons” Imo it has such an impact on the movie.

You mentioned everything I love about the intro except one thing - it all starts with a low brass chorale. I can't even name another movie that does that! No strings, no woodwinds, no percussion, not even any cinematic sweetener - just gently swelling low brass. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm a Tuba player but there is something so unique and charming about that.

What's really amazing is that I've had the opportunity to perform HTTYD as an ensemble, and wow, the emotion and build-up and ugh, it was such a relieving and emotional experience. Luckily, I still have copies of the sheet music, so I can still play it for myself, but it's just not the same as being there, on stage, in a performance theatre with everyone else playing with you.

I'm not kidding when I say that Hiccup and Toothless coming together for their first flight brings me to tears every time, and also the one with Astrid's flight (to a lesser degree). Hearing and learning from you the breakdown of how their themes interweave and come together to really hammer it home was so fascinating and helped me learn WHY it is so powerful to me!!! This is one of my favorite movies ever, I watch it every other month!! Thank you for this vid!!!

sideways: *points out hiccup’s theme in the intro* me: oh that’s test drive sideways: *points out that toothless’s theme is not in the intro* me: wait but...test drive was....... *realizing that that was hiccup’s theme* oh *realizing that test drive is a combination of hiccup and toothless* o-oh........ sideways: *points out hiccup’s theme in the intro* me: *openly crying now* y-yeah sideways: *points out the combination in test drive* me: *sobbing* YEAH YEP UH HUH i’m not usually the kind of person who pays attention to movie OSTs but i have listened to this soundtrack so many goddamn times, it is my favorite movie soundtrack ever and i was so goddamn hype watching this video, thank you for making it

I know everyone loves ‘Test Drive’, it’s incredible and SO iconic. But can we talk about ‘Romantic Flight’? Pure beauty.

12:00 the fact that hiccup's scar is there from how his mom recognizes him in the 2nd movie is crazy

3:43 no. you're right. Star Wars doesn't make me weep a happy tear or two of nostalgia and a feeling of "i'm home" like the opening to HTTYD does.

What really does it for me is when Toothless' tail opens on the beat. I don't know, that just gives me chills in a good way, maybe I'm just basic but that was pretty cool.

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO APPRECIATES THE SOUNDTRACK OF THIS FILM AS MUCH AS I DO!

Test Drive gives me chills every. single. time.

We played a "How To Train Your Dragon Medley" for our High School Band Recital and a few competitions and I cried after playing it every TIME I felt so magical and important. I had a small flute solo in it and I felt like the main character every time. It's masterfully done!

I don't remember if I already left this comment, but we also hear bagpipes when *Astrid* meets Toothless for the first time, strengthening the feeling of him being an outsider after the time we spent getting to know him alongside Hiccup, reminding us how much the vikings see Toothless as a danger that they don't know enough about to defend themselves from. I think that's also why the bagpipes aren't in the theme for the dragons. They know at least enough about them to know how to deal with them; they're not something completely unknown like a Night Fury.

"They just look like Power Rangers" i see no problem here.

1:27 the funniest part of them looking like action figures is that the show has to try to build towards the chatacter redesigns as naturally as possible, reaulting in Hiccup acquiring/building the fancy sword from movie #2 being the main overarching plot of the ahow for multiple seasons as it builds up the antagonist and introduces that stuff

Every single time he played a snippet of the ost I got mad chills... this soundtrack is magical

7:15 "To what is arguably the antagonist of the film" * I mean yeah but you don't s a y it *

I literally got chills every time he played any part of any theme

why have i listened to this sound track so many times and realise how each and every character has a theme

5:36 For anyone that has seen the movie, you can note that right before this explosion they threw water on it, so you can just say that water did not help.

Sideways: *Keeps cutting the clip when Hiccup has to say "This is Berk"* Me: **Visible frustration**

don't shit talk the sequals. The hidden world made me cry so many tears. And the first time i watched up I only got a pit in my stomach

I love this movie with all my heart (I actually choked up watching this, lmao), but in my book httyd 2 somehow topped it! I loved seeing more mature Hiccup, how Berk changed, and Stoick being a proud father. Valka was absolutely amazing ("crazy, feral, vigilante dragon lady!"), her reunion with Stoick was so touching, and Stoick's death was the most emotional I've seen in an animated movie. Drago was a great villain, and really upped the stakes compared to the first movie. It's SO beautifully animated, I love the look of the ice and clouds, and it has my favorite songs in the series (the "Where No One Goes" flight scene? Perfection). There's literally nothing about this movie I don't love.

The test flight scene literally makes me cry every time I can't stop it idk how but the music just does *so much more.*

3:19 "Now, I know what you're thinking: 'Hey, what about Star Wars?' And sure, I like: BWAA!! I'm not gonna lie. BWAA! is pretty great. I play some BWAA! when I'm grinding in Classic WoW. Who doesn't like BWAA! But BWAA! doesn't have anything on How to Train Your Dragon." My favorite part of the video. It had me laughing so much!

Yes. 'Test Drive' is one of my favourite pieces of music to ever exist.

I've seen this movie dozens of times. I've listened to the soundtrack several times as well. HOW does the clip of Hiccup learning to fly... on the fly, still get me every single time??? It was completely stripped of context here and I still got chills! It's insane.

the soundtrack of these movies have been and will forever be my favorite, since it first came out it has never failed to make me cry, even just hearing it in passing. Its just so a m a z i n g.

I was a band nerd in high school and loved the first movie so much. I remember all of us begging my band teacher to let us play a how to train you dragon medley. Finally, he let us play it and it was amazing. One of my friends, who was one of the biggest advocates for playing this medley, was a french horn player and she was so damn happy. It was really amazing to hear this beautiful instrument really have time to shine. Some of my best memories from the band involved that medley. I loved the soundtrack already and this video made me love it even more.

"How to train your dragon" is also a great movie title. It makes you curious to know how does one train a dragon, and what the movie has got to offer.

"Test Drive" gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it. It's one of the most unassuming pieces but the message and memories behind it give it a force comprable to no other song

Me and my best friend watched all 3 movies in cinemas. We watched the first one together when we were 5. To the is Day whenever we see the intro to the second movie and the end of the first we both immediatly start crying. Every time. Never gets old. Both of us spend the next half hour wishing we could fly our own dragons.