How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Description: Long ago up North on the Island of Berk, the young Viking, Hiccup, wants to join his town’s fight against the dragons that continually raid their town. However, his macho father and village leader, Stoik the Vast, will not allow his small, clumsy, but inventive son to do so. Regardless, Hiccup ventures out into battle and downs a mysterious Night Fury dragon with his invention, but can’t bring himself to kill it. Instead, Hiccup and the dragon, whom he dubs Toothless, begin a friendship that would open up both their worlds as the observant boy learns that his people have misjudged the species. But even as the two each take flight in their own way, they find that they must fight the destructive ignorance plaguing their world.
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Writers: William Davies (screenplay by) (as Will Davies), Dean DeBlois (screenplay by)
Stars: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Photos
Trivia
The hesitation Toothless shows during the famous “touch” scene was actually an animation error. However, it looked so perfect that the animators chose to leave it in the film.
In the book of “How to Train Your Dragon,” Hiccup does not have a love interest. Furthermore, Toothless, the dragon in the book, is about the size of the Terrible Terror breed, and he is also green and red, not black. Toothless also got his name because when Hiccup first found him, he had no teeth. He grew one tooth, only to lose it shortly later. The producers decided, with the approval of author Cressida Cowell, that it would be more cinematic to make Toothless large enough to be ridden as a flying mount. As such, Toothless was completely redesigned as a rare Night Fury, a highly intelligent breed of dragon evolved for speed and stealth. His personal name, in the film, derives from Hiccup’s observation about how his teeth are normally retracted into his jaws so they don’t interfere with his fire breathing, which is typically projected as an explosive pulse.
The Night Fury dragon species was originally going to be be more wolf-like in appearance. Instead, a DreamWorks employee’s computer screen saver of a black leopard inspired the film’s creators to make Toothless more feline in appearance.
During the popular DreamWorks intro part of the movie, where a boy on the crescent moon is holding a fishing pole, the shadow of the Night Fury flying through the star-filled background can be seen for a brief moment.
The appearance and personality of Toothless was inspired by cats, dogs, and horses. The face also bears some resemblance to the giant salamander, the largest amphibian in the world. The shape of his face is also reported to have been based on the face of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch (2002), also directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. Sanders and DeBlois used to work for Walt Disney Pictures as studio members until 2007 when they joined DreamWorks Animation to work on most films starting with Kung Fu Panda (2008).
When Hiccup reads the Dragon Manual, the writings in it are actually in plain English cryptographed into runes. With little effort, you can read what Hiccup is saying, e.g. “Speed Unknown.”
Gobber has a total of fourteen different hand attachments throughout the film.