Netflix Officially Says Goodbye to the Greatest Fantasy Movies of All Time

Dragons have taken many forms in cinema, whether it’s the serpentine menace of Smaug in The Hobbit trilogy or the wisecracking Mushu from Mulan. The best film series to center on dragons is arguably DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon, which takes Cressida Cowell’s novel and transforms it into a compelling story that blends fantasy elements with the ever-present highs and lows of adolescence. How to Train Your Dragon spawned a fanbase and a franchise that lasts to this day, but those fans will be disappointed to learn that the first two films are departing Netflix today.

How to Train Your Dragon tells the story of Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), who lives in the Viking village Berk and is often ridiculed for his short stature. Berk is often under attack by dragons, meaning that its inhabitants have trained to fight and kill the scaly beasts. But when Hiccup ends up injuring Toothless, a rare and powerful dragon known as a “Night Fury”, he ends up sparing the dragon’s life, and they form a friendship. How to Train Your Dragon 2 pits Hiccup against warlord Drago Bludvist (Djimon Hounsou), who intends to use his army of captured dragons to subjugate the world. During his journey, he also encounters his mother, Valka (Cate Blanchett).

The ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Films Push The Boundaries of Animation

Image via DreamWorks Animation

How to Train Your Dragon stands out among other animated films thanks to its visual storytelling. Large swaths of the film don’t have dialogue, leaving co-directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois to let what’s on-screen tell the story. A key moment involves Hiccup sketching Toothless in the sand. One scene shows him erasing one of Toothless’ fins, thereby explaining why the dragon was captured in the first place. Later, when Hiccup makes a fin to help Toothless fly, the moment when they soar through the air is truly breathtaking. How to Train Your Dragon 2 ups the ante by showcasing different types of dragons, while also bringing a sense of realism to the proceedings.

The How to Train Your Dragon films also showcase the progression of time in a way that few other animated films don’t. In the first film, Hiccup is a scrawny teen, and by the time that How to Train Your Dragon 2 rolls around, he’s grown taller and more confident. Dean DeBlois cited Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back as a major influence, as he wanted Hiccup to grow in the same way that Luke Skywalker did.

“What I loved especially about Empire is that it expanded Star Wars in every direction: emotionally, its scope, characters, fun. It felt like an embellishment and that’s the goal. The idea that it’s a trilogy, that Hiccup will ascend to become the wise chief of Berk by the end of it, and that we will end where the first book started, which is a Hiccup voice-over saying there were dragons when I was a boy. There’s a bittersweet journey that’s emotional and full of scope.”

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Launched an Ongoing Franchise

Dean DuBois would only direct How to Train Your Dragon 2 on the condition that he would actually be allowed to make a trilogy, and he eventually got his wish with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. That wasn’t the end of How to Train Your Dragon, though. The films spawned a franchise that’s still ongoing, including the DreamWorks Dragons series that bridges the first two films together. Netflix actually helped bring that series to life, with Hulu and Peacock promptly bringing DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms to screens. Even more recently, Universal decided to give How to Train Your Dragon the live-action treatment, and its success means that a sequel is on the way.

How to Train Your Dragon helped give a new dimension to the fantasy genre, further cementing DreamWorks as a force to be reckoned with in animation. While it might be leaving Netflix, its impact can’t be denied.

Release Date

March 26, 2010

Runtime

98 minutes

Director

Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois