Customer Reviews

How To Train Your Dragon

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Looking back on How To Train Your Dragon, you're going to remember this amazing movie that moved you, remembering the story, the characters, the animation, but probably not the music. However, if you remember closely, the soundtrack was key to your enjoyment. It punctuated the movie. It put its stamp on classic scenes in the best way possible. John Powell has always been one of the best composers in Hollywood today, but I think this soundtrack is his crowning achievement. Having to incorporate a full range of emotions in this soundtrack, while also keeping to the spirit of the environment, it wasn't an easy task. Rest assured, this is the best soundtrack since Up. And even then, I might debate that it exceeds it.

Highlights Include:
This is Berk
Forbidden Friendship
Test Drive
Romantic Fight
Sticks & Stones

Comparing the flying music for HTTYD & Avatar for instance is no comparison. Avatar doesn't have a track like "Test Flight," which is certainly the best soundtrack piece since Up's "Married Life." There's just so much life, adventure, enchantment & magic here, it soars in every way possible, and then some. And despite the fact that the track is only a couple minutes long, it uses every second to its full potential. It also serves as the theme to the movie, so it gets played off a variety of splendid way throughout the soundtrack.

The rest of the instrumental works also work quite well and they all convey the right range of emotions, from intensity (The Kill Ring), to romantic moments (Romantic Fight), to wonder and playfulness (Forbidden Friendship), to foreboding (Ready The Ships). The whole soundtrack is an absolute wonder with its massive orchestra adding that much of a grander scale to the proceedings, its variety, and its Celtic influences. And when its all said and done, there's an immense sense of satisfaction just by listening to the music here.

But as soon as the movie ended, this satisfaction only grew when I heard the song playing over the credits. That song is "Sticks & Stones" by Sigur Rós frontman & singer, Jónsi. It's a mixture of English & Icelandic that fits perfectly into a fast-paced sunny & hopeful indie tune that punctuates the movie in a unexpected way. I mean, you'd expect a lame pop song to play over the credits of a movie like this, not a tune by an indie legend.

Overall, for soundtrack lovers, for people that loved the movie, and everybody in-between, the HTTYD soundtrack is an unexpected joyful masterpiece for soundtracks. And it's sure to keep you in the spirit of the wonderful film for a long time to come.

I agree with the other reviews that this soundtrack is very, very good. If you like instrumental soundtracks, I think you will be moved by this. I am a fan of the Braveheart, Gladiator, etc, and this is almost if not as good.

The movie came out. I work in an elementary school and am surrounded by kids constantly, so naturally I have to go see the cool (and quality) movies that excite the kids (and this one looked pretty good.) So I went to the theatre and thoroughly enjoyed the enchanting story and incredible imagination. So no disrepect to those aspects of the movie whatsoever.

BUT I firmly believe this movie would have not been what it was without the score. I can't remember the time I had heard a score that so well matched the story and emotion of a film. This movie is loosely based on a children's book and I think the music somehow brought along that literary magic. Just listen to the music and you can tell more or less what part of the movie it is. I remember sitting in the theatre, stunned at how well this music supported the story.

Thus, I am calling this storybook music. It's sweet, simple, and all the while completely joyous/powerful/sad/whatever the occassion called for. A little Celtic touch completes the magic, not to mention those certain chords tying all the pieces together. I left the theatre believing the music was the best part of an already awesome movie and downloaded the album.

And here is an example of this music's power: My classroom, last week, was painted and recarpeted. This of course meant that moving back in was hell and at this time I still don't know where a quarter of my things are--including the CD player used for listening centers, story readings, and the five minutes after recess where I play instrumental music to calm down the kids. So instead I pulled out my music-playing phone and turned up the volume on this album. Every student who had seen the movie IMMEDIATELY recognized what the music was (and became very excited and defeated the purpose of the calming down period).

If squirrly first graders are touched enough by this music to recognize it, well, I can't tell you a more powerful testimony.

It's only once in a blue moon that I watch a movie that seems to pluck my heartstrings like this movie and after watching it the second time I realized that it's just as much for the music as it is for anything else. I don't typically buy music, I have a streaming service I pay for, and even so I think I can easily count on one hand the number of soundtracks I've purchased in my lifetime.

Well... add one for sure!

I'm not a professional reviewer, obviously, nor would I say I have a distinctive taste or sense of good and bad music but I believe this soundtrack is a mix of simple, moving, interwoven, easy flowing music from track to track while also throwing in heart pounding moments. It will get the blood flowing! Whew! I listened to the samples and while they snatched a piece of each song they don't do the overall feel justice.

Watch the movie and listen. Sit back and enjoy a great story, cute characters without being too childish or overly goofy, non-talking and non-cutesy animals along with some great voice work. Love Butler in this regardless of the inconsistencies in the accents versus the history, blah, blah. It's just a fun, good time wrapped around a neat story of friendship, overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges and the consequences of taking risks.

I think this soundtrack is breathtaking. I have not found a score by John Powell, or any other composer for that matter, that I have not liked. Every song on this album is amazing. My favorites so far include, "This is Berk", and "Forbidden Friendships". I'm sure I'll grow to love every single song!

Definitely recommended.

Let me just start by saying that I don't typically purchase instrumental soundtracks for movies. Up until my purchase of this album, my library consisted of the theme from Gladiator only because it belongs to my favorite movie of all time. My son is now almost 2 years old and How To Train Your Dragon is by far his favorite movie, so I thought it would be cool to have this CD to pop in while we're riding in the car. What I did not know is that I would become a huge fan of this album. Since we've seen the movie so many times, I can just listen to a track and immediately picture the scene from the movie. 'Forbidden Friendship' is one of the more touching tracks, while 'This is Berk' immediately projects images of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks as the camera zooms in on the ocean/cliff-side village while Jay Baruchel announces "This, is Berk" at the opening of the movie. My son squeals in delight every time I put the CD in and this track begins to play. My wife has enjoyed listening to this album when she is driving our son as well, which says a lot since she is not a big music listener to begin with. John Powell really outdid himself with this one, and has gained at least a few new fans in the process.

If you liked the movie at all and you've landed here reading this review, then I would wholeheartedly recommend this album. If my son is any indication, the kids will enjoy this companion to the movie as well.

Some may not agree, but to me, it is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard. I like the fact that it did not draw my attention away from the movie but was yet beautiful and memorable enough to motivate me to search for it. Of course, whether the soundtrack is beautiful and memorable or not depends on the individual. But to me, it is a great instrumental work, very interesting, inspiring and touching. It is more than a movie soundtrack, more than just entertainment, it is indeed a piece of art. I commend the good work of John Powell and the performers. Here are my highlights:

This is Berk
Forbidden Friendship (graceful and beautiful beyond words, in-cooperates with the movie so well just like magic)
See You Tomorrow (Not many people highlighted this, it is a very playful piece, I especially like the phrase for which Hiccup entered the hall and all the people flocked to him (at 1:22-1:29), deeply impressed with the timing)
Test Drive
Romantic Flight (same comments as Forbidden Friendship, together they make the two most beautiful pieces to me)
Where's Hiccup? (I like how it slowly transits and builds up to the melody at 0:52 and I like the piano part, it just feels different)
Coming Back Around (very graceful and then very energetic, I can't think of a better music for the ending)

This is my favorite movie - right up there with Tangled. The music really makes the movie but even without the visuals the music is incredibly moving.

Not surprisingly this has a lot of tones similar to the ones on the Braveheart soundtrack, which I love.

Not many movies come with such a good soundtrack. People say you should wait 24 hours to buy something because you might not really want it (impulse buy), but 2 weeks later I still really wanted it and so I bought it! Turns out it was a great choice. Plus, it's a great price for an hour of some superb music!

I think the best thing is how Powell takes one basic theme which you hear in nearly every track, but somehow makes it interesting and powerful to listen to every time. He did an excellent job of mixing emotion and feeling into each piece. A few examples of this (and some of my favorites too):

"This is Berk" - A gentle intro with a hometown feel.. evolves into action! This song contains nearly every theme of the movie. A great start to the album, movie, etc..
"Forbidden Friendship" - Playfulness
"New Tail" - Determination
"Romantic Flight" - Guess.
"Ready the Ships" - Impending danger, despair, dread
"Battling the Green Death" - Action
"Coming Back Around" - Triumph, conclusion
"Sticks and Stones" - Powell didn't write this one, but the style of it fits well with the rest of the movie and music. A wise choice by the filmmakers.

I love this album, definitely recommend it!

After seeing the movie, which I also thought was awesome, I decided that I was going to get the soundtrack. I really like orchestral soundtracks, and I currently own quite a few soundtracks including some of the Harry Potter soundtracks, Chronicles of Narnia, Gladiator, Phantom of the Opera, Twilight, Moulin Rouge, Aladdin, Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast... well you get the point. This soundtrack is by far my most favorite soundtrack. Itis a good thing you cannot wear out mp3 files, because I probably would have by now. My favorite on the sountrack is "Forbidden Friendship". C. Manson, the ONLY reason I would buy a soundtrack is if I had seen the film first, because as you stated, there really isn't a point otherwise. Also, the entire soundtrack is "Celtic" sounding. I am sure they did this on purpose due to the Vikings in the film.