How to Train Your Dragon Movies Ranked, Best to Worst

I ranked the four theatrical How to Train Your Dragon movies on how well each one earns the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless, how its characters grow, and how comfortably it plays for a family audience. All four carry the same official PG rating in the US, UK and Australia, so the order is about tone and craft, not suitability. Box office is quoted as context, but it does not set the order, because the highest grossing film here lands last.

What is left out? The two short specials, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury and How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming, are not ranked because they are shorts, not theatrical films. The live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) is unreleased, with Universal dating it for June 11, 2027, so it cannot be placed yet. The page for the live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) tracks its status.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is the best of the four in my opinion, because it spends its 98 minutes on one idea: a boy who cannot bring himself to kill the Night Fury he has shot down. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois directed it, and Hiccup, the small, awkward son of the chief Stoick, works for the blacksmith Gobber. Every later scene, including the dragon fighting class with Astrid and the other teens, grows out of that single choice. It took $494 million worldwide on a $165 million budget. Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera and Craig Ferguson give Berk a lived in feel, and John Powell's score and the Jónsi song Sticks & Stones carry the flying scenes. For the full picture, see How to Train Your Dragon (2010).

In my opinion, How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is better than How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), though the gap is closer than the ranking suggests. Dean DeBlois directed How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) alone, five years on from the peace between Vikings and dragons, and he treats it as the middle chapter of a planned trilogy (Screen Daily reported that plan). Hiccup is being pushed toward becoming chief, Cate Blanchett arrives as Valka, and Djimon Hounsou voices Drago, a warlord who wants an army of enslaved dragons. It grossed $622 million worldwide on a $145 million budget and played Out of Competition at Cannes. My only complaint is that a bigger cast leaves the central friendship a little less room to breathe. See How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014).

Yes, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) was a commercial success, earning $540 million worldwide on a $129 million budget, the smallest budget in the set. Its US and Canada gross of $161 million was the lowest of the four, and the $379 million from international markets did the heavy lifting. Hiccup has been chief for a year, Berk is overcrowded, and the hunter Grimmel, voiced by F. Murray Abraham, arrives with a Light Fury as bait. Roger Deakins served as a visual consultant, and the Toothless and Light Fury courtship scene and the undersea Hidden World are the highlights. To my eye, Grimmel is less vivid than Drago, which is why it sits third. See How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).

The live action How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is last in my ranking, and last here is not the same as poor. Dean DeBlois made his live action debut, Mason Thames plays Hiccup, Nico Parker plays Astrid, and Gerard Butler moves from voicing Stoick to playing him on screen. It runs 125 minutes against 98 for How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and earned $637 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, the best gross of the series. The trouble is that How to Train Your Dragon (2025) follows the same story as How to Train Your Dragon (2010), so it invites a direct comparison with a film that already does the job. For that argument, read how to train your dragon live action vs animated and the page on How to Train Your Dragon (2025).

Toothless, the Night Fury, is the best dragon in the How to Train Your Dragon films, and I do not think it is close. He starts as an injured animal Hiccup cannot finish off, and the animators make his curiosity and his sulks read as clearly as any human performance. The Light Fury, introduced in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), is my second pick. For the rest of the roster, see how to train your dragon dragons and Toothless.

If you are choosing for a family with young children, start with How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and let the sequel follow on another night. Parents who grew up on the animated films may enjoy How to Train Your Dragon (2025) as a comparison, but it works best after the first film. For the order, use how to train your dragon movies in order, and check where to watch how to train your dragon for current streaming options.