How to Train Your Dragon Reviews: Our Verdict on Each Film

Cinvibe's verdict is that all four main How to Train Your Dragon films are worth watching, and each carries the official PG rating in the US, UK and Australia, so any of them can work for a family evening. The ratings are the official ones, and the opinions are mine. A crowd number tells you what strangers thought, not whether your own child will stay in their seat for two hours, so the verdicts here rest on the films themselves. Full reviews are being added film by film, and the verdicts below stand in the meantime.

Yes, in my opinion all four main How to Train Your Dragon films are worth watching, because the series grows up alongside its hero, Hiccup. The How to Train Your Dragon films follow a small, awkward Viking teenager and the Night Fury, Toothless, whom he cannot bring himself to harm. It is a story about friendship across a divide, and the animated trilogy and the live action remake both keep that at the center. If you are choosing for tonight, the How to Train Your Dragon films in order page lays out the sequence, and the verdicts below tell you which film suits which mood.

Yes, the original animated How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is good, and it is the film I would hand to anyone new to the series. How to Train Your Dragon (2010), directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, runs 98 minutes and stars Jay Baruchel as Hiccup, Gerard Butler as Stoick, America Ferrera as Astrid and Craig Ferguson as Gobber. It earned $494 million worldwide on a $165 million budget. The first act is what makes it: Hiccup finds the injured Toothless in the woods and, instead of finishing the job, starts to learn about the dragon. In my opinion that quiet exchange between boy and dragon carries more feeling than any of the later battles. John Powell wrote the score, and the Jónsi song "Sticks & Stones" is the film's notable song. For parents, the PG rating is the guide, and the dragon raids on Berk are the intense stretches to preview if your child is sensitive.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) is the most ambitious film in the series, and in my opinion it earns that. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) was directed by Dean DeBlois, runs 102 minutes, and made $622 million worldwide on a $145 million budget, the highest gross of the three animated films. It opens five years after the Vikings of Berk made peace with dragons, with Stoick pressing Hiccup to prepare to become chief. Cate Blanchett voices Valka, and Djimon Hounsou voices the warlord Drago, who wants an army of enslaved dragons. The tone is heavier than the first film, and the stakes are about family as much as dragons. That being said, it is still PG, and older children who loved the first film are the natural audience.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) is the most reflective of the three animated films, and it suits viewers who have stayed with Hiccup since the beginning. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), again directed by Dean DeBlois, runs 104 minutes and took $540 million worldwide on a $129 million budget. A year after Hiccup becomes chief, Berk is overcrowded and under constant threat from hunters, so he sets out to find the dragon haven his late father once described. F. Murray Abraham voices the hunter Grimmel, and a female Light Fury changes Toothless's world. The Jónsi song "Together from Afar" plays in the film. It is the quietest of the three and the one I would show last, after the first two are fresh in mind.

Yes, the live action How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is good and a box office hit, though in my opinion it sits just behind the 2010 original. How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is directed again by Dean DeBlois, making his live action debut, and it runs 125 minutes, 27 more than the animated How to Train Your Dragon (2010). Mason Thames plays Hiccup and Nico Parker plays Astrid, while Gerard Butler returns as Stoick, now on screen, and Nick Frost plays Gobber. John Powell returns to score it. The film earned $637 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, so by any measure it is a success. What it adds is physical weight, with real faces and real sets on a UK shoot. What it loses is some of the tight, funny rhythm of the animated How to Train Your Dragon (2010). The How to Train Your Dragon (2025) vs How to Train Your Dragon (2010) comparison goes through the differences scene by scene.

Watch the animated How to Train Your Dragon (2010) first, unless your child prefers live action, in which case start with the live action How to Train Your Dragon (2025) and follow it with the animated films. The animated film runs 98 minutes against 125 minutes for the live action version, which matters if your child is young or you simply want the story at its sharpest. Adults who grew up on the trilogy will probably enjoy the remake most as a conversation starter, because every changed detail invites an argument. Streaming changes often, so the where to watch the How to Train Your Dragon films guide has the current services for each country.

No, there is no review of the live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) yet, because the film is still in production. Universal has dated How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) for June 11, 2027, with Dean DeBlois writing and directing and Cate Blanchett joining as Valka. The live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) page tracks its status, and a review will follow after release. Until then, the How to Train Your Dragon films ranked list sets out where I place the four films that are already out.