All 4 How to Train Your Dragon Movies, Ranked

The legend is real.

DreamWorks has officially given us their first live-action remake! How to Train Your Dragon is in theaters, and, with the new film coming out, it's time to look back at the rest of the franchise. The original trilogy is one of the best and most underrated trilogies of all time. Every movie in this franchise is good, and the best of them are some of the greatest animated movies of all time. Hiccup and Toothless are just an iconic duo, and seeing them in live-action was incredible. That said, here's my ranking the How to Train Your Dragon movies.

4. How to Train Your Dragon 2

As I said, I think all of the movies in this series are good. Actually, I think all of them are great...except this one. This is a solid film, but I think it suffers from typical sequel-itis. Dean DeBlois has cited The Empire Strikes Back as inspiration for this movie, but there's a few reasons that that analogy doesn't really work. Realistically, How to Train Your Dragon was a standalone movie that didn't leave a clear direction for a sequel, so I think this movie expands the world in an unnatural way. I don't like Valka that much. I think the fact that she chose to live with the dragons rather than return to her family makes her an incredibly frustrating character that I do not connect with. I also don't like Drago as a villain. He works as this force that you see Stoick be terrified of, but when you actually meet him, he's about as generic as villains come. This movie still has the heart and the excitement of How to Train Your Dragon. It has its moments; Stoick's death is absolutely devastating. But I just think it lost itself a bit in trying to expand the world and bring in these new characters that I do not find compelling. Still, a good, fun, exciting adventure...just not as good as the rest of this franchise.

3. How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

As I said in my review, I think this movie was about as good as it could have been. You are adapting already perfect source material. How to Train Your Dragon is one of the best animated movies of all time. So, with much of the creative team from the original returning, this remake decides to just be as faithful as possible, and it really, really works. The production design is gorgeous. Berk just comes to life beautifully in live-action. The dragons are, for my money, the best looking CGI dragons in any movie I have ever seen. Mason Thames is a fantastic Hiccup, and the rest of the cast also brings these characters to live-action perfectly. There's a certain ceiling you can reach when you are remaking a fantastic movie, because there's no way you are going to top what was already great. It doesn't have the freshness of the original and it's probably a few minutes too long, but this is miles better than anything Disney has done with their live-action remakes.

2. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

I think The Hidden World is supremely underrated. People still consider this a great movie, but it's not talked about as much as I think it should be. This is a fantastic ending to what is probably one of the best movie trilogies of all time. Grimmel is the best villain in the franchise. Hiccup has a very powerful arc to close out his character. This movie knows that How to Train Your Dragon is about Hiccup and Toothless's relationship, so it explores that throughout. And the ending...man, I was sobbing through the last twenty minutes of this film. It's so emotional but also so satisfying, and it feels like the natural conclusion that the other two films were building towards. I think it leans on the side characters a bit too much - I didn't need all the Ruffnut and Snoutlout that we got, but I understand that that's also because it's trying to appeal to its younger audiences as well. I just think this movie is fantastic, and I am curious to see if we are ever going to get it in live-action.

1. How to Train Your Dragon

I've said it a few times throughout this ranking, but I think How to Train Your Dragon is one of the best animated movies ever made. This is just a perfect balance of entertaining for five year olds and emotionally powerful for adults. The movie just sucks you into this world of Berk, where humans and dragons are at odds, and that setting automatically makes for a compelling story. Hiccup and Toothless are obviously the heart and soul of the entire franchise, but what makes this movie powerful is Stoick's arc and his relationship with Hiccup. This movie is about a struggling relationship between a father and a son, and it's so well written and emotional. Stoick jumping in the water and releasing Toothless during the final battle is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful moments in any movie I have ever seen. The animation is gorgeous, the characters are fantastic, and the story is perfect for kids and adults. This honestly feels like DreamWorks's Pixar movie, and I mean that in the best way possible. It is absolutely incredible, so of course, it comes in at number one.