7 years of HTTYD!

It's March 26 again! This marks the seven year anniversary of the release of HTTYD into theaters. Sadly, I did not watch it on opening day, but I still try and watch it every year when the 26th rolls around! I've bought myself some soda and theater candy, and tonight I plan to watch the first film again on a nice, big, flat screen tv. I haven't actually watched through the first film in a while, so it should be a lot of fun! I also plan to write a full post about how HTTYD has gone from one great film to being very developed franchise. I'll rate how much I've enjoyed each installment to the HTTYD universe, and hopefully it will be a fun read.

So, this was what I watched my movie with! I actually watched the film with my dad, brother, and sister! It was a lot of fun. The first film really is just practically perfect. The visuals and music are still gorgeous, the story is extremely well balanced and engaging, and the humor really does feel timeless (thanks to the fact that it is based strongly in the characters and their personalities). So, yeah, that was so much fun! Thanks so much to Dean, Chris, and the rest of the crew for making such a magical and endearing story!

That being said, we've had six years of HTTYD. This means the story has grown quite a lot! I'm happy about that. No, not all the extensions of the franchise have felt perfect, but it has still been a lot of fun! That being said, let's give my 1-10 star rating for pretty much all of the franchise material!

HTTYD: The one that started it all! Though it had a sort of shaky advertising campaign... and it resulted in way too many bright blue Toothless toys, this film is practically flawless! It introduced us to both Hiccup and Toothless, made them friends, and captured my heart and imagination. Honestly, if someone forced me to pick my favorite movie between this and the second one... I'd probably have to pick this one. Rating: 11!

HTTYD, The Video Game: I did own this game. It totally did not feel like it fit with the HTTYD story, but it was fun! Exploring the world was neat, feeding the dragons the food you collected was fun, and the way you built up your dragon's speed and strength was very entertaining. I wish you could have done more flying with the dragons, and I also wish you could have walked around with your dragon out in the wild. Still, it was fun. Oh, and it introduced the very cool Grapple Grounder! Rating: 7

Legend of the Boneknapper: This short was fun, had plenty of Gobber humor, but in the end I didn't feel that it actually developed much. Still, it had a very cool dragon, and it was nice to see new material. Rating: 6.5

Book of Dragons: This short had, sadly, no plot. It was also kinda weird in that the characters were talking directly to the audience. However, it was very cool at the time to get to see new dragons, and because of that I did really enjoy it. Hah..hah...heh. First fully animated Skrill... Rating: 6.5

This short was, in short, AMAZING. It made me tear up, cry, and unlike the second movie, it wasn't from utter tragedy! It hit a perfect point of being sweet, memorable, filled with joy... and at the same time it had some very legitimate character development. Everything from strengthening the connection between Hiccup and Toothless to showing that Hiccup has a pet name for Astrid... this short was amazing. Rating: 10 (it just needs to be longer and have some peril!)

RoB: Though quite a few of the episodes were really quite good, over all this series was the beginning of HTTYD material becoming... well... out of character. The graphics were decent for the time, but as the series progressed the visual quality varied a lot. In the end, the series was about a 50/50 mix of good and not so hot. Rating: 5

DoB: Again, a few episodes were excellent. Most were mediocre. Then some were just plain bad. The graphics did go up. I'd say this series was somewhat better than RoB. Dagur made for a good major antagonist. Lots of new dragons in the series... both in RoB and DoB. Seeing things like the Skrill brought fully to life was exciting. As a whole, I enjoyed this... even if it was a mixed bag. Rating: 6

RoB/DoB Comics: I only read a few of these. They felt a lot like the series... kinda a mix of good, not so good, and just plain bad. So, I don't think my rating is completely fair since I haven't actually read all of them, but I'll just be giving my opinion, so feel free to disagree! I don't feel that comics are the best medium for the HTTYD series. Rating: 4

HTTYD 2: As far as sequels go... this is the sequel to end all sequels! It had phenomenal development, tons of heart, amazing, gorgeous visuals, and EPIC FEELS. The movie also introduced a touching, beautiful song to the HTTYD world. This movie had guts, it took massive leaps and bounds in growing the characters. It also made itself really stand out from most animated franchises by actually aging the characters up five years. It is a film that grew up alongside its fandom, and Dean did an incredible job. After all the waiting, this movie did not disappoint! Rating: 11!

RTTE: The quality of the series increased notably when Netflix took over streaming. There were very cool moments, some fun surprises! However, it has many OOC moments, just like the series that came before it. I enjoyed the new dragons, the new characters, and the aged up teens. The series has done some things very right, and honestly I think RTTE had my favorite episode so far (Stryke Out... which competes with RoB's What Flies Beneath and DoB's Skrill episode). Rating: 7

The Serpent's Heir: This was quite a fun comic! It also felt very legit, because Dean helped write it. I just recently reviewed it, so feel free to look back at that old post for a fuller collection of my thoughts. Rating: 8

I know there have been a couple good games like School of Dragons and Rise of Berk. Those were both quite fun, but eventually I got sorta bored with them. I'd rate them both: 6.5

So, there you go... seven years of DRAGONS! It's been tons of fun. I've made friends, learned a lot, had many a laugh and more than enough crying... but in the end it's been an awesome ride! Let's hope the third movie is every bit as epic as it's prequels! 

Thanks so much DreamWorks, Dean, Chris, Bonnie, Nico, Simon, J. Powell, Jay, Gerard, Kate, America, and every body else. You've crafted a story worth loving for years and years!