2010 was a good year for animated movies, bringing usToy Story 3, Tangled, and Despicable Me. How to Train Your Dragon was also released in 2010 and featured an incredible instrumental score by composer John Powell, who was relatively unknown to me at that time.
The score of How to Train Your Dragon has a very Celtic feel to it to tie in with the Viking characters, with lots of bagpipes, fiddle, and even some harpsichord. There are parts that have an almost swashbuckling kind of sound to them, like in the track “Focus, Hiccup!”
The real appeal of the score to HTTYD is the sheer number of memorable tracks, with my favorites being “This is Berk”, “Forbidden Friendship”, “See You Tomorrow”, “Test Drive”, “Romantic Flight”, “Coming Back Around”, and “The Vikings Have Their Tea”. “Romantic Flight” features one of the most beautiful themes I’ve ever heard in a movie, while “Test Drive” is just incredibly fun.
Overall, John Powell’s score to How to Train Your Dragon presents everything you could want in a movie score and has quickly climbed to my list of favorites. I have very little (if anything) to complain about with this score.
Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
1. “This Is Berk” 4:10
2. “Dragon Battle” 1:54
3. “The Downed Dragon” 4:16
4. “Dragon Training” 3:10
5. “Wounded” 1:25
6. “The Dragon Book” 2:22
7. “Focus, Hiccup!” 2:05
8. “Forbidden Friendship” 4:10
9. “New Tail” 2:47
10. “See You Tomorrow” 3:53
11. “Test Drive” 2:36
12. “Not So Fireproof” 1:12
13. “This Time For Sure” 0:43
14. “Astrid Goes For A Spin” 0:43
15. “Romantic Flight” 1:56
16. “Dragon’s Den” 2:29
17. “The Cove” 1:10
18. “The Kill Ring” 4:28
19. “Ready The Ships” 5:13
20. “Battling The Green Death” 6:18
21. “Counter Attack” 3:05
22. “Where’s Hiccup?” 2:43
23. “Coming Back Around” 2:51
24. “Sticks & Stones” (Written and performed by Jónsi) 4:17
25. “The Vikings Have Their Tea” 2:03
Total Length: app. 72 min.
-Chad
Chad Likes Movies 
What are your thoughts?