Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.
This week, Chris Sanders’ and Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon.
On the island of Berk, the Viking settlers have found themselves engaged in a war against dragons spanning literal generations. Hiccup, the son of the town chieftain, struggles to find his place in a community that doesn’t value his unique strengths and attributes – he wonders whether he will even be manly enough to hunt and kill dragons. However, a chance encounter with a fallen dragon named Toothless leads Hiccup to question everything that he thinks he knows about dragons.
At time of recording, it was ranked 198th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 18th April 2025.
- How to Train Your Dragon at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDb Top 250 at time of recording.
- Follow Dee on Twitter.
- Read Dee’s reviews at entertainment.ie.
- Listen to What’s the Story, Dublin? on Spotify.
- Read Graham’s reviews at Scannain.
- Hear Graham on Speaking Geek.
- Read Graham’s guide to Irish Gaming at Gameir.
- Follow Graham on Twitter.
- Simon and Susan Veness at The Independent look inside Universal’s Epic Universe, May 2025.
- Daragh Keany at The Irish Independent considers the opening of Universal’s Epic Universe, May 2025.
- Eve Chen writes at USA Today about how How to Train Your Dragon has been folded into Universal’s Epic Universe, May 2025.
- Robert Niles at Theme Park Insider considers the opening of Universal’s Epic Universe, May 2025.
- Samantha Neely writes at USA Today about how How to Train Your Dragon is key to the success of Universal’s Epic Universe, April 2025.
- Ben Child writes at The Guardian about the trend of live action remakes of animated films, February 2023.
- Darren Mooney considers the trend of “live action” remakes at Second Wind, May 2024.
- Scott Aukerman talks to The New York Times about his life and career, June 2012.
- Lindsay Bahr at The Associated Press considers how The Wild Robot celebrates the 30th anniversary of DreamWorks animation, October 2024.
- Jeffrey Katzenberg talks to Tampa Bay Times about founding DreamWorks animation, December 1998.
- Richard Corliss at Time considers How to Train Your Dragon as a potential game-changer for DreamWorks Animation, April 2010.
- Cressida Cowell writes at The New York Times about how her childhood inspired How to Train Your Dragon, February 2020.
- Brooks Barnes at The New York Times considers the opening of computer-generation animation beyond Pixar, June 2009.
- Nicole Sperling at The Los Angeles Times considers the recent high-profile firings of directors attached to animated films, May 2011.
- John Hom at The Los Angeles Times writes about the troubled and chaotic production of How to Train Your Dragon, March 2010.
- Chris Sanders talks to Fumetto Logica about what happened to American Dog, July 2022.
- Jan Pinkava talks to Animated Views about his original vision for Ratatouille, February 2008.
- Alan Siegel at The Ringer looks at the production and development of Ratatouille, June 2017.
- Carolyn Giardina at The Hollywood Reporter explores the career of Jan Pinkava after Ratatouille, May 2017.
- Brenda Chapman talks to Entertainment Weekly about getting fired from Brave, August 2012.
- J. Kim Murphy writes at Variety about the opening day performance of the Lilo and Stitch remake, May 2025.
- Anthony D’Alessandro at Deadline considers the box office success of the Lilo and Stitch remake, May 2025.
- Dean DeBlois talks to Variety about the “lazy” live action remakes of classic animated films, June 2020.
- Jamie Lang at CartoonBrew covers the announcement that Dean DeBlois would direct the live action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, February 2023.
- Anthony D’Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline cover the announcement that Dean DeBlois will direct the live action remake of How to Train Your Dragon II, April 2025.
- The Wrap reports on Steven Spielberg’s deal on Universal’s theme parks, February 2009.
- Ben Fritz and Claudia Eller at The Los Angeles Times reports on Steven Spielberg’s renegotiation of his longstanding deal with Universe over their theme parks, October 2009.
- Neil Genzlinger writes at The New York Times about the adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon into a stage show, July 2012.
- Christina Barron writes at The Washington Post about the How to Train Your Dragon stage show, July 2012.
- Brooks Barnes writes at The New York Times about DreamWorks’ efforts to create subscription games for Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, April 2010.
- Marc Snetiker at Entertainment Weekly considers the plans for a How to Train Your Dragon television spin-off on Netflix, April 2015.
- Noel Murray at The Dissolve considers how DreamWorks embraced franchising, June 2014.
- Victor Luckerson at The Ringer on how Pixar became a sequel factory, June 2019.
- Pixar co-founder Edmund Catmull discusses the studio’s move towards sequels with IndieWire, April 2017.
- Christopher Orr at The Atlantic looks at the Pixar wilderness following the company’s purchase by Disney, June 2017.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers “post-peak Pixar“, June 2021.
- Jeremy Lasky talks to Animation World News about the cinematography of Wall-E, June 2008.
- Roger Deakins talks about working in animation on Team Deakins, May 2020.
- David M. Halbfinger writes at The New York Times about studios’ embrace of 3D, March 2008.
- Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes write at The New York Times about the “traffic jam” on 3D and premium format screens, January 2010.
- Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes write at The New York Times about the “soft” opening of How to Train Your Dragon, July 2010.
- Nancy Tartaglione at Deadline considers the international appeal of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, March 2019.
- Mekado Murphy at The New York Times considers how How to Train Your Dragon was made, March 2010.
- Asawin Suebsaeng writes at The Daily Beast about the sexual assault allegations against T.J. Miller, December 2017.
- Dean DeBlois talks to Business Insider about the decision to recast Tuffnut for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, February 2019.
- Leah Bitsky at Page Six reports on the tension between Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel, July 2023.
- Darren Mooney celebrates Gerard Butler as “our meathead poet laureate” at Second Wind, February 2025.
- Jeff Labrecque at Entertainment Weekly considers whether Gobber from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise is gay, June 2014.
- Brandon Zachary at Comic Book Resources considers how Gobber’s sexuality evolves over the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, February 2019.
- Jackson McHenry at Vulture considers the “exclusively gay moment” in Beauty and the Beast, March 2017.
- Emily Heller at Polygon considers the limitations of Disney’s approach to representation on screen, March 2020.
- Alison Stine at Salon considers J.K. Rowling’s retroactive rewriting of Dumbledore’s sexuality, April 2022.
- Richard Morgan at The Washington Post considers the limitations of Rowling’s approach to Dumbledore’s sexuality, March 2019.
- Matthew Gault at Vice reports on how wizards defecate in the Harry Potter franchise, January 2019.
- Nick Romano at Entertainment Weekly reports on J.K. Rowling’s exploration of the bowel movements of wizards in the Harry Potter franchise, January 2019.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: animated film, animation industry, animation quality, Astrid, character development, character dynamics, connection, deirdre molumby, dragons, dreamworks, empathy, father-son relationship, friendship, gender representation, graham day, hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon, identity, imdb, IMDb top 250, legacy, live-action adaptation, personal growth, podcast, production challenges, sequels, storytelling, thematic elements, themes |
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