My take on the new How to Train Your Dragon score

I just saw the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, and I need to talk about the score because I absolutely loved it!

I'm not gonna lie, when I saw that there was going to be a live-action remake, I was skeptical. But I was more excited that I'd hear a new take on such an iconic Powell score!

Then leading up to the release, I saw a surprising amount of people online say John Powell had an impossible task...that he was in a lose-lose situation.

Either he delivers a score that fails to capture the magic of the original, OR he steps aside and someone else is criticized for trying to replicate his work/create something new.

It feels a bit unfair that his new work is immediately placed in a position where it has to be compared to the original score, as if it can't simply exist on its own terms.

But I guess that comes with the territory in an age of remakes! 

I definitely get the protective feeling around the first score especially if you grew up with it. And that original score is peak cinema music!

But I feel like his work on this new score is SPECIFIC to this film. A lot of the changes were in the arrangements, the mix, and the overall texture.

I just feel like the approach was to make everything FEEL more cinematic, to match the scale of the live-action visuals. It might have been different from the original, but it doesn't mean it's bad by any means. 

It's just a different interpretation.

I loved the stereo image I got in the theater; the soundscape felt wider and way more immersive!

I loved the focus more on choirs, which gave everything a different kind of mystical, viking inspired power. 

A standout example of this was of course in "Test Driving Toothless." It introduces an entirely new choir section as Toothless and Hiccup are separated, falling from the sky. 

The danger is clearly present but just for a moment, it feels like nothing but...air! I thought it worked so well!

As a whole, I really thought Powell got to expand on the world he's already established.

In a way, this approach reminds me of Broadway.

A show can be restaged decades later with a new director, new cast, new musical arrangements and performances.

One doesn’t invalidate the other.

They're different interpretations of the same core material!

And sometimes there are elements of a revival that I like more than the original the same way there might be elements of the original that I wish was brought back!

The thing is, the themes are the soul of the film’s music. Not just the specific structure of individual cues. 

At its core, the thematic language exists.

From there, it can expand outwards.

We've already seen it branch from the original film to the sequels...even to it's own theme park! And each has with its own identity. 

The live-action film is just the next branch where a familiar motif can be re-orchestrated to support a different emotional beat...to support what's happening on screen!

Like I said at the start, I was skeptical about another remake. In an entire era of remakes, I can't help but think about how we engage with art.  

It’s just so easy to get caught in a trap of direct, one to one comparison, which is a very limiting way to experience something new! 

I'm just glad that the heart of the music is still John Powell’s. 

And I love that we just got another extension on how he interprets this world, tailored specifically for live-action.

Honestly, thinking about how themes can expand and adapt is what makes composing so rewarding for me personally.

It’s a reminder that our own musical ideas have so much potential if we have the right environment to explore them.

So if you're looking for that dedicated space to develop your own thematic language, get supportive guidance on your music, and connect with a small, growing network of peers who also geek out on this kind of stuff, that's the core of what we do inside the Composer Odyssey Membership.

You can learn more about the membership and sign up for the waitlist here:

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That's it for today! Have a great week and as always...Happy Composing! 🎵

~ Robert