Stirring and soaring, as it should be

I like the How to Train Your Dragon series way more than I ever thought I would. The films are beautiful and full of good messages - they're one of the better options for children's fare out there in the wide world of cinema. My sister was the first person to convince me to watch the original movie and I'm glad that she did because I found it immensely entertaining and well worth my time.

A couple weeks ago I went to see The Signal with my husband. The night after we had seen it some friends asked if we wanted to see it again - my husband was interested but I decided that I'd be the strange lady alone in the kid's movie instead. I had a great time watching HTTYD2 and walked out to meet up with my friends and my husband still humming the main theme and announced on the way home that I thought I wanted to get the soundtrack.

We ended up at WalMart (it's just the sort of thing that we do on Friday nights) and my friend pulled a copy of HTTYD2 soundtrack out of a discount music bin. I couldn't quite justify buying the soundtrack for myself but I did get it as a present for my sister and ripped it to my computer before wrapping it up.

The music is delightful - it's moving and exciting and John Powell did a really wonderful job of crafting themes for scenes that wove together to make a sonic texture for the film as a whole.

The best (or at least my favorite) track is "For the Dancing and the Dreaming," the only song in the American release movie that isn't a modern piece meant to run over the credits. It's a song for lovers and adventurers, it sounds beautiful and traditional while still having a modern edge to it. And it makes me cry every time I listen to it. It's the kind of song I want to memorize and sing as a lullaby to my children some day and if you can make music that touches people that intimately you've accomplished something quite impressive, so hats off to John Powell.

Cheers,
     - Alli

Powell, John. Music from the motion picture How to Train Your Dragon 2.
     Relativity Music Group. 2014.