I've stayed away from this thread for a while, but I've decided to talk about this now that the third movie is out. I feel that John Powell's music for the three "How To Train Your Dragon" movies is some of the best out there in the current batch pf film scores. When I used to work for a hobby shop, I'd have film music playing in the CD player - Everything from the Paul Newman "Nobody's Fool" to "Ender's Game" to Guardians of the Galaxy." When I started playing the score for the first Dragon movie, customers would listen for a while then come up and ask "Okay, what movie is this. It's from something epic, but I can't quite place it." They'd each be amazed when I showed them the CD case. They found it hard to believe that a children's movie could have such a rich sound. But there is more to this than just an epic sound. John Powell's music became as much a character in the story as did the dragons and Vikings, the sheep, and the crazy landscapes on the Isle of Berk. The music plays as much a part as the actions of Hiccup and Toothless in leading you to believe that a friendship has formed between them in the 'Forbidden Friendship' scene. The score to the second Dragon movie compares favorably to that of the first. The score to the third Dragon movie, as with the movie itself, is noticeably different from the other two. The score is not as epic in overall scope, but it is still very much a character in the film. The third movie seems structured more like the "Race to the Edge" series that ran on Netflix. However. In my opinion, the third movie does bring the trilogy to an acceptable conclusion that is in line with the ending Cressida Cowell gave her book series. All three of these scores are in the rotation of music I listen to while working on artwork.
Now something related, but having to do with the book series. I've been doing fan art based on the books and I've been posting that work on DeviantArt. (My username there is Tavush if anyone wants to take a look.) One of the paintings I've done is "Fly, Windwalker, Fly" which depicts a scene from "How To Steal A Dragon's Sword" - book 9 in the series. I found myself listening many times to Ennio Morricone's score for "Once Upon A Time In The West" while working on that painting. Now, for me, the cut titled 'Finale" is the score for that painting, and for that scene in the book.