Below are Kids Movie Talking Points for How to Train Your Dragon.
Was it good that the Vikings fought to protect their village from the dragons?
Yes. One of the reasons God gave men strength was to protect others.
Where did the Vikings make a mistake when it came to the dragons?
They always assumed they couldn’t be friendly.
What should we do if we are scared someone might hurt us or others?
As a kid it’s always best to tell your parents if anyone makes you feel scared or uncomfortable. We should remove ourselves from a situation if we are scared someone might harm us, and then we can always ask our parents or a responsible adult we trust.
The Bible tells us to do everything we can to live at peace with others (Rom. 12:18). Adults should do their best to ask questions in order to figure out if a person is peaceful. In general, it’s good to assume the best about people unless we have good reason to believe otherwise.
Who was more brave, the dragon fighters or Hiccup?
Hiccup was too small to fight the dragons, but facing one up close and risking great harm to befriend Toothless was actually very brave. It is sometimes scary to love people who aren’t like us or forgive people who have hurt us, but that is truly brave and it’s what Jesus did with us.
The same is true about controlling our temper and strength. Proverbs 16:32 says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” It actually shows greater power to control our temper than being able to destroy a whole city with our strength.
What do you think would be the best part about having a dragon like Toothless for a friend?
As great as it would be it can’t compare to the greatness of having God as a friend. What are some great things about having God as our friend?
The dragons were all enslaved to the one big dragon. How were we enslaved and how does Jesus save us?
We all were enslaved to sin. It made us do whatever it pleased like the dragons did for the master dragon, but Jesus freed us when he crushed death and sin. He died in our place on the cross and rose again. Whoever believes in him has forgiveness and freedom.
We might not train a dragon, but we have been saved by God and are being trained by Christ to be more and more like him and that is better news than having a million dragons.
Mike McGregor
Mike McGregor (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is Director of College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter at @m5mcgregor.
