Directed by Dean DeBlois, How To Train Your Dragon (2025) takes place on the rugged isle of Berk where a Viking boy named Hiccup (Mason Thames) defies centuries of tradition by befriending a dragon named Toothless. However, when an ancient threat emerges that endangers both species, Hiccup’s friendship with Toothless becomes the key to forging a new future. Together, they must navigate the delicate path toward peace, soaring beyond the boundaries of their worlds and redefining what it means to be a hero and a leader.
With Disney spending almost 15 years delivering numerous live-action remakes of some of their beloved animated classics with mixed results, we now have Dreamworks stepping in with their first live-action adaptation based on one of their most beloved films, setting the stage for what could be the return of the old rivalry between the two studios. I think like most people I was very much against the idea of Dreamworks going down the same live-action remake route for one of their films, especially How To Train Your Dragon, given how near and dear it is to my heart. Even with the return of one of the original directors, Dean DeBlois, at helm I still wasn’t feeling all that excited and I was not going to even bother seeing it in theaters.
But much like what occurred with the Lilo & Stitch remake, I was hearing very positive things about this film so once again I decided to give in and see this one on the biggest screen possible. Was the decision worth it? Shockingly it was! Despite my extremely low expectations this live-action adaptation proves itself to be a solid remaster of the beloved story that retains the heart and magic of the original while also offering stunning visuals and welcome new additions in a new medium.
It’s very much the same story everyone knows and loves with some changes that I found to be better than the original and some changes that I wasn’t too keen on, but they didn’t ruin the film as whole. I would preferred several more changes to be included that would have prevented this film from being the near frame-by-frame remake that it turned out to be, but I will happily admit that this is the first near frame-by-frame remake that actually felt like it had the same amount soul as its predecessor, as well as found ways to improve upon various elements of the original. So in a way Dreamworks has indeed one upped Disney by delivering a frame-by-frame remake that doesn’t ruin the magic of the original animated film.
When it comes to the human characters of this film I think all of them were fantastically cast for the respective characters, with some of them being better compared to their animated counterparts due to their performances. While some of the nuances of the characters might have been lost a bit in the translation to live action I still felt every cast member was giving their all and never felt like they were phoning in their performances at all.
One of the biggest standouts was our lead Hiccup played by Mason Thames, who I will honestly admit is one of the few castings I prefer over the original. Don’t get me wrong I think Jay Baruchel is a great actor who did a great job bringing Hiccup to life in the animated trilogy but I always felt his voice was off for the character in the first film since it sounded like a grown geeky adult pretending to be a young teen and you didn’t feel as much emotion with his voice until the following films. In this remake Mason Thames felt far more fitting for the character and truly acts his heart out throughout the whole film, offering more emotional moments compared to his animated counterpart in the original. Hiccup in this film is the same beloved character with the same motives and journey he had in the original but I felt I had way more of an emotional connection to him than I did before largely because of Mason’s acting. They even cut down some of Hiccup’s dialogue from some crucial scenes to allow Mason’s facial expressions to do all the talking and it is truly beautiful. I never knew anything about Mason Thames before this film but after seeing his brilliant work here I’m eager to see what he’s got going on in the future.
The next biggest stand out of this film was Nico Parker as Astrid who was the perfect choice for this role and delivers a far more likable version of Astrid compared to the original with her performance. I don’t give a f**k if she doesn’t look exactly like Astrid from the original because she was absolutely fantastic in this role, reflecting all of the most notable traits of the character while also giving her more to do thanks to new additions made for her character.
The character is just as strong, smart and ambitious as she was before, though we do get a lot more interactions between her and Hiccup that add a bit more depth to why she is the way she is, as well as why she initially treats Hiccup poorly before they become a couple. Rather than just having her consider Hiccup as a weakling like most of the other Vikings do she reveals that she is also a bit jealous of Hiccup due to his status as the son of the chief, feeling he has a privileged life compared to her and the others who have to work hard to earn their place amongst their people. This gets established in one really great new scene between her and Hiccup that I felt was not only really well acted between both of them but it definitely builds up their chemistry far more compared to the original where they didn’t have as many lengthy interactions before jumping right into their romance. Nico Parker continues to prove herself as a rising star and she definitely proves all the haters wrong who were upset by her casting.
Gerard Butler returns to reprise his role of Stoick the Vast and he’s just as perfect as he was in the animated films but he definitely gets the chance to showcase more emotional moments on screen than he did in the first original film. He may not be as large and bulky compared to the animated version but he still has immense presence and brings such raw intensity to the performance as he did in the original, as if he never left the role.
There is even more emotional depth added to him and his dragon-slaying motives by having it be more based on the “death” of Hiccup’s mother, which was never in the first original film but was a retcon that was added in the second film instead. I loved this addition in this remake as it definitely makes Stoic’s hatred for dragons feel more understandable compared to how it was in the original before we knew what exactly happened to Hiccup’s mother. I’m so glad Gerard Butler returned to this role as I feel like no one else could have really pulled it off in the same way as he did.
Playing as Gobber the Belch in this remake is Nick Frost who brings all the heart and comedy he is best known for in other performances and infuses it into this portrayal of the beloved character. He’s just as hilarious as his animated counterpart but what I loved about this portrayal of Gobber was how much more heart he seemed to have compared to the original version of the character. He seemed much more caring for Hiccup in this version, acting as an uncle-like figure who seems to understand what he’s dealing with, where before he seemed more ignorant towards Hiccup’s desire to be accepted amongst the other Vikings. Nick Frost never fails to turn in fun performances in everything he is in and the same applies to his portrayal of Gobber in this film.
As for the supporting characters such as Fishlegs (Julian Dennison), Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Ruffnut (Browyn James) and Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn), I thought each of their respective cast members did a great job with each of their portrayals of these wacky characters, but they definitely felt a lot more like teens in this remake compared to the adults that voiced them in the original. Fishlegs is still the hilarious and talkative Dragon-stat obsessed nerd we all know and love that Julian Dennison plays to perfection, while Snotlout is still the hilarious and bravado filled jerk that is brought to life brilliantly by Gabriel Howell. As for the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut I didn’t find them as funny as they were in the original but I still think both of their cast members delivered some solid performances together. Together the group all share fun chemistry like the group in the original so I was mostly satisfied with what I got out of them.
As for Toothless, he’s just as perfect as he was in the original, being given a beautiful live-action design that retains the humorous and heartfelt nature of the beloved dragon. Similar to what Disney did with Stitch in the Lilo & Stitch remake, Dreamworks saw what wasn’t broken with Toothless and so didn’t change anything in regards to his journey, personality, looks, or movements, staying true to everything that made the dragon perfect in the original. And of course, his relationship with Mason Thames as Hiccup remains flawless and adorable as it was in the original but definitely feels more relatable in live-action, especially to dog owners like myself.
Surprisingly though the rest of the dragons ended up getting some design overhauls in live-action going from the big-eyed cartoonish creatures they were in the original film to more fearsome and reptilian beasts in this film that I honestly thought looked amazing thanks to fantastic CGI work. Easily my favorite of all the dragons has to be the redesign of the Monstrous Nightmare that looks far more menacing than their animated counterpart, looking like an absolute demon of a dragon.
All of the dragons have a lot more details added to them both in looks and action that extends even to the way each of them breathe fire. In the original, most of the dragons breathed fire in similar ways except for Toothless but in this remake their breaths are more visually distinct based on each species and I really loved this change since it gives more unique elements to each of the dragon species featured in the original. And as for the Red Death dragon, it looks just as incredible and terrifying as it was in the original so there’s nothing to complain about it.
The story is pretty much exactly the same as the original film with only slight changes and additions to it so there really isn’t that much different with it. On the one hand it’s a bit disappointing that they didn’t try to add something more majorly different to make this adaptation stand out on its own but at the same time the film does retain the heartfelt emotion and themes of the original story that all feels mostly enhanced in the live-action setting. The same emotional rollercoaster feelings I had when I saw the original came back to me again when watching this remake on the big screen, both through the visuals and the dialogue that’s performed extremely well by the cast.
The story didn’t feel soulless at all, despite being the same as before, and I even found a lot of the emotional and epic sequences hit a little bit harder in live-action than animation, which I didn’t expect at all. Some of the changes in dialogue and additional scenes I also found enhanced the original story in some ways, though I again wish we had more of that. The pacing is on par with the original by not being too fast or too slow, which already makes it a step above Lilo & Stitch that felt rushed in some places.
There was one change though that I wasn’t the biggest fan of involving the removal of a key scene from the original where Hiccup learns of an additional weakness of dragons that comes in handy in the battle with the Red Death. Sure it may have been a small scene in the grand scheme of things but I felt it was a vital detail that results in a great pay off for one of the film’s biggest moments. Other than that though this film remains extremely respectful to the original in terms of narrative and heart.
From a technical standpoint this film is nearly perfect with its gorgeous visuals, stellar cinematography, fantastic practical sets, and costumes, bringing the world of How To Train Your Dragon to life in a beautiful way. Now I only say nearly perfect because there are a few moments of poor green screen that pop up here and there throughout the film that prevent it from being visually flawless compared to the original film. Aside from that, every frame of this film looks stunning thanks largely to the usage of practical locations over extensive CGI landscapes, making this film feel very epic and alive. When there are some CGI-created backgrounds or locations they all look really damn good, replicating the animation’s beauty and colors in a new medium. I also really loved how fantastic the colony of Berk looked since it was all brought to life through hand built sets that nail the Viking aesthetic. The same can be applied to the costumes of the Vikings that have far more details added to them, from the wool-knitted cloaks to the forged helmets that have dragon horns instead of usual Viking horns.
The cinematography makes this film look absolutely amazing, especially on IMAX, making you feel so absorbed into the world and action happening on screen, especially for some of the most crucial sequences like the iconic “Test Drive” sequence that was adapted perfectly in live action. There was clearly a lot of effort put into all the technical elements of the film to capture the magic of the original and I definitely feel they succeeded doing a far better job compared to the attempts Disney has made with some of their own remakes.
But by far the best technical element of the entire film that felt like a massive upgrade from the original is the music. Composer John Powell returns to do the music for this remake and he was not messing around with his return to the iconic score of this series. I loved how he took the flawless themes of the original film and somehow managed to improve them after 15 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if people end up buying the whole soundtrack for this film given how perfect it is, and I absolutely loved hearing it in the theater, especially since it further absorbs me into the film itself.
While I do wish the film could have done a lot more to stand out and justify its existence as a separate adaptation I found myself pleasantly surprised by how this remake managed to stay true to what made the original so beloved. It managed to enhance several elements of the original leading to a film that surpasses a lot of the live-action remake attempts of Disney in a lot of ways. There has already been an announcement for an adaptation of the sequel, and after watching this I’m actually more open to seeing it, as long as the same amount of effort this remake has gets put into the sequel. My only wish is that they try to add more changes to the original story and refrain from doing a near full-on frame-by-frame remake going forward, since there is some great potential to make it stand out or even make it better. I’m going to give How To Train Your Dragon (2025) an A- = 93.
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