How to Train Your Dragon’s live-action adaptation soars to fire-breathing success by never straying too far from the superb source material. Writer/director Dean DeBlois, who also helmed the blockbuster animated films, doesn’t deliver a shot-for-shot remake, instead recreating beloved characters, settings and themes while adding a few changes to reflect modern times and an inclusive sensibility. How to Train Your Dragon has a diverse supporting cast that’s cleverly explained. This may arouse the culture-war ire of those who go crazy about this sort of thing, but it doesn’t detract from the film in any way.
Mason Thames takes over the dragon reins as Hiccup; in a nod to the importance of retaining familiarity, Thames sounds exactly like Jay Baruchel, voiceover star of the animated films and cartoon series. Hiccup explains Viking life on the rocky and rugged island of Berk, a place where it’s cold, dreary, nothing beautiful grows and the food tastes terrible. But their biggest problem is dragons raiding their village and stealing precious livestock.
Captures the Original’s Greatness
4
/5
- Release Date
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June 13, 2025
- Runtime
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116 Minutes
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Mason Thames
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
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Nico Parker
Astrid Hofferson
The apple couldn’t have fallen further from the tree, because the skinny and clumsy Hiccup is nothing like his chieftain father, Stoick the Vast. Gerard Butler returns, and absolutely nails the live-action character, who’s obsessed with killing every dragon and finding the source of their nests in the icy and shrouded northern seas. Stoick can’t help but express constant disappointment in Hiccup’s Viking and dragon-fighting abilities; his son is a menace, and better off as Gobber’s (Nick Frost) blacksmith apprentice.
How to Train Your Dragon opens with a night assault, and Hiccup watches as the gorgeous and capable Astrid (Nico Parker) springs into action against the dragon pests. He’s ready to join the fray, firing a homemade device meant to capture an unruly beast into the dark sky towards an unseen enemy. He scores a direct hit, but no one believes that Hiccup shot down the feared “night fury.” So he ventures into the island’s dense forest to find proof of his heroic achievement. What he discovers challenges every hateful teaching he’s ever heard about dragons, and changes the course of his life.
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DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch) must have known that any significant deviation from the previous films would have been met with a backlash. But he would also have been criticized for cranking out a carbon-copy money grab. DeBlois had a difficult line to straddle, and bringing Butler back to anchor the film was his first great idea. Butler’s excellent reprisal of Stoick and believable chemistry with Thames sells the tenets that are at the heart of the story.
Hiccup wants to make his father proud. Stoick is the embodiment of Viking greatness, and is revered as a strong leader. His hurtful disappointment in Hiccup — what he does, how he looks and behaves — drives Hiccup to be a dragon slayer. But Hiccup is not a ruthless killer. He’s kind, thoughtful and curiously intelligent. These traits are scorned by Stoick, whose hatred and fear of dragons have blinded him to their true nature. But Hiccup’s empathy allows for a partnership that takes him to literally stratospheric heights. He sees dragons for what they really are and grows beyond Stoick’s limitations, opening his father’s eyes to the great man his son has become.
Toothless Rules
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Parker’s turn as Astrid, and her burgeoning romance with Hiccup, are endearing to behold. She’s not a Viking blonde, and that’s okay. You’ll have to watch to find out why, but DeBlois has a thoughtful reason for Berk’s racial diversity. And Astrid remains an awesome badass that Hiccup adores from afar. Their competition to be top dragon slayer draws the unlikely pair together in a remarkable way, and Astrid’s disdain towards Hiccup abates as she realizes his potential. Astrid is the first person to recognize Hiccup as Berk’s savior, and a worthy successor to Stoick.
Children, meanwhile, will be overjoyed at the CGI version of Toothless. The visual effects team deserves a mountain of credit for bringing all the dragons to life, but the film crumbles if you don’t believe the relationship between Hiccup and his dragon bestie. Luckily, that’s not an issue: Toothless will have viewers laughing out loud, and possibly shedding a tear. The flying scenes are also extraordinary; they look realistic, but also have a dreamlike fantasy quality. The climactic dragon showdown is also incredible, and ends the film on a thundering, wonderfully emotional high note.
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How to Train Your Dragon will win over skeptics. It’s a remarkable accomplishment given the incredibly high bar set by the animated original, a classic that spawned multiple sequels and spin-offs. Let’s hope this version charts a similar future course. How to Train Your Dragon is the must-see family film of the summer.
How to Train Your Dragon is a production of DreamWorks Animation and Marc Platt Productions. It will be released theatrically on June 13th by Universal Pictures.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
