How To Train Your Dragon Review: Unnecessary But Not Bad

Over the past decade, Walt Disney Studios has taken a lot of flack for going back to the well and remaking or reimagining over a dozen of their classic animated movies in live-action (or photorealistic computer generated imagery in the case of “The Lion King”) — and there’s a good reason for that. With the exception of “Cinderella,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Cruella,” most of Disney’s revamps haven’t come close to measuring up to their predecessors, with the live-action element taking away much of the personality and imagination of those beloved animated tales. The remakes often skew too close to the original without much innovation, or the enhanced and updated elements, which often include new original songs, don’t add much to the magic that preceded it. 

That’s why many (including yours truly) have been leery of the live-action remake of DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” (despite its solid box office prospects), arguably their most beloved franchise outside of “Shrek” (though “HTTYD” has aged far better and has superior sequels). While the marketing materials have packed a punch, thanks to composer John Powell returning to provide the triumphant score, not much about the movie has looked like anything more than a shot-for-shot remake with little to no indication of any significant changes or improvements made on the original. Granted, there’s not much to improve upon, since that original movie is still a wonderful animated adventure. 

Therefore, I’m pleased to report that the “How to Train Your Dragon” remake isn’t worse than the original movie. However, at the same time, I’m also saddened to say that director Dean DeBlois’ live-action revamp of his own animated movie (the first time such a scenario has come about) stays so loyal to the original that there are few redeeming qualities that make this movie feel necessary when the original is still so magnificent. 

If you’ve seen the original “How to Train Your Dragon,” you already know the story. If you don’t, the film, again written by Dean DeBlois, (this time without the animated movie’s co-writer William Davies, though its nearly identical script basically makes him a co-writer again) follows a teenage Viking boy named Hiccup (Mason Thames of “The Black Phone”) who’s a bit of an outcast in his village Berk. While all of his fellow vikings are tough warriors ready to battle with the dragons that frequently plague them, stealing their cattle and burning their homes, Hiccup is awkward, lanky, and more prone to using his ingenuity in the face of danger. That doesn’t sit well with the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler, reprising his previous voice role in live-action), who also happens to be Hiccup’s father. 

But Hiccup’s life is about to change in a big way when a mechanical weapon he invented ends up capturing a Night Fury, one of the most elusive and deadliest dragons known to VIking-kind. However, no one believes his success, and when Hiccup realizes he can’t bring himself to kill the pitch black fire-breather, he begins to understand the true nature of dragons. They’re not vicious creatures who relentlessly attack by choice, and they’re completely misunderstood by the Viking people. 

Unfortunately, Hiccup can’t let anyone know about his secret new dragon pal, so he learns to ride and fly the dragon he comes to call Toothless (because he initially appeared without his retractable teeth), not to mention figuring out peaceful and tricky ways of subduing dragons without fighting them in the dragon training that young Vikings partake in, turning him from the village outcast into a small-town celebrity. 

His village crush and fellow trainee Astrid (Nico Parker of “The Last of Us”) isn’t so pleased with his success, as she one day hopes to be the new chieftain and doesn’t understand how he’s suddenly so good at dragon training, but their peers Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison), and siblings Tuffnut and Ruffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn and Bronwyn James respectively) are eager to discover his skills. Things become more complicated when Astrid learns Hiccup’s secret, and they discover there’s an even more terrifying threat waiting in the dragons’ nest, which Stoick vows to destroy their home once and for all.

Guess what? That’s exactly how it plays out in the remake as well. Sure, that’s to be expected when you’re telling the same story, but the script lifts every single memorable moment and every funny line down to the exact phrasing and sometimes even the same cadence as Jay Baruchel’s delightful misfit Hiccup from the original animated movie. Unfortunately, that’s where a another problem comes into play. 

Mason Thames is undeniably charming and quirky in his take on Hiccup, but he inherits both the positive and the negative of a similarly revamped performance: Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Don’t get me wrong, Holland gives a superb performance as Spidey in the MCU, but he’s almost too handsome and charismatic to be as nerdy and awkward as Peter Parker should be. Thames has the same issue, almost like if Holland’s Peter Parker was given the same haircut as Jim Halpert in “The Office.” While he has plenty of charm and certainly gives a commendable performance, there’s something about him that just doesn’t naturally feel like Hiccup.

On the other hand, Gerard Butler shines in his revamped role as Stoick (something we knew from the beginning). Butler plays the role bigger and more intense, but not quite as exaggerated for comedy. In fact, if there’s one thing that the “How to Train Your Dragon” remake succeeds at in the same regard, it’s adding more raw emotion to the proceedings. While animation has the ability to pull at your heartstrings and play with an audience’s feelings, there’s something about live-action that still hits a little harder, even in a fantasy realm. Seeing a human face show fear, anger, sadness, or any emotion often connects on a deeper level because we feel it more as another real life human. Seeing the pain and disappointment that fills up the eyes of both Thames and Butler as their story plays out actually surpasses the emotion of the original. 

Matching their emotional strength is Nico Parker as Astrid. She has a bravery and conviction in her performance, and you can often simply see it in her big, expressive eyes. But those eyes also have a softness behind them, and when her guard finally comes down to embrace hiccup, you see she has a gentle side to offset her ferocity. 

It also helps that composer John Powell has returned to provide the score for the remake. Yes, the familiar theme from the original is back, but the score feels much bigger and more grand, perhaps to match the scale of the movie, another area where Dean DeBlois has improved the original “How to Train Your Dragon” a little bit. Because we’re dealing with human characters, the adventure has to feel larger than life, so there are moments that feel much more grounded, exhilarating, and terrifying in live action. In particular, when dragons attack the Vikings in pursuit of their nest in the middle of the movie, an action sequence shows us what happens to the warriors rather than leaving it to our imaginations. That’s taken to a whole new level in the film’s finale, where the monstrous, kaiju-sized dragon feels much more scary and massive than his animated counterpart. 

Along with that, the flying sequences in the “How to Train Your Dragon” remake soar both literally and figuratively (which is why they won some people over in the trailer). Too often, scenes like this can feel fake, but the visual effects in the movie bring flying on the backs of dragons to life with the same thrill and magic as when Harry Potter rode on the back of Buckbeak in “Prisoner of Azkaban.” But there’s one element of “How to Train Your Dragon” that the visual effects can’t quite overcome.

While Toothless as a character is still undeniably adorable, the photorealistic version of him still borrows too much from his animated counterpart. It’s kind of a double-edged sword and maybe an impossible job to pull off. If you make him look more realistic, his expressions and behavior may feel odd, similar to the characters in “The Lion King” remake. But if you stick closer to the original animated character design, it doesn’t feel like he exists harmoniously in a real-life world. While the texture of Toothless’ skin and his various animal features have been brought to life with impeccable detail, the animated character design still looks strange in live-action, especially when the rest of the dragons have been adjusted to look significantly less cartoonish in their appearance. It’s perhaps the biggest hurdle that the movie never overcomes. That and the continued misstep of making a live-action remake devoid of the vibrant colors that made its predecessor so visually pleasing.

The “How to Train Your Dragon” remake entertains by default simply because it’s telling almost the exact same story that proved to be successful back in 2010. Sadly, with the exception of a few stylistic changes and the emotional human element, it doesn’t feel like it’s enough to justify telling the story in a way that feels almost like a carbon copy of the original. It doesn’t elevate the original movie to new heights, but rather adjusts the effectiveness of certain elements, essentially breaking even but ultimately falling back because it’s too familiar territory. 

Sure, maybe those who steer clear of animated movies might be more inclined to check this out, or kids who haven’t yet experienced the animated version might be seeing the story for the first time, but the animated movie was already more than good enough on its own, and it didn’t need to be revamped with what is essentially an expensive photo filter.

Admittedly, “How to Train Your Dragon” is not terrible like some of the Disney remakes out there, and it’s better than almost all of them, but it’s not substantial enough to warrant its existence. We have “How to Train Your Dragon” at home. It’s the motion picture equivalent of turning tacos into nachos, and even though nachos can be delicious, they’re not as good reheated.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10

“How to Train Your Dragon” opens in theaters on June 13, 2025.