‘How to Train Your Dragon’ sticks to script
Disney isn’t the only big movie studio remaking beloved animated classics into live-action risks to reinforce IP brands in order to attract people to their theme parks. Other big movie studios have theme parks too! And so we now have Universal/Dreamworks’ new live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon,” Dreamworks’ first classic when it came out in 2010. While earlier fare like “Shrek” were box office hits and well-received, “How to Train Your Dragon” was a watershed moment, their first movie where audiences and critics saw something that could give the best of Pixar a run for its money.
The original film proved to be very profitable, ultimately resulting in two more films (surprisingly, one of the finest film trilogies ever), several video games and toys, and multiple seasons of an animated series, which also had its own modern-day spinoff. A cornerstone of Dreamworks’ IP library, it’s no surprise to see them choose it to get the “live-action remake” treatment that seems to be de rigueur today. But how do you improve upon perfection? The first movie is amazing, filled with indelible moments, helped by the fact that the team consulted Roger Deakins, one of the best cinematographers ever, to help make sure the lighting was beyond what then-current CG animated films were doing (and to give the flying sequences an added “wow” factor).
The answer is, apparently: you don’t. Writer/director of the original, Dean DeBlois, returns to do the same duties, except now with a human cast and not just voices and pixels. What he’s delivered is an almost shot-for-shot, moment-for-moment remake of his earlier classic, and honestly, who can blame him? One is tempted to see it as DeBlois protecting his own baby, taking the job so no one else could mess with it, only to submit essentially the same homework twice, much like Michael Haneke did with his American remake of his own “Funny Games.”
Essentially the same
If you’re unfamiliar with the original, the film is about the Viking town of Berk, which is regularly beset with dragons raiding their livestock. Over generations of fighting, it’s become a way of life, part of their culture, and coming-of-age rituals. Chief of Berk, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler, reprising his role!), is one of the best, and his son, Hiccup (Mason Thames), is about to start dragon warrior training. But Hiccup is more of a gadget guy, coming up with contraptions to make dragon fighting more effective instead of relying on brute strength and martial skill. By accident, he downs a Night Fury, the most feared and unknown of dragons, but to both their surprise, a bond is forged that ties them to each other for good. Hiccup learns that he and his people have been so wrong about the dragons, and has to figure out how to convince the rest of the township to go against generations of habit.
Since little has changed in story, dialogue, or even shot composition, it invites constant comparison to the original, and here the new one will occasionally show its rough edges. Some jokes just don’t land as well (one was removed), and line deliveries could’ve used another take or three.
While DeBlois is an excellent animator, it is clear he is new at directing humans. Nico Parker (playing Astrid) doesn’t quite sell the reaction to meeting an honest-to-goodness dragon, and Nick Frost’s Gobber doesn’t have quite the bittersweet bite of Craig Ferguson, who really felt like a longtime friend of Butler’s Stoick.
Speaking of Butler, he actually gets to do some of his best acting in years, bringing new life to maybe his best role. It’s an impressive and heartfelt way to seize a rare opportunity.
Indelible moments
Most of the time, though, “How to Train Your Dragon” (2025) gets “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) right. Since it follows the blueprint, and has the mother of all vision boards in the original film, and has the same ship captain (DeBlois), as well as the soaring, sumptuous score of original composer John Powell (who can make bagpipes sound absolutely menacing), the same indelible moments are there, down even to granular details like when characters shirk away or shudder or when their voice catches in their throat.
The flying sequences are still thrilling, the reveal of the Dragons’ Nest still terrifying. The emotions are there, as well as the laughs. Does it hew too close to the original? Perhaps. But again, can you really blame them, when the original captured such magic?
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