How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Review
I’m a bit late but I was finally able to check out the How to Train Your Dragon live action remake. This is one that I was very curious to check out and my excitement was very conflicted with it. Ultimately, the trailers were giving me the nostalgic feels that I wanted from this film. The early buzz for the film was very promising so I actually went into this film excited for it. How did the film work for me? Let’s talk about it!
The Good
The best thing about the film is it did actually capture the magic and wonder of the original animated film. The original animated film is one of the most celebrated animated films of the last 20 years. With this film being live action I think it’s able to improve on some things from the original film. The film is able to have this sense of wonder and awe when you’re seeing dragons. It’s able to capture this in a similar way that Jurassic Park was able to capture with dinosaurs. When you watch that film there’s this awe and wonder of seeing dinosaurs. This film captures that same magic where you’re in awe of these dragons. I think the animated film kind of struggled with that because it’s an animation so there’s disconnect because of it. When it’s in live action it adds this sense of wonder. It’s also able to capture the magic with the characters, emotions, themes, and music. I feel like die hard fans of the original will be pleased with those aspects of the film. The film is able to make you feel the emotions at the Hiccup and Stoic scenes. You feel victorious with the score at points.
The other thing you have to talk about here is the CGI and visuals. Ever since they released the first trailer for this film and we saw Toothless I was so impressed by the CGI. Toothless looks so real and lifelike and the CGI is able to capture the cuteness of Toothless so well. It’s so fascinating how accurate they were able to make him look so much like the original films. You watch the Disney live action remakes of The Lion King and those characters look nothing like their animated versions. I’m not sure what resources and technology that Dreamworks had access to that Disney didn’t. But they were able to capture the magic and charm of these photo realistic creatures. But it’s not just Toothless, all of the CGI in this film looks great. All of the other dragons have this realness to it. There’s so much detail and texture in how they look. It’s obviously way too early to predict this, but this film better get an Oscar nomination for best visual effects. What’s even more interesting about this is that this film only cost $150 million. Which compared to so many other big blockbusters that cost $250-$300 million and look half as good as this film is weird to me. I don’t know if Dreamworks and Universal were just using their money more wisely or what, but other studios (*cough* *cough* Disney) needs to take notes.
Another thing to mention is the cast for the film is pretty good. Our Hiccup played by Mason Thomas was great. He’s able to be charming and fun while also having that awkwardness of Hiccup. Along those same lines Nico Parker as Astrid was really good. I think both of them are going to do a great job of playing these characters as they get older and more mature. They capture the right energy and vibe that you want from these characters. They have really good chemistry with each other, their relationship in the film is very fun. As Hiccup is attracted to Astrid right out of the gate but Astrid isn’t attracted to him. As the film goes along and she learns about Toothless she falls for him more and more. There’s a lot of layers and complexities to their relationship and the two of them are able to portray that well. It’s fun that Gearld Butler is reprising his role as Stoick for this film. I think Stoick is a character that works better in live action. I think in the original animated film, Stoick is such a jerk and an awful character. Stoick is the reason why I don’t love that film all that much. When you’re seeing a real person play Stoick the emotions of Stoick are prominent. You better understand how he’s feeling and his character arc feels more complete. Since Stoick is a better character here and he’s not this jerk I think the film works better.
Also, the score here is absolutely fantastic. It’s this score that I sort of forget is as good as it is. John Powell brings this world to life, he scored the animated films and he’s scoring this film. So many of the themes and melodies in this score have become a part of pop culture. So much of being engrossed into this world comes from the music. When the “This is Berk” music plays at the beginning it perfectly sets up this whimsical and adventurous tone that we’re going for. Of course the “Test Drive” score is absolutely iconic and helps make you feel like you’re in these sequences with these characters. It’s such a lively score that you have to mention when you talk about this film.
Finally, this film is a shot for shot remake of the original. It’s basically the original film with a couple extra scenes added in. The characters, plot, scenes, music, and more is what we saw in the original animated film (we’ll talk more about that later). But since it’s pulling from good source material, arguably some of the best animated source material of the last 20 years it’s a good movie. It’s a movie that works because the elements were already good before they started making the film. The people crapping on the film because it is a shot for shot remake of the original is weird. Because it’s a shot for shot remake of an already good movie. Beyond that, I think How to Train Your Dragon is an animated film that works in live action. Vikings and people riding dragons is very cinematic. Have you heard of a tv show called Game of Thrones? That showed that live action dragons work in a cinematic fashion.
The Bad
My biggest issue with the film sort of goes against what I just said. The film is a shot for shot remake of the original. With it pulling from good source material that means this remake is a good movie. BUT, is a shot for shot remake of a 15 year old animated film necessary? No. This film doesn’t need to exist. It feels like the reason why it was made was because Dreamworks looked at the money Disney was making with their live action remakes and wanted to capture that magic. On the one hand, if I was to rank this film with the Disney live action remakes, this is one of the better ones. Even the best of those have this certain level of “why” and pointlessness to it. Especially when this film is only 15 years old. That’s too short to be doing a remake like this. It’s this complicated film that does work in live action, it’s a good movie because it’s pulling from good source material. BUT, it also feels pointless to do a shot for shot remake of a film that’s only 15 years old. I know that it’s weird that one of the things I praised about the film is sort of the same thing that I’m criticizing the film about.
The other thing here is there are some changes to this film. There are some added scenes in here to try and differ itself from the original. It’s not that it was bad but I think they did it wrong. The big new stuff added is one of Hiccup’s friend’s father is introduced in the film. The kid is supposed to be cocky and trying to impress Astrid way too much. It makes sense as to why that character would have father be an important part to ground him a bit. But I feel like if you add in Astrid’s father or parents then it made more emotional weight to it. Astrid is a far more prominent character so it would make sense I feel to give Astrid more screen time and character development then a side character.
Final Thoughts: In general, How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is a good movie. Is this going to be in my top 10 of the year? Of course not. Is it a fun time at the movies that’s able to capture the magic of the original? Yes. I think in a number of ways this film is better because it’s in live action. If you were skeptical about the idea of doing a live action How to Train Your Dragon just 15 years after the original, that’s fair but check this out, I think you’ll enjoy it.
The Score: 8.3/10 (B)
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