How to Remake Your Dragon Movie: A Review of 2025's "How to Train Your Dragon"
Step 1: Make it exactly like the first movie. Step 2: Put a silly beard on Gerard Butler. Step 3: Cut, Print, profit.
DreamWorks, never shy about taking its cues from the competition, has hopped on the animation-to-live-action express. Heaven help us. Well, I suppose it could be worse, at least it wasn’t Shrek.
The 2025 flesh and bone and CGI version of How to Train Your Dragon of 2025, as helmed by director Dean DeBois — returning to the franchise he helped kickstart with his former creative partner, Chris Sanders — is, I will admit, probably the best of these remakes to come since, well, probably ever. Not a high bar, but after Snow White, I’ll take what I can get.
It’s exactly what you think it would be: same plot, same characters, same dragons. There are a few meager deviations: some additional details for world building, an extra of motivation for a few chatvaters, but nothing too substantial. Before, Astrid just wanted to be the best viking she could be, now she wants to be the best viking she can be, and she’s miffed at Hiccup’s nepo-baby privileges. That’s the kind of extra depth we’re dealing with.
The element that makes it superior to other remakes of its ilk, can probably be credited to DeBois, whose understanding of the story and characters helps keep the heart and soul intact
Here’s the drill for all you new Riders out there: Teeange Hiccup (Mason Thames), is an apprentice blacksmith and wannabe viking warrior, living on the remote isle of Berk. For generations the vikings who inhabit the island have been at war with the dragons, whom each night raid the village for livestock, burn their homes, and supposedly kill a lot of people (we never see this, just take their word for it). As the son of the chieftain, Stoick (Gerard Butler), Hiccup is eager for the chance to prove himself, but his scrawny build and awkwardness have made him the town pariah.
He gets that chance, one night, after downing a Night Fury – the deadliest of the dragon sub-speices (or so they think) – but when the time comes to deliver the killing blow, he realizes he can’t go through with it. So instead, he helps nurse the Night Fury, who he dubbs Toothless, back to health, and as they learn more about each other, Hiccup uses his newfound knowledge of dragons to impress the villagers. But as he and Toothless grow closer, it begins to dawn on him how wrong his people have been about these creatures after all.
Half the scenes here feel like frame-by-frame recreations from the original movie. From the scene blocking, down to the music (same composer, John Powell, I do enjoy his score). Even the actor’s costumes are almost indentical to their animated counterparts. Dragon designs remain mostly untouched. They’re a bit more animalistic, except for Toothless, who you could have told me was copy and pasted from the last Dragon movie and I would have believed you. There’s merit to the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Counterpoint: “If it ain’t broke, why make it again?”
Credit where credit is due, because DeBois and his team have delivered on the promise of “live action” in a way the other adaptations only pretend to. The dragons are all rendered with CGI, of course ( it would have been so cool to get a few puppets à la Dragon Slayer. Alas), but a lot of it was filmed on location in Europe with practical sets. DeBois composes his shots with the kind of careful eye one develops working ion animation, and it helps make this feel more real. See, when you let animation folks have input on these remakes, it actually makes them better. Whodathunkit?
The humans and dragons interact in believable ways, especially Hiccup and Toothless. This movie would have been DOA had this element not worked, thankfully, it passes the mark.
Speaking of humans; I know I might lose my cartoon sycophant cred for saying this, but I honestly never liked their designs. The proportions always felt a bit off. So I think that softened me on the live-action cast. Thames feels more like a real teenager, no offense to Jay Baruchel, whose voice I love, but he always seemed a bit too old for the role, ditto for Astrid, now played by Nico Parker, who gets a couple of moments to shine. Gerard Butler, who voiced the original Stoick, returns to play him in the flesh, and fits the role like a glove; I love hearing him go even extra Scottish.
This is a bit of a side not, but while I was watching, it really bothered me that despite all the talk about how much of a threat both sides are, we never actually see a dragon kill a viking or vice-versa. It was the same in 2010, but that didn’t bother me as much. I think when you make something more realistsic, so too become your expectations. I’m not saying I need someone to get burnt to a crisp House of the Dragon style, bit just a spear through the scales here, a cut on the face there, maybe a few corpses. Those would have gone a long way to giving the story a bit more heft.
But yeah, I know why they can’t, it’s because they don’t want to freak out the movie’s real audience, kids and pre-teens, who will probably like this one a lot. There’s something universally cool about dragons, especially the fantasy of riding on one. Still, I think kids can handle more than we give them credit for. Having those sudden bursts of violence or scary images is healthy, and engrosses them further into the story. And don’t kids deserve good stories too?
As for all the old Riders like me, they’ll appreciate the shot of nostalgia and then never think about it again. For some, that will be enough. Despite being the same movie, it’s twenty-five minutes longer, and I felt every minute. There’s a sensation, and I don’t know if there’s a word for it, where while I was watching the movie, I was simultaneously playing the original in my mind, and whenever they didn’t sync up, it felt wrong.
It’s worth noting DeBois and Sander’s other animated movie, Lilo and Sititch, just got the live-action treatment last month as well, with Sanders as a producer and doing the voice of Stitch. Clearly, these guys had hit upon something that still comes through decades later. And yet, instead of hiring them to make more original ideas, they are being asked to remake the same things they already made decades ago. It goes to show that it isn’t a lack of talent that’s the problem with Hollywood, but the uncertainty and fear of the producers and purse holders that are the cause of the industry’s current repetition.
While I was writing this review, DeBois hinted in an interview that future sequels could further deviate from what came before. I hope he’s telling the truth, because I do think there’s a lot of potential here, and the original trilogy isn’t so sacred that it couldn’t be improved. So long as DeBois is on board to steer the ship, sailing the live action waters may yet reveal some treasures of originality over the horizon. I hope.
Side Note: Next remake? Bee Movie. They already have the template: