Movie Review: "How to Train Your Dragon" Works as a Fun Companion Piece to the Original
Live action remake retains the whimsy and soul of the 2010 animated film.
By Angela Davis
MOVIE REVIEWER
Disney has been dominating the box office for the past decade with countless live-action remakes of their classic films. While they haven’t all been critical darlings, audiences have still flocked to the big screen to see these re-imagined takes on beloved animated films.
Now, Disney’s biggest rival, Dreamworks, is taking a shot at remaking its own films with an update to one of their most beloved franchises.
How to Train Your Dragon is a live-action remake of the 2010 animated classic that follows a young Viking named Hiccup as he tries to impress his father by slaying his first dragon. However, when he downs one of the rarest dragons during a nighttime battle, he realizes that dragons may not be as vicious as his father believes.
This remake essentially changes nothing from the original story, aside from remaking it in live action. However, unlike most shot-for-shot remakes in the past, this one has something they all lack: heart.
The main director of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, Dean DeBlois, returns to helm this update, and that helps this film in the long run. There are no moments in this remake that feel like an attempt to deliver on fan-service. It just feels like How to Train Your Dragon again, down to the orchestra blaring in the background. Dean DeBlois knows what makes this series work—its whimsical tone—and he proves it yet again in this surprisingly good remake.
The pacing of the story and the dynamic between Hiccup, his father, and his friends are both just as strong here as they were in the original film. It doesn’t feel soulless. Rather, it maintains the fun and heartwarming tone of the 2010 film, which makes for an overall enjoyable experience for bothnewcomers to the franchise and longtime fans.
The one major flaw in this film is that it’s a shot-for-shot remake. There are very few details that are explored more deeply than they were in the original. Lines are delivered word-for-word, and shots mirror their execution in the first film.
This could have set the film up for failure. Other shot-for-shot remakes of classic films, such as Gus Van Sant’s Psycho, have paled in comparison to the original. However, with Dean DeBlois behind the camera, this film is saved from being dull and forgettable.
Is How to Train Your Dragon going to be as beloved as the 2010 classic? Likely not. In fact, fans should seek out the original film to see just how well it works in the animated medium and why fans continue to cherish it 15 years later.
However, as a companion piece to the first film, this 2025 remake is well-worth the price of admission to see on the big screen.
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