‘How To Train Your Dragon’ - the 2010 original - is one of the most fond movies from my childhood.
I still remember the buzz of seeing it in the cinema and chewing my parents' ears off on the way home about how I wanted a Toothless of my own. (Update: still do).
So, naturally, I approached the 2025 live-action remake with extreme caution, holding the original etched into my memory.
There was every chance it could ruin an iconic, beloved classic, and waste two hours of my life I’d never get back.
To my surprise, it absolutely hit the nail on the head. With many near-identical features, a nostalgic yet improved soundtrack, and a sense of realism the animated version always hinted at, this remake does justice to its source material.
The issue, I feel, with live-action remakes is the tendency to distort original storylines, veering too far from what made people love it in the first place.
This remake, however, understood the assignment.
Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, they simply elevated it.
There were parts of the animated film that were begging to be brought to life, like the beautiful locations, the characters of the Vikings and their deeply realistic relationships.
‘The Isle of Berk’ was depicted in such a realistic manner, I damn near almost opened Jetstar to book flights.
The dragons were even hard to accept as CGI, with a healthy blend of fantasy and believability.
Watching Hiccup (I’ll get to him in a second), flying Toothless over mountains, in inlets and forests, I genuinely felt like it was real.
I KNOW it’s CGI, and I am not crazy, but the flying sequences were shot and grounded in such photorealistic settings, it feels like you are actually watching a kid ride a dragon.
I know, I’m not selling myself as a sane person.
The storylines of the main characters again were similar, but definitely targeted at a slightly older age group this time, with some elevated emotional elements.
Hiccup, son of the chief Stoick the Vast, was perfectly brought to life by 17-year-old Mason Thames. He was not as scrawny as the original, but he was slightly pathetic, awkward, with clear passion and eagerness to impress, especially his father.
His portrayal was real in the sense of being a classic, dorky teenage boy, but kept the ‘magical’ feel with his empathy for dragons.
The rawness of Hiccup and Stoick’s relationship was striking. Their arguments were realistic and emotionally charged, a little more so than the original animated version.
It gave the movie a nice layer of complexity.
Warrior girl Astrid, who is Hiccup’s crush and dragon training rival, welcomed a bit more depth to her character.
She was still tough-as-nails and Hiccup’s rival/love interest, but we see more of her envy and resentment of Hiccup’s privilege.
Their development felt authentic in the teenager's ‘enemies to lovers' trope, but I do feel like there could’ve been a little more chemistry between the two characters.
I do not have a musical bone in my body, but even I can appreciate the soundtrack. John Powell returned again as composer and did a brilliant job.
The music rose and fell with the movie perfectly, pulling the right amount of feeling from every moment.
Is it better than the original? Maybe it is too far-fetched to say so, but it comes pretty close.
Emotional, cinematic, and everything the animated version needed - it’s a movie for all ages.
I couldn’t recommend heading to the cinema more - go immerse yourself in the experience.
Oh, and make sure you watch on Xtremescreen. Trust me.
