‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (2025) Review – Now In Lifeless Live-Action With Nothing New Or Worthwhile!
The How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is a shot-for-shot remake of the original 2010 animated film. It is DreamWorks Animation’s first foray into live-action and original screenwriter and director Dean DeBlois returns.
Perhaps one of, it not, the only highlights of the film is how satisfyingly most of the dragons — definitely not all — were translated to live-action. Monstrous Nightmare (the red dragon with the long snout that can ignite its entire body on fire) is exceptionally cool.
Visually, How to Train Your Dragon is stunning. Many live-action shots are realistic copies of what was accomplished in the animated film — a major accomplishment in itself — regardless of whether these were shot either on location or required the use of a green screen and various other visual effects. No one is taking away from the fact that the film looks incredible.
Gerard Butler, the one returning actor from the animated films, acts his ass off as Stoick. Butler’s voice acting was already solid, but seeing him embodying the character brings out more emotion and passion to his performance. DeBlois claims that Universal Studios wanted to tell the same story with this remake; to embellish what made the animated film great. DeBlois says that the live-action version enhances the original, but the only significant enhancement is Butler’s performance.
All of the jokes and story points are the same, which don’t hit the same in live-action. It seems like an obvious fault to say that a live-action film just isn’t as animated or as energetic as an animated film but that is exactly the case here. Performances lack that cartoonish nature that made How to Train Your Dragon entertaining, funny, touching, and memorable. None of the humor works here as none of the other casting choices work like they’re supposed to.
The only reason this was remade was to add people of color to the cast. This would be fine if it was done for a valid reason, but nearly all of the black actors are either background characters or are barely given any lines. Another change that feels unnecessary is Ruffnut and Tuffnut no longer being actual twins. Ruffnut is suddenly heavyset and both twins are now redheads. Julian Dennison (The Hunt for the Wildepeople, Deadpool 2) is Fishlegs and his performance is mostly fine as he captures the same energy, but it’s just too brief to make much of an impact.
Astrid is now portrayed by Nico Parker while Gothi, the town elder, is played by Naomi Wirthner. Both characters are portrayed by biracial actors. Wirthner is fine in the role, but that’s because Gothi doesn’t have any lines. Conversely, while in the original film Astrid was trying to prove she was the strongest, despite being a girl, Parker portrays her as a super bitch.
Hiccup’s unorthodox methods and seeming entitlement annoyed her and the ride on Toothless softened the character; representing the fact that the village’s stance on dragons could be altered. Now Astrid stomps around like an entitled brat for what feels like a two-hour tantrum. Not to mention Hiccup (Mason Thames) looks 25 and Astrid (Parker) looks 12. Thames is younger than Parker in real life, but still.
I revisited the first two How to Train Your Dragon films before seeing the live-action remake and watched How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World after. With a franchise, it’s usually a good idea to revisit the older films so major characters and story points can be fresh on your mind.
Revisiting the other films just made this one feel boring and long; the live-action film is both of those things but seeing the other films beforehand made it feel even more excruciating.This new version of the film is made for people who either haven’t seen the original film in a very long time or for a new generation of people who have never seen it.
At least with live-action Disney films the animated versions are used as a base; with new material being built around that. The live-action Lilo & Stitch at least had the balls to try a new ending; turning Jumba into the film’s major villain with no redemption arc. An exact replication feels unnecessary on all accounts, and something must have worked along the way because a live-action sequel is already greenlit.
Dean DeBlois and Universal Studios have somehow recreated an incredible film about dragons and the struggle to survive and turned it into this lifeless, carbon-copy shell of its former self. Hiccup’s initial riding of Toothless has this magical and tingle-inducing aura about it in the original film and here it just feels like retreaded terrain with no charisma. This is a film aimed to enhance the filmmakers and studio’s pockets and nothing more.
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How to Train Your Dragon (2025), Universal Pictures
PROS
- Gerard Butler
- The dragons look great
- Many sequences look like visual recreations of the orignal film
CONS
- The majority of the live-action cast is trash
- Is somehow exactly the same as the original film yet also longer
- People of color are thrown in just because
- Shows that some animation just doesn't translate to live-action
- Plays it safe by not offering anything new
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