How to Train Your Dragon 2025 Review: A Coherent and Aesthetically Satisfying Live Action
How to Train Your Dragon was released 15 years ago, marking a small earthquake in the world of animation. It allowed DreamWorks Animation to score another magnificent saga, which has given great satisfaction over the years. Now, the live-action remake arrives, always signed by Dean DeBlois, which turns out to be a commercial operation, but also incredibly coherent and, above all, perfect for the target audience, with a high level of spectacularity and the right mix of adventure and fantasy. Several times in talking about remake live action, we said we were more favorable to those who take their own path, who widen the field of action, who move parallel to the original, compared to those who retrace their path step by step. We said it for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, for example, supporting the choice to go beyond the already known story of Maleficent or Cruella. An idea that we still consider valid, but with a note, an exception that naturally and sensibly confirms it: the same director of the original at the helm of the remake operation. And it’s a valid exception for How to Train Your Dragon.
It is Dean DeBlois who leads the project of this remake live action, the mind that gave birth to the animated trilogy for DreamWorks, three times nominated for an Oscar and winner of the Golden Globe, which re-imagines history in a new guise to give new impetus to a saga that has gathered passionate fans all over the world. We included. And we anticipate it immediately at the opening of the review: the story of Hiccup and Sdentato confirms its emotional power also in this new version, without being watered down by being already aware of the implications of the weave. In an era where remakes always seem to have to prove that they are “more” than the original – more adults, darker, more spectacular – Dragon Trainer chooses a different path, and for this, surprisingly, simply be himself. The live-action directed by Dean DeBlois retraces the first animated film of the saga almost step by step, preserving its spirit, emotions, and fundamental messages. The result? A film that perhaps was not necessary, but which is left to be loved with the same affection with which an old family photo is seen. And this is precisely its strong point.
How to Train Your Dragon 2025 Review: The Story Plot
How to Train Your Dragon has a budget of 200 million dollars, with which to bring the characters of the 2010 film to life. The story is the same, indeed it can be said that How to Train Your Dragon, after all, distances itself from the recent fashion of having Live Action radically different from the source. There is some small difference, but let’s talk about infinitesimal variations, some characters put here and there, a few more scenes, just enough to make it last two hours instead of the 90 minutes of the original cartoon. The story is always that: we are in a Viking village on the island of Berk, where everything, but everything, revolves around the heated rivalry between the inhabitants and the dragons, who often come to steal cattle, food, stoke some here and there stake. That community battalion is led with a sure attitude by Stoick the Immense (Gerard Butler), which embodies the prototype of the perfect Norse warrior, in a reality where everyone, really everyone, they collaborate to create a constant work of vigilance and of course the elimination of the terrible Dragons, divided into different species, each with its arsenal and its particularities.
The only concern for the boss is his son, Hiccup (Mason Themes), little brought to the will to follow in his father’s footsteps. Rather, he is interested in inventing things, using his head more than his muscles, in short, he is not one of those who passively accept to become as others tell him to be, even if he wants to integrate into the community. During yet another night attack, his fortuitous encounter with a specimen of Night Fury will forever change his destiny and that of his tribe, including the beautiful Astrid (Nico Parker), who, like all their other peers, unlike Hiccup, dreams of becoming a dragon slaughterer day and night. How to Train Your Dragon, naturally based on Cressida Cowell’s novel, he does not give up being what he was 15 years ago: a perfect mix of fantasy, adventure, training films, with a humor and constant parody inherent in the Norse myth, or rather how they were represented the Vikings in Hollywood or on the small screen, with those horned herms, the ax immeasured, and their eternal wandering the seas in search of someone to disembowel. The result is a pleasant film, perfect for the target audience of 2025, which, however, will not give much more to those who saw the original in 2010.
How to Train Your Dragon 2025 Review and Analysis
Let’s start immediately by saying that How to Train Your Dragon has a fantastic aesthetic dimension on its side. The special effects, accurate by the Framestore Industry, are the best that have been seen for a long time now on the big screen in a product of this type, so much so that it would be said to other realities, see Disney and Marvel, to take notes. Here, there is a technical work of the highest level, necessary to make credible an adventure halfway between heaven and earth, mostly shot in an Ireland that it takes up, reinvents, but often in reality simply shows, the extraordinary beauty. Always, the aesthetics are then embellished by the gaudy costumes, by the make-up, by the sets, which are always and, in any case, cartoonist, faithful to the fanaticism of the original animated film, even at the cost of appearing sincerely a little too gaudy. How to Train Your Dragon, it stands not only on the visual effects, but also on the actors’ interpretations, on all Mason Themes, who sometimes gives the impression of having received a load that is too heavy to carry, but which still manages to be credible in the role of this different boy from the norm, curious.
Hiccup appears to us to have a unique ability to use fantasy and a sort of rudimentary engineering skill as a new Archimedes, to bind with Sdentato. Beautiful, this dragon, still has those huge cat eyes seen in 2010, it is certainly the strangest of its kind that cinema has ever given us. Gerard Butler, the late Leonidas of 300, is no longer the export stem that was at the beginning of the millennium, but still charisma, sympathy and voice to be credible in the role of this stubborn, stubborn Viking, symbol of an inability to overcome ancient hatreds and prejudices, whose presence makes How to Train Your Dragon a film with a current political message. There is a need to leave the past behind, not to put it above all on those of the new generations, respecting a free will that must never be missing. Beautiful flight and action scenes, gags. This is a perfect film for the family, but of course, it does not erase the impression that, in general, Live Action is a clever, sterile, lazy operation. Even when it gives us a film like this, perfect for turning off the brain for a couple of hours and entertaining your offspring.
From the first images, Mason Thames had seemed an excellent choice, at least visually, to bring Hiccup in flesh and blood on the screen: the boy born in 2007 (he was not yet 18 when he shot the film), had already said the his in Black Phone and confirms that it was not only chosen for the similarity to the drawn character, but also because it can embody both its fragility and human qualities, both insecurities and cunning. In the same way, Nico Parker works as Astrid (we had seen her, for example, as Joel’s daughter in the early bars of The Last of Us), different in appearance from the animated counterpart, but capable of staging the same determination and strength. Instead, it is a return, somehow, that of Gerard Butler, who already gave voice to Stoick in How to Train Your Dragon and completed the work, also giving it face and body, confirming the quality of the choice. Next to them, there is also a charismatic figure like Nick Front for the picturesque village blacksmith, Gambedipesce, to give prestige to a cast made up of many well-known faces that are credible in a Viking guise, with costumes in balance between creativity and references to what one would expect from a story set in that cultural context.
If the human casting is well constructed, the same can be said for the variety of the other fundamental components of How to Train Your Dragon. On the one hand, we have Toothless, a co-star made in CGI and faced with the care it deserves and needs to make history, its nuances, and the relationship that is created with Hiccup credible. On the other hand, a multitude of his fellow men, of every subspecies and possible aspect, from the most threatening to the most picturesque or funny. DeBlois’s successful choice is not to pursue realism at all costs, but to reproduce the creativity and warmth that made the animated film characteristic. This also helps the technical aspect, which does not risk testing the suspension of disbelief or distorting the strict sense of history and its general tone. Dean DeBlois breaks down and recomposes his story, proposes it faithfully but keeping in mind the different sphere: How to Train Your Dragon live action reaches a more full-bodied duration without significant additions, but giving more breath to some moments following the less frenetic rhythm of the live action staging, but without anything ever being heavy or long-winded. The first images had already suggested it, traced on the animated original in a precise, punctual, but not pedantic way. This is confirmed by the complete film that we previewed.
DeBlois expands, but keeping in mind what was and should continue to be his Dragon Trainer: there is nothing out of place, nothing too much, nothing missing. We perceived the strong feeling that DeBlois felt for this story, for his themes of acceptance and search for his place starting from an outsider, it is still perceived now that that story is proposed to us in a different form. Hats off, or Viking helmet, for those who have such clear ideas and can translate them into images with such precision. Mason Thames plays Hiccup with a surprising maturity: he is a tender, ironic character, full of insecurities but also of the desire to get involved. It is the beating heart of the film, and it can bear the weight of an important legacy. At his side, Nico Parker, in the role of Astrid, confirms himself as a versatile and intense interpreter: his Astrid is determined, autonomous, but also capable of being surprised. Gerard Butler, like Stoick, adds gravitas to the film: not only because he had already given voice to the animated character, but because he manages to embody the contradictions of a father divided between love and rigidity.
The secondary cast – among which Nick Frost stands out as the grumpy but sympathetic Skaracchio – contributes to making the Berk community credible and alive, between Viking stereotypes and well-balanced humor. The technical aspect of How to Train Your Dragon is a successful balance between show and heart. The dragons, made in CGI, are varied, expressive, fun, and majestic. Toothless, in particular, maintains that combination of mystery and sweetness that made it an icon. The choice not to exacerbate visual realism, while maintaining a certain stylization in colors and shapes, allows the film to preserve the fairytale tone of the original. The flight scenes are spectacular, but not overwhelming: they do not aim to amaze at all costs, but to make us experience the thrill of discovery together with Hiccup. The work of the visual effects team is remarkable: never intrusive, always functional to history.
How to Train Your Dragon doesn’t add much to the narrative terms. But in an era in which many remakes seem to want to reinvent the original to justify their existence, it is almost moving to find a film that merely does it well. This new version is designed for those who do not know the original, but also for those who have loved it: seeing Hiccup and Toothless together again, in flesh (and scales) and bones, brings back a little’ children. And this is its value: How to Train Your Dragon is a caress to the heart, a film that is not afraid to speak with the language of the simplest and most sincere emotions. The question remains legitimate: did you need a live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon? Probably not. But this does not mean that the film works, emotions, and entertains like few other titles for families in the room today. Not everything must be innovative to be valid. Sometimes it is enough to go back to the origins with respect and passion. And How to Train Your Dragon, in this, is a small miracle: faithful, felt, bright. A flight that is worth doing once again.
How to Train Your Dragon 2025 Review: The Last Words
How to Train Your Dragon live action is a faithful, exciting, and visually cured remake. It does not add any news to the original, but manages to bring its warmth and meaning intact. Dean DeBlois directs with affection and consistency, leading a convincing cast in a story that speaks of diversity, friendship, and growth. Perfect for families, but also for those who want to go back to flying with their imagination. As lovers of the animated saga, we were not disappointed by the live action remake of How to Train Your Dragon: the fidelity to the original is not sterile but the result of the hand of Dean DeBlois, director of the new films as well as the animated ones, who reworks with criterion and consistency the starting material to propose the same story, the same themes and emotions in a different key without betraying their spirit and going against fans’ expectations. Good and various dragons in CGI, managed the casting, starting from the young protagonist, Mason Thames.
Cast: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost
Created By: Dean DeBlois
Where to Watch: In Theaters
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
