It’s 2010, and young(er) Graham has just walked out of Dean DeBlois’ animated fantasy adventure How to Train Your Dragon. I adored it, it had everything I loved, from stellar animation to a world brimming with dragons, my favourite creature, fictional or otherwise. With two sequels and a multitude of spin-offs, it is, in my opinion, one of the best animated franchises ever.
Fast-forward to 2025, and old(er) Graham has just walked out of Dean DeBlois’ live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, and I am conflicted. The root of my problem is that live-action remakes are completely unnecessary. Unless you can offer something that the original iteration couldn’t, I rarely see the point of remaking a story. I know the reason, though no studio will ever admit it, nostalgia is an easy moneymaking machine. With The Lion King, I hated it because it was a simple beat-for-beat remake with a lacklustre new lick of paint on it.
This happens with many of the Disney remakes, save for Cinderella and Pete’s Dragon, two live-action remakes I highly recommend. The reason they worked, though, was that Cinderella expanded on the original story satisfyingly, while Pete’s Dragon is an almost different beast, with an almost completely different story that simply captured the magic of the original.
So what about How to Train Your Dragon? Well, it leans more towards The Lion King, however, it doesn’t lose the heart of the original while transferring these characters to live-action. Hiccup (Mason Thames) is less sarcastic than his animated counterpart, he comes across more vulnerable, which comes from the youthful energy of Thames’ presence. Astrid (Nico Parker) is equally as intense as her animated counterpart, Parker adds her own earnestness to the role. The majority of the cast is brilliant, especially Gerard Butler, who reprises his role as Stoick.
But what about the dragons?
There is the elephant in the room, though, or should I say dragon? This film is only half about the human characters. The other half is about the dragons, and the best returning character leads them from the animated iteration, Toothless. Toothless is as charming as you remember, and the effects on him and all the dragons are impressive. His relationship with Hiccup is as compelling as it was in the original, and it didn’t fail to bring a few tears to my eyes.
Returning to score the film is John Powell, and his score is as epic and emotive as it was fifteen years ago. I would say it is his score that makes this such an emotional experience. The theme that has become so synonymous with the How to Train Your Dragon franchise tugs on the heartstrings at just the right times.
My issues come down to a collection of elements that weaken the film as a whole for me. Gobber, played by Nick Frost in this iteration, does not have the same charm as Craig Ferguson’s version. Though the action set pieces are great, Bill Pope’s cinematography is brilliant, there is something ineffable missing because Roger Deakins did not return. And finally, I will always say this: live-action remakes are unnecessary. Which means these types of films will always have an uphill battle against me. Thankfully, though, How to Train Your Dragon was able to soar beyond my expectations, and I look forward to being proved wrong yet again when the sequel makes its way to our screens in 2027.
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