Two nations are at war—so long now that no one living might even know why. All they know are the losses each side has suffered, which are many, and the extent to which they are willing to win, which is infinite. Amid this chaos, a son seeks the approval of his father while blazing a trail distinctly his own.

That’s a familiar tale, even if the warring states are Vikings living on a small, hilly island where the dragons hunt. The dragons are after the Viking’s livestock, and the Vikings are after the dragons. That makes pretty much everyone on this island a warrior. Everyone, that is, except Hiccup.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, How to Train Your Dragon is the live-action remake of the 2010 animated movie, which he also co-directed with Chris Sanders and co-wrote with Sanders and William Davies, based on Cressida Cowell’s middle grade series. It’s a movie so faithful to the animated version you could almost call this a shot-by-shot remake.

The story begins in the middle of warfare. Hiccup (Mason Thames) is the son of the big, burly Viking chief Stoick (Gerard Butler), and has inherited little from him in way of genetics. A dragon killed Hiccup’s mother a while back, and both men are ready to avenge her. But when Hiccup captures a dragon, he cannot bring himself to slay the beast.

That dragon perceives something special about Hiccup and chooses not to vaporize him. Hiccup returns the favor by repairing the dragon’s tail, naming it Toothless, and the two tentatively begin to trust.

Thames looks so eerily similar to his animated counterpart I kept thinking he might have been rendered from the same CGI that created Toothless. It’s what makes the first 20 minutes of Dragon a head-scratcher. With a remake this faithful, it’s a wonder why they even bothered.

That’s evident in the scene where Hiccup rides Toothless for the first time. In the 2010 animated version, the ride is a breath-taking moment of visual pyrotechnics as the camera smoothly swoops and soars with Toothless in a way no physical camera can. In the live-action version—a misnomer considering the amount of computer graphics at work—the camera is unsteady and shaky to give you the impression of being there. It’s closer to a moment from Top Gun than an animated movie.

But then something suddenly clicks. Hiccup shows a suspicious Astrid (Nico Parker) a whole new world by tossing her on the back of Toothless and taking her for a spin around the island. From here forward, the animation claws its way out of the uncanny valley and into The Never-Ending Story. It’s charming.

For the remainder of the runtime, How to Train Your Dragon makes a solid case for remakes in a world where the original is 15 years old and can easily be seen in multiple formats. The story of two warring states and a way forward might come across as pie-eyed, but lord knows we could use a little of that optimism these days. The story of a father looking for traces of himself in the son and the son looking for approval from the father is about as timeless as they come. Besides, Butler delivers a great vocal performance in the animated version. Here, you get that voice complemented by the intensity of those eyes.

But, in the end, the success and failure all come down to Toothless. The other dragons—and there are many— have traits and personalities that are endearing, but only Toothless is asked to emote. He’s a cross between a big cat and a wild mustang, and like the animated versions, he shows that the heart and soul of this franchise rely on those expressive green eyes.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Written and directed by Dean DeBlois
Based on the 2010 movie, How to Train Your Dragon, written by William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, based on the books by Cressida Cowell
Produced by Dean DeBlois, Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
Starring: Mason Thames, Gerard Butler, Nico Parker, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn
Universal Pictures, Rated PG, Running time 125 minutes, Opens June 13, 2025

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