Mason Thames

Nico Parker

Gerard Butler

Nick Frost

Gabriel Howell

Julian Dennison

Bronwyn James

Harry Trevaldwyn

Murray McArthur

Peter Serafinowicz

Naomi Wirthner

Ruth Codd

Andrea Ware

Anna Leong Brophy

Marcus Onilude

Pete Selwood

Daniel-John Williams

Kate Kennedy

Selina Jones

Nick Cornwall

Nigel Shinnors

Adam Siegel

Dean DeBlois

Marc Platt

John Powell

Bill Pope

Lindsay Pugh

Dominic Watkins

Daniel Birt

Cressida Cowell

Oleg Podobin

Mike Stallion

Lucy Bevan

Wyatt Smith

Chris Sanders

Randy Thom

Thomas Brown

David Doran

Til Frohlich

Fraser Fennell-Ball

Ben Wright

Archie Campbell-Baldwin

Kerry-Ellen Maxwell

Paul Massey

Leff Lefferts

Brian Chumney

David Cain

Michael A. Connolly

Ryan Kearney

Lizzie Pritchard

Christian Manz

Christopher Raimo

François Lambert

Andy Kind

Glenn Melenhorst

David Farmer

Jonathan Spencer

Tom Hannibal

Alessandro Bertolazzi

Karsten Jacobsen

Roy Lee

Benoît Chieusse

Glen McIntosh

Heikki Kossi

Nikita Mitchell

Batu Sener

Leonard Woodcock

Chris Mylordos

How to Train Your Dragon (Live-Action) Collection

Fantasy

Family

Action

Adventure

How to Train Your Dragon

DreamWorks Animation

Marc Platt Productions

United States of America

English

flying

vikings (norsemen)

remake

dragon

battle

warrior

live action remake

based on young adult novel

CinemaSerf

Whatever happened to Brenton Thwaites? For some reason that crossed my mind as this thoroughly entertaining fantasy adventure gets off to a rollicking start and keeps going. Now if you are the “Hagar”-esque Viking chief (Gerard Butler) expecting your son to take over as fearless dragon-chaser after you, why would you call him “Hiccup”? Might as well call him “Buttercup”? Anyway, that hapless lad (Mason Thames) maybe isn’t the most adept on the muscle front but cerebrally he has something of the Leonardo Da Vinci to him as he determines to set about devising a weapon that will tackle the most formidable of their foes - the “Night Fury”. Well, would you believe it - his contraption actually works, but instead of slaying the thing this young man decides that the decades of combat between the species has accomplished nothing, so he decides a bit of co-operation might be in order instead. Of course, he has to be fairly clandestine about this as his dad will go ape if he finds out and fellow, and competitive, student “Astrid” (Nico Parker) - on whom he has a terrible crush - might decide to take her axe to both him and his new friend. There are a few slight modifications from the animation (2010) but otherwise it largely sticks to the story with a lovely hammy effort from Butler, an enjoyably mischievous one from his multi-appendage sidekick “Gobber” (Nick Frost) and two solid performances from the leads. It’s Thames who really steals the show amongst the humans, with a cheeky and personable effort which must have been quite a task as he spent much of the filming dangling in front of a green screen. As to the visuals, they are great. A combination of dragons galore, huge scale pyrotechnics and loads of imagination immerses you into a story of family and friendship without even the vaguest hint of the moralising that often peppers this genre. They say that, aerodynamically, a bee ought never to be able to fly: well I think that could be said of almost all of the critters here as they dart about menacingly and colourfully for a couple of hours of what is really good fun. It’s well worth a cinema outing as the whole thing looks and sounds great on a big screen and dare I say it, I might quite like a sequel if they can keep the standard of storytelling up to that of the imagery.

Chris Sawin

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.

The few highlights of the live-action version of the film are that the majority of the dragons transition to live-action or are computer generated to extremely satisfying results. 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 which is a major accomplishment regardless of whether it was shot on location or required 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 performance was already solid, but him embodying the character and dressing as him brings out more emotion and more passion in his acting. DeBlois claims that Universal Studios wanted to tell the same story with this film; 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 background characters or have one or two lines. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are no longer actual twins. Ruffnut is suddenly a BBW and both twins are 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 now portrayed by biracial actors. Wirthner is fine as Gothi because Gothi doesn’t have any lines. Parker portrays Astrid as a super bitch. In the original film, Astrid was trying to prove she was the strongest despite being a girl.

Hiccup’s unorthodox methods and seeming entitlement annoyed her and the ride on Toothless softened the character and represented the fact that Berk’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. Doing so before this film made it incredibly boring. 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. 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 boring and long.

At least with live-action Disney films the animated films are used as a base and new material is built around that. The live-action Lilo & Stitch at least had the balls to try a new ending and Jumba was turned into the film’s major villain with no redemption arc. An exact replication feels so unnecessary on all accounts and something 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.

Maybe some of the stellar reviews are based on some sort of nostalgia for the 2010 animated movie but I don't hold the same regard to that movie, although I did enjoy those movies. However, this live action version, like the ones Disney has been churning out, feels a bit pointless even though most of the CGI wasn't bad. It is certainly watchable but I found myself a bit bored having seen most of this before in the 2010 version. That said, the cast was pretty good, and I did like Nico Parker as Astrid. Not sure there's really any reason to see this one, just re-watch the animated version... **3.0/5**

On Set Secrets from the Cast - Bonus Feature

How To Train Your Dragon Cast Take the Ultimate Dragon Quiz - Bonus Feature

Building Berk - Bonus Feature

Hiccup Meets Toothless

Watch At Home Now

Recreating The ICONIC Scene from How To Train Your Dragon

Universal Below-The-Line Traineeship

Thriving Together

‘How To Train Your Dragon’ Team Stayed True To Original When Adapting to Live Action

Behind-the-Scenes Sustainability

Ode to the Original Cast

My Universal Story: Roy Taylor

My Universal Story: Daniel Birt

Director Dean DeBlois Breaks Down Test Drive Sequence

Three words. One epic journey.

Exclusive IMAX Interview

Welcome To My World

It's Time Clip

Guess The Dragon

An epic premiere in LA with our legendary cast!

Toothless Audience Reactions

Mystery Nuzzle

How To Train Your Dragon Cast Pick The Next Dreamworks Live Action Movie!

Creating Toothless

All About Toothless

New Tail Clip

Interview with Director Dean DeBlois

Gets It From His Mother Clip

The Wind In My Cheat Sheet Clip

Reimagining An Animated Classic for Live Action w/Dean DeBlois|Seen on the Screen w/Jacqueline Coley

How to Train Your Dragon( 2025)

The legend is real.

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Wed Jun 18 2025

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