June 23, 2025 · Watch the official trailer
Disney's financial obsession with relaunching their animated classics as live action films has become an unnecessary staple in movie theaters with their retelling of “Lilo and Stitch” arriving theatrically a few weeks ago and “Moana” currently in production for release next year.
However, a more disturbing trend is how other animated studios are getting into the mix with DreamWorks tapping Dean DeBlois, co-director of the original animated film, into directing a live action version of their critically acclaimed and Academy Award nominated film, “How To Train Your Dragon.”
Somehow 30 minutes longer despite being almost an entirely shot-for shot, beat for beat remake of the original, the live action “How To Train Your Dragon” is something DreamWorks hopes families will gather together for at the box office in droves this summer.
And yet the film is so bland and unmemorable that there's absolutely no need to leave the comfort of home when the original animated film is at your fingertips and this retelling will land on a streaming service later this year.
DeBlois’ slightly expanded revisit to the world of dragons is narratively identical to the 2010 classic with an introverted young Viking boy named Hiccup going against his family's heritage of slaughtering dragons as he befriends an injured night fury named Toothless. Together, the two help each other to become more than either are on their own as Hiccup shows the Vikings how to peacefully coexist with these magical creatures.
The original animated film is known for its star-studded voice cast, which in franchise history included Jay Baruschel, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, yet only Gerard Butler makes the transition from animation to live action as Hiccup's father Stoick.
While there is a nice familiarity to having Butler on screen, the expanded runtime doesn't add anything to his character arc, or the larger narrative and the film largely sidelines Butler to a stereotypical stern father.
Relative newcomers Mason Thames and Nico Parker playing Hiccup and his love interest Astrid do a solid job of keeping younger audiences engaged in giving them someone to relate to, though nothing in their performances becomes relatively noteworthy in the larger landscape.
The film shows its age narratively and comes across more as a strange hybrid of “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones” with the only standout element of the film being the return of composer John Powell’s terrific score.
On an average movie screen, there's little discernible improvement visually in the live action remake against the animated original especially as it relates to the film's opening and closing climatic action sequences bathed in almost total darkness.
There’s significantly more contrast available in animation that is lost in these CGI heavy green screen amalgamations to the point that the 2025 version is borderline unwatchable for large segments as its difficult to follow action sequences are slightly different hues of pitch black and muddle characters in shadow.
The color palettes of animation versus computer generated images here are starkly different to the point that any sort of photo realism intended in the remake becomes utterly superfluous and hinders the narrative plot line.
At times, it is engaging for audiences to soar through an afternoon sky on the back of Toothless, more up close and personal in the remake. But there's not enough impact to make the overall film any more compelling.
Younger audiences who have never seen the animated trilogy may find this iteration far more engaging and entertaining, though ardent fans of the animated classic may find this overly exacting faithful iteration to be beyond nostalgia bait and not worth making a special trip to the cinema.
Leave a Reply