How to Train Your (Real) Dragon: Movie Review
How do you stand up for yourself in a world made to press you down? This live adaptation of the beloved animation may continue to shape generations to come.
Gerard Butler as Stoick The Vast in How To Train Your Dragon (2025) | Photo Credit: Screen Rant
“When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you.” A chilling reminder, spoken by the Chief of Berk to his young son Hiccup, could become the mantle of the new movie. In essence, fans of How To Train Your Dragon might get a brave, fresh take. The 2010 animation about an outcast boy and his special bond with a dragon captured the hearts of many and literally raised my generation. Naturally, people would be wondering if the 2025 live adaptation would stay on par, or even elevate the renowned story.
The live adaptation of How To Train Your Dragon has a rocky beginning. Remakes have always had a skeptical reputation, but this mostly boiled down to the concept of representation in film. Many fans were in uproar when the casting was first unveiled - essentially, one of the main characters who is white and blonde in the animation was to be played by a black actress. Many had argued that Astrid is predominantly a Scandinavian Scottish character and her casting should reflect the natives. Others had voiced about the fine line of inclusion that filmmakers toe, and when it becomes filling diversity quotas instead of natural representation.
Nico Parker as Astrid Hofferson in How To Train Your Dragon (2025) | Photo Credit: Screen Rant
Dean Deblois, the same director of both the animation and the live adaptation, had addressed this by saying that he casts characters based on their personality and acting chops, less on their appearances. It became especially true as I watched the movie. Nico Parker’s portrayal of Astrid stays faithful to her brash, aggressive personality, but also brings in the nuance of a girl’s desperation to be the best and to craft a better life for herself. Deblois’s new expansion of worldbuilding has neatly brought in Parker’s appearance by introducing the idea of external tribes coming to live at Berk. I was truly immersed by the vibrant diversity that Berk had, and never once felt that distinct characters were plugged for the sake of it.
Berk’s Dragon Fighters in How To Train Your Dragon (2025) | Photo Credit: Screen Rant
Another contention that the adaptation had to live up to was the CGI of the dragons. Fundamentally, audiences wanted to know if the lovable Night Fury, Toothless, would be as engaging as the animated one. The behind-the-scenes have shown the filmmakers taking painstaking efforts to recreate Toothless. The result is impressive, as Toothless looks, sounds, and acts as though he had sprung out from the animation. Mason Thames, Hiccup’s actor, has amazing chemistry with the CGI dragon. Deblois had orchestrated the action sequences timely with the movie’s iconic soundtrack, taking the audience along Hiccup’s journey. All in all, it was a nostalgic yet refreshing watch.
Mason Thames as Hiccup, with Toothless, in How To Train Your Dragon (2025) | Photo Credit: Screen Rant
As aptly put by Nico Parker, hating change for the sake of it cannot be valued as opinion. The adaptation is an incredibly faithful remake of a wonderful series and explores more shades of each character, like Hiccup’s loneliness, Snotlout’s desire to please his father, and Stoick’s overwhelming pressure as chief. The adaptation fleshes out characters and settings we know and love into something deeper and greater. Just as Hiccup overcomes his ostracisation as Berk’s worst Viking, this adaptation overcomes its backlash to be a stunning, eye-opening remake.
A child in the cinema was stunned that Hiccup had lost his leg in the end. While I already knew what was coming, it was a shock to realise that a new generation of children may grow up with a different version of How To Train Your Dragon than me. But I’m not complaining - the remake has the essence of Hiccup and Toothless, and while the film may not be perfect, remakes like this are getting there.
