How To Train Your Dragon (2025) Dir: Dean DeBlois

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When this live-action remake of the beloved 2010 animated fantasy film, itself based upon the books of British author Cressida Cowell, was announced, I rolled my eyes so hard they almost popped out of my sockets. This had soulless cash-grab written all over it, and even the fairly positive reviews had my guard up, which lead me to leave this Dean DeBlois directed adventure until it was available to stream.

This film had a significant mountain to climb in many ways, because of the beloved nature of its predecessor, and part of that was to do with how enjoyable the animation was. As I suspected might be the case, this was essentially just a live action shot-for-shot remake - I could almost repost my review for the 2010 version of the film. Except that this version failed to produce nearly as much life and character with its cinematography than the animated equivalent. The film just looked comparatively dull.

Nothing quite hit the way the original did, including on my last rewatch of it. The humour didn't land quite as well as in the animated film, the story wasn't as compelling, the characters weren't as likable - everything was just slightly worse than before. If I wanted to watch a good retelling of 'How To Train Your Dragon', I'd choose the original everytime. This wasn't quite soulless, but it may has well have been, when the original had infinitely more of the soul I was looking for.

Mason Thames leading performance wasn't bad, but his more regular delivery just didn't work as well for the character - it had less personality to it, and, ultimately, the comedy didn't land as much. Nico Parker's portrayal of Astrid suffered the same fate - her acting was okay, but her predecessor had brought far more personality to the role, and was a lot more memorable, in my opinion.

Gerard Butler had actually reprised his former role as 'Stoik The Vast' in this remake, but whilst his dialogue delivery was near-enough as good, this time his character design didn't quite work as well, which I admit is not his fault, although a larger actor might have looked more the part, in this instance. The supporting performances of Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, and Harry Trevaldwyn, all failed to match up to their animated counterparts, and failed to leave a significant impression on me in any regard.

Overall, this would have been an okay family adventure film, if it hadn't already been done, and done better, fifteen years before. Playing it safe was, I guess, not the worst idea, but it was also incredibly frustrating, because I found myself asking what the point of this remake was beyond making more money. I still don't have an alternative answer, which probably says all you need to know about it. I don't even think nostalgia plays much of a part, because this is just about one version of a film lacking the heart and cohesion of the other version.