How to Train Your Dragon Review - A live-action/adventure remake that still has its heart and soul

Chase Gifford
Jun 10
4 min read

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” - William Shakespeare

(If you like drinking games, while reading this review, take a shot every time I mention “live-action” or “live-action remakes.”)

It would seem that DreamWorks has come down with a case of live-action remake syndrome that could have only come from one place (Disney, I’m looking at you). To clarify, this is DW’s first live-action with grand plans to adapt their popular animated franchises. (I just imagined a live-action Minions movie and those little yellow bastards all fleshed out and haunting our dreams.) So I imagine in the next five years we’ll see a L-A version of Despicable Me, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek (God help us all), a full blown Minions movie!? Imagine the original CGI Sonic design but make it more cylindrical and yellow and every bit as soulless and hideous. Stuff of nightmares.

Right now I’m trying to put the cart before the horse and that never works so let me start over.

DreamWorks debut animated feature turned live-action is the surprisingly spectacular How to Train Your Dragon. Humanity is by its very nature, flawed, so everything they create is inherently flawed in some way and this includes cinematic efforts like live-action remakes. So it stands to reason that eventually DW will produce a royally bad remake and maintain the perfect imbalance of our world. Luckily that time is not now at least not for this guy (imagine me pointing my two thumbs back at myself, I have two thumbs fyi) because he, I, thoroughly enjoyed this refreshingly well-made reimagining of an animated classic.

I can say while it’s not the crispest memory I have in my brain library, I can happily say I’ve seen the original of which this is based on. I felt the animated ebbs and flows of a runt Viking losing his father and village’s respect and finding it again in the most unlikely of ways. I felt the pain of a lost young man virtually abandoned for doing what is right. I saw the animated jubilance of Hiccup and Toothless reunited and proved that the status quo does not have to remain simply because it is long withheld by a naive community. I remember watching Toothless introduce Hiccup to the gravity-defying flight above the clouds, among the stars and a hair’s width from the surface of the sea, all equally breathtaking in more ways than one. I heard the pain in Gerard Butler’s voice as the original Chief of Berk, and he felt a betrayal by his son only to realize the errors of his own misplaced beliefs and see the true path of the village’s future. And that it all lied at the feet of his only son, Hiccup, the village-proclaimed idiot. Or so they all thought.

I remember the triumphs of the animated adventure that made you cheer for human and dragon alike. And while these might be slightly fading memories (I haven’t seen the first in many years), I was just given a refresher with the fleshed-out, in-camera, live-action remake because, as far as I can compare, this is every bit as spectacular as its animated counterpart. It feels weird to say, but DW’s effort out of the gate is a rousing success. Disney, take notes. This is how you remake an animated classic into a movie that stands on its own without sacrificing tone, intention and the immensity of its heart and soul of which this remake provides tenfold.

Mason Thames takes the reins as Hiccup from the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, and he fills the role perfectly. As one of the up-and-coming talents to watch for, Thames is at the top of the list, and he proves it as the first of the dragon riders. He is endlessly curious, reluctantly troublesome, and effortlessly likable even as his own village shuns him. Thames, as the outcast Viking, finds the humanity of such a position. To be at best resented, at worst, hated, by virtually everyone you know is a lonely life and to have that existence exacerbated by your own father is heartbreaking. Thames plays off of Butler with profound maturity that not only makes you feel for Hiccup but forms a yearning for his father to finally hear him and his cries for a better future for not only him but their village as well.

A standout performance is Nick Frost as Gobber. As with most roles by Frost, his natural paternal qualities come to the forefront of everything he does. Though Gobber is silly, odd-looking, and stern in his teachings, he has a protective nature over his village’s youth with a special affinity for Hiccup, who just seemingly needs to find his own path. Just less so at the expense of everyone’s last shred of patience and understanding. He wants to trust in Hiccup, but the chief, Hiccup’s father, is losing hope for what lies ahead for his son in a place that demands dragon slaying by a boy adamant he does not want to kill. Frost will make a phenomenal Hagrid.

How to Train Your Dragon is exhilarating, adventurous, remarkably thrilling and provides characters that are unique and wholesome without ever losing their edge. The relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is a genuine highlight of the film and watching them gain more trust in one another while realizing the potential for their future is poignant at times, hilarious at others and even manages some seriously breathtaking moments between man and beast that will leave your jaw on the floor. Watching Hiccup learn to ride and navigate with Toothless is a visually stunning sequence in a movie that is filled with crowd-pleasing moments not just for the kids in your company, but for anyone who can appreciate the magic of Vikings and dragons.