Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, and based on the first animated movie, How to Train Your Dragon tells the story of Hiccup (Mason Thames), a fifteen-year-old Viking living on the island of Berk, where dragons frequently attack the village and are seen as mortal enemies. Hiccup, the small and mechanically minded son of Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), is more interested in inventions than fighting. During a raid, he manages to shoot down a Night Fury, the most feared and elusive dragon species, using one of his gadgets. No one believes him, so he sets out into the forest to find the fallen creature. When he finally locates it, he discovers it trapped and wounded. Unable to kill the creature, Hiccup sets it free.
Toothless, as Hiccup later names the Night Fury, has lost part of his tail fin and can no longer fly on his own. Hiccup begins secretly visiting the dragon, gradually earning its trust and forming a deep bond. He constructs a prosthetic fin and designs a harness that allows him to ride Toothless and control their flight together. Meanwhile, Stoick leaves on a mission to find the dragons’ nest, enrolling Hiccup in dragon-fighting training in his absence. Hiccup, using what he learns from Toothless, begins to stand out in class by calming dragons instead of attacking them, puzzling his fellow trainees, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker).
While the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless deepens, Hiccup keeps their connection hidden from everyone in Berk. During one flight, a malfunction sends Hiccup falling from the sky, but Toothless dives after him and saves his life. It’s in this moment that Hiccup fully realizes dragons are not the enemies his people believe them to be.
“Hiccup begins secretly visiting the dragon, gradually earning its trust and forming a deep bond.”
When it’s all said and done, How to Train Your Dragon is essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the classic 2010 animated feature. This means that the live-action version captures the heart and soul of the original. It also captures the look and feel of the original, which begs the question: why did this need to be made in the first place? There’s no other answer than that it’s a cash grab for DreamWorks/Universal Pictures. Will it make money? Hell yeah, it will. What DreamWorks competitor Disney didn’t realize is that if you present what made the original a classic and replicate that in your movie, you can not fail. Disney failed by insisting that Walt’s original films needed modern-day corrections (see my op-ed on Woke Disney).
For DreamWorks, you have a winning film, and all they did was replace the CG character from the animated feature and leave everything else the same…the backgrounds, the dragons, the setting. They also brought back the original director to ensure the tone and message of the original remained intact.
What’s new is the actors. Mason Thames and Nico Parker admirably bring Hiccup and Astrid to the big screen along with the supporting characters played by Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, and Harry Trevaldwyn as Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut. It’s easy to screw all this up with bad casting and How to Train Your Dragon comes through. Can’t forget Gerard Butler as Stoick. C’mon, he’s Gerard Butler… no way he’d phone it in.
In the end, did this new How to Train Your Dragon need to be made? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Is it different than the original? HEAVENS NO! Is it fun to watch? OH YES, IT IS! By preserving the core narrative, characters, and emotional arc of the original, the live-action remake remains true to its roots. Though the cast is new, the heart of Hiccup and Toothless’s friendship still soars.
"…Disney failed... DreamWorks did not."
