How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
The live-action How to Train Your Dragon hits cinemas with all the grace of a Night Fury landing on a tin roof—technically sound, undeniably pretty, but missing that spark of wildness that made us fall in love with dragons in the first place. Dean DeBlois returns to direct what feels less like a reimagining and more like an expensive exercise in playing it safe.
We’re back in Berk, where teenage Hiccup still doesn’t fit the Viking mould his father Stoick has cut out for him. When he encounters Toothless, the legendary Night Fury, something clicks between boy and dragon that challenges everything the village believes about their ancient enemies. It’s a story about finding your tribe when you don’t quite fit the one you’re born into—hardly groundbreaking stuff these days, but still potent when done right.
And that’s where things get sticky. This new version treats the original animated film like sacred text, recreating scenes with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious ceremonies. Dialogue gets recycled almost word-for-word, shots are mimicked with forensic precision, and the whole thing unfolds with the predictability of a Sunday roast. Yes, there are new scenes scattered throughout, but they feel about as essential as extra garnish on a plate that was already perfectly arranged.
The film does have its strengths, mind you. The decision to build actual sets rather than rely entirely on digital wizardry pays dividends—there’s a solidity to Berk that you can almost smell (probably fish and wet wool, if we’re being honest). The Irish countryside provides a suitably epic backdrop, all windswept cliffs and moody skies. The dragons themselves are impressive creatures, even if Toothless has lost some of his more expressive quirks in translation from cartoon to photorealistic beast. Turns out even mythical creatures aren’t immune to looking a bit uncanny when they get too real.
John Powell’s score remains the film’s secret weapon, doing the emotional heavy lifting that the script occasionally fumbles. Mason Thames makes a decent fist of Hiccup, nailing that particular brand of adolescent earnestness, though you get the sense he’s acting within fairly rigid tramlines. Gerard Butler storms through as Stoick with his usual gusto, while Nico Parker’s Astrid gets an expanded backstory that feels more like homework than genuine character development.
What’s most frustrating is how the film seems almost paralysed by its own potential. Live-action offers chances to dig deeper, explore darker corners, or simply approach familiar beats from fresh angles. Instead, this version tiptoes around its predecessor like a nervous houseguest, afraid to move the furniture or open the wrong drawer. Scenes that once felt brisk and purposeful now drag their heels, weighed down by the burden of living up to animated perfection.
Bill Pope’s cinematography captures some genuinely beautiful moments—those clifftop scenes have a windswept romanticism that works a treat. The colour palette feels appropriately weathered and lived-in. But these moments of visual poetry feel scattered through a film that’s otherwise playing things disappointingly straight.
The editing lacks punch, the pacing suffers from a kind of respectful lethargy, and the whole enterprise feels less like a bold reimagining than an extremely polished tribute act. It’s competent filmmaking in service of a story that deserves more courage than courtesy.
How to Train Your Dragon will likely satisfy families discovering the story fresh, and franchise devotees will probably enjoy the nostalgic comfort of revisiting old friends. But anyone hoping for genuine surprise or that flutter of discovery that made the original so special might find themselves checking their watch. Sometimes the safest flight path is also the most forgettable one.
It’s not a bad film, exactly. It’s just a curiously timid one—like watching someone perform a perfect cover version of a song you love, hitting every note correctly whilst somehow missing the point entirely. The original still has all the fire this one lacks.