How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Review

Since the mid-2010s, Disney has been remaking their animated classics with varying success. DreamWorks has gotten in on the act with the first remake of one of their greatest animated films.

Hiccup (Mason Thames) is an outsider and misfit in the Viking village of Berk. He’s also the son of the mighty chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), and he considers his son a disappointment. Hiccup sets out to prove himself by killing a legendary Night Fury dragon, but ends up befriending the notorious creature.

The original How to Train Your Dragon was a wonderful film. It was a fun experience with a lot of emotion due to the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless and the troubled relationship between father and son. It was a thrilling film with a lot of heart, and it started one of the greatest film trilogies. It was one of the best candidates for a live-action remake since its cast was mostly human, it had a more serious tone, and it was based on a novel. The remake brought back many of the important figures behind the animated film. The co-writer/co-director of the original film, Dean DeBlois, made his live-action debut with the remake, Gerard Butler reprised his role from the animated trilogy, and John Powell came back to be the composer.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) was a shot-for-shot remake. It made a minimum of minor changes. It’s hard to go wrong considering how good the original film is, but it does lead to the question, why was it remade, besides for making money? The recent Lilo & Stitch remake had been criticised for making changes from the original film, but at least it was trying to be different with its story and themes.

The biggest changes the film made was the reasoning why the people of Berk stayed, and giving Snotlout (Gabriel Howell) a subplot involving his father (Peter Serafinowicz). In the animated version, the Vikings of Berk were stubborn, whilst in the live-action film, they acted as the first line of defence against the dragons and drew warriors from around the world, making the residents more diverse.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) will work best for people who haven’t seen the original. It was still an emotionally charged story about a boy wanting to prove himself to his father and community, developing an understanding with nature, and a father learning to accept his son. There were spectacular visual effects for the most part, which honoured some of the original’s iconic scenes. There was an excitement factor when dragons were raining down destruction, and Toothless soaring through the air. The live-action version was filmed in Northern Ireland and hired Bill Pope (The Matrix Trilogy, Spider-man 2 and 3) as the cinematographer, which meant it had some lovely scenery.

Gerard Butler brought his manly persona to the role by making Stoick a Leondias-type figure since he was big, shouty, and could deliver a motivational speech. There was an emotional depth to Stoick because of his relationship with Hiccup and his growth as a character. There’s more to Butler than a big muscle action hero.

The remake did honour the look of the animated films, but there was a drawback to this. Animated films can get away with a clean look, but in live-action, the costumes and set design made How to Train Your Dragon look like a theme park attraction. The world doesn’t feel lived in like other fantasy worlds, such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The live-action How to Train Your Dragon looked more like one of the Disney remakes, such as Cinderella, Aladdin, or Snow White, but they could get away with this overly clean look because they were fairy tale films and colourful musicals.

New audiences who haven’t seen the original How to Train Your Dragon will probably enjoy it. My brother and young nephews did. However, people familiar with the animated trilogy will stick with those classics.