How to Train Your Dragon review: This live-action remake is Lord of the Rings-level epic

In future years, opinions about which version is better will probably come down to which one you saw first.

Hiccup touching Toothless's nose in a scene.

Universal

★★★★☆

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Disney’s success rate with its live-action remakes of animated classics may have grown increasingly hit or miss in recent years, but that clearly hasn’t deterred DreamWorks from thinking, "We’ll have some of that!"

After all, How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – an utterly charming tale of Vikings and dragons turning from bitter enemies to contented allies – was one of the most successful and adored non-Pixar animated movies of the past 20 years.

Mason Thames as Hiccup and Nico Parker as Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon. They are both wearing viking era clothes, are looking shocked at some offscreen and have their arms reached out, holding one another

Mason Thames as Hiccup and Nico Parker as Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon. Universal Studios

So, having spun the franchise into two sequel movies, a number of shorts and a TV series, now it’s time for a remake with a live-action twist.

The big question is: has DreamWorks produced a Beauty and the Beast or a Snow White? The resounding answer is: a Beast, in more ways than one.

Because Beauty and the Beast was not just a remake, but a cover version, almost a recreation of the original beat for beat, just with practical sets and (some) flesh and blood characters.

This new How to Train Your Dragon takes the same route, even taking its authenticity a little further – director Dean DeBlois also helmed all three of the animated movies, and Gerard Butler returns to play Viking chieftain Stoick the Vast.

Side by side images of Gerard Butler as Stoick in How to Train Your Dragon and the animated version

Gerard Butler reprises his role as Stoick in How to Train Your Dragon. Universal Studios/DreamWorks

The plot is identical. The Viking island of Berk is under constant attack from dragons. Young Hiccup, son of the chief, dreams of being a dragonslayer, but he’s a bit of a gangly geek, and a disappointment to his dad.

But then Hiccup forms a secret bond with one of the most feared breeds of dragon – a Night Fury, whom he christens Toothless – and their unlikely bond reveals a side to the dragons that ultimately changes life on Berk forever.

It’s a witty, heartwarming story about relationships and tolerance that the new film reproduces with fervid loyalty. It’s almost a scene-for-scene recreation, using vast wodges of the same dialogue and even many of the same camera angles and editing choices.

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There are some minor differences. The relationship between Hiccup and the feisty female Viking Astrid has been beefed up, but never overwhelms the existing plot. There’s some other extra character business for the young dragon-killers-in-training whom Hiccup is forced to fight alongside. The action scenes and montages have a few different beats.

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But generally, this feels like watching the same movie, just with a different-looking cast and more "atmospheric" (aka murky) cinematography.

The dragon designs are just as cartoony as they ever were (though more realistically rendered) but they fit perfectly into the live-action surroundings and provide the film which much of its unique character. Toothless remains one of the most adorable, and yet occasionally terrifying, CG characters ever.

The cast is excellent, especially Mason Thames as Hiccup, who admirably manages the tricky job of mimicking the mannerisms of a cartoon character while making him believably human too. The dragonslayers in training – including Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison – are all great fun to watch, and Hot Fuzz’s Nick Frost is reliably world-weary as their trainer.

If this new version is so loyal, though, why bother? What does it add, or lose? Well, certainly, it lacks some of the charm and fully cohesive visual beauty of the original, and any gains in term of character-building are slight.

But some of the flight scenes are simply breathtaking, and the big action finale is Lord of the Rings-level epic.

The bottom line: it remains a great film, full of heart and joy and positive messages about embracing differences. And it’s a story well worth leaping on a bandwagon for, if that gets it seen by new eyes.

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In future years, opinions about which version is better will probably come down to which one you saw first.

Authors

Dave Golder

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