As an ancient threat endangers both Vikings and dragons alike on the isle of Berk, the friendship between Hiccup, an inventive Viking, and Toothless, a Night Fury dragon, becomes the key to both species forging a new future together. (from IMDb)

Well, here we are. With Disney desperately milking their animated catalog for classics to reimagine in live action form, DreamWorks has decided to throw its hat in the ring as well. This trend not only begs to ask, "Is this necessary?" but maybe even just a simple "Why?!" 2010's How To Train Your Dragon is pretty much a perfect animated movie. It's suitable for just about any age, it's loaded with heart, excitement, laughs and drama -- and it will surprise you. So why would we need it to be remade?

The simple answer is: we don't. We don't need a remake. So pretty much any live action remake will feel like a gratuitous cashgrab... right? Thankfully, the director and writer behind the three theatrical animated How To Train Your Dragon movies has returned to helm the live action take on the original film - 15 years later. It's a tall order to try to improve on near perfection, and while I can honestly say this remake doesn't quite rise up to the heights of the original, it is definitely a worthy effort.

But the odd thing about seeing a live action remake of an animated favorite is - your mind is constantly comparing it to the original while you're watching it. A pretty good example of this, for the musical world, would be Anberlin's recent re-recording of their 2005 album Never Take Friendship Personal with Matty Mullins on vocals instead of original lead singer Stephen Christian. You may think it's better in some ways - like sonically, at times - but you can never give it a truly fair fresh ear because, if you've been listening to the original for the past 20 years, you will always be hearing that in your head as you listen to the re-recording. Watching the live action version of How To Train Your Dragon is a total mental blender; I found myself constantly comparing shots, scenes, lines, performances... even the musical score. The greatest thing this movie has going against it, is its own unoriginality. But I suppose that will ultimately come down to everyone's own personal perference in the end.

How To Train Your Dragon (2025) honors the original in every way it can, and adds up to a very good adaptation, but it doesn't quite capture the same wonderment of the original - mostly because it feels like you're rewatching the original. Or, in a way, a stage play being put on of the original. In fact, characters like Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs all especially just feel like kids in cosplay. It took a lot of the film's runtime for me to get used to them, but I found myself scrutinizing their performances to see if it felt like they were the characters... or just fans dressing up for a local comic-con. It's a tough line to tread. Even Hiccup takes a bit to adjust to. Mason Thames does a really good job, but his voice is distinctly different from Jay Baruchel's, and he seems less... pathetic than Hiccup is supposed to. (Again, at times, it really feels like I was watching a stage play version of the film.) Nick Frost as Gobber is solid - he seems to capture all of the characteristics of the character, including the warmth in Craig Ferguson's voice. And Gerard Butler reprises his role as Stoick with ease. He's absolutely perfect coming out of the voice recording booth for live action. The only one who's a hard sell is Thandie Newton's real-life daughter, Nico Parker, as Astrid. She not only doesn't look the part - at all - but she just doesn't remind me in any way of the animated version of the character. Her performance here is far less wooden than other things I've seen her in (like the live action Dumbo), but I think someone else would have been much better in the part. Still, she doesn't sink the production, or ruin scenes she's in, and I suppose that says something, too.

Dean DeBlois makes the transition from animation director to live action director seem effortless. I can only assume that his experience with animation is why the dragons look downright incredible in this film. We saw this on IMAX, which obviously means the picture is larger than usual, so you can imagine flaws would be more apparent. I truly marvelled at how seamless the blending of live action and CG-animated dragons was. The Hiccup and Toothless flying scenes - coupled with John Powell's musical genius - are what stand out most in the 2010 movie. While I have to say that, despite still being impressive, they don't quite capture the amazement from the first film, they're still wonderful. And I was just totally blown away by how perfect Thames' Hiccup blends with the animated Toothless. DeBlois actually makes it look like the two are really on screen together -- and that is no small feat.

Live action Berk looks great, too. The production quality is topnotch, so it never feels like you're just watching a movie filmed at a Universal Studios theme park or something. The wardrobes are excellent as well. I loved how huge (or should I say "vast") they make Stoick look, to match his animated character. It was a nice touch to show him shed his furs - which is what made him look so big - at one point to show how much smaller he really is underneath his armor. It's little details like that that help ground this version. In fact, as I think about it, it seems like effects were only ever used to enhance scenes instead of build them. DeBlois did a great job making sure there were a lot of physical props and sets there for the characters to interact with. If you're going to make a live action version of an animated movie, it makes sense to have as much there done practically as possible.

The content for How To Train Your Dragon is totally aligned with the original. In our recent interview with DeBlois, he had said he wanted to make it a little less aimed at kids, and I think he did a solid job of doing that. (After all, the kids who saw the original movie are 15 years older now.) I wouldn't say anything in the movie is particularly not kid friendly - compared to the original - but there is still plenty of action. The dragons keep their designs from the original movies, too, which is great, but they definitely look so much more realistic and intimidating here. The scene where Toothless roars in Hiccup's face to intimidate him is genuinely intense, which is an accomplishment. Much of the action mimics the first movie - like the opening sequence of dragons attacking the village of Berk, the training/fight scenes in the arena, and the vikings battling the alpha dragon during the finale. You can expect to see some vikings getting knocked around during training or while tussling with dragons, but it's not usually graphic, or even fatal, in any way. There's the emotional "did he survive??" moment involving Hiccup at the end - mirrored after the original - which could potentially upset some younger viewers. There's also the theme of meeting your father's expectations and the tension between father and son about measuring up, but it's got a heartwarming resolution (and it makes for a perfect Father's Day weekend theatrical release).

Did we need a live action version of How To Train Your Dragon? Personally, I don't think so. But what we have here is a solid remake made with all the love and care of the original - by those who made the original. And in this case, it's really all fans could hope or ask for. Sticking too close to the original or deviating too much is a darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't kind of situation, but Dean DeBlois's live action revisitation to the land of Berk is a really solid and noble effort. A sequel is already slated for release in 2 years, and I think that could be even better, with viewers most likely being more adjusted to the changes by then (Plus I'd love to see a couple things get changed from the animated version of that movie, but we'll see, I suppose). As it stands, though, this How To Train Your Dragon is one of the better live action remakes made to date, and a promising start to a new take on our beloved Berk.

Along with the film are the following bonus features on the 4K disc and Apple digital copy:

Deleted Scenes w/ Introductions by Director/Writer Dean DeBlois - Play All (5:16)

1. Village Sneaking (3:03) - Both of these scenes were cut for pacing. Both were also originally from the animated movie, too. The first one shows Hiccup sneaking around the village at night with Toothless and getting caught by Astrid.
2. Door is Unliftable (2:13) - The little "terrible terror" dragons cuddle up to Hiccup when they rest on an island after the first test drive flight.

Gag Reel (2:48) - This outtake real is a cute one - featuring no profanity. It's just the cast messing up and goofing around on set.

Love and Legacy: Making HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (45:44) - This is the real meat-and-potatoes of this collection. It's a 45-minute documentary that is all about how this live action remake came to be. It features things like the original screen tests for the main cast, including showing Mason Thames being told on a Zoom call that he got the part. Dean DeBlois talks about taking on the project, and how he's always wanted to do a live action movie of some kind, and Gerard Butler absolutely gushes about being a part of this and getting to play Stoick for real this time. It shows Nico Parker being told she got the part of Astrid, then focuses on the rest of the kids talking about their parts and getting cast. (This includes characters from Fishlegs to Ruffnut and Tuffnut, then Snotlout, his dad, Gobber, and Stoick). They cover a bit of shooting in Iceland, building 360-degree sets and creating detailed props -- especially the epic Book of Dragons. We then hear about the costume design, helmets, see Dean's cameo as a viking, the creation of the weapons, and even how they did some stunts. We also learned that the young viking cast lived together in an apartment and really bonded from doing that. It all wraps up with the sets being torn down and seeing the last shots being filmed for Mason, Gerard and a couple of the other cast members. (3 "Oh my G-d," 1 almost "Holy S---" from Mason when Dean tells him he's been picked to play Hiccup.)

Building Berk (8:06) is about the sets being built to bring Berk to life. They did some filming around Ireland to use for the digital scenes, too, like the placement of Berk or Toothless & Hiccup flying around. The film crew talk about trying to stay true to Viking culture, but also the original animated movie, too. The sets are truly impressive! (1 "Oh my G-d")

Dreaming Up Dragons (8:30) is all about the dragons and trying to adapt them for this live action take on the story. A lot of real-life animals inspired the individual dragons' designs and traits. They focus here on how puppeteering of the dragons was done for the actors so they had something to act and react to. The crew designed and built a unique gimbal just for the dragon-riding scenes. And apparently it took a month to film the flying sequences!

Fit for a Viking (5:05) - This one dives a little deeper into the costume design for the film.

Forbidden Friendship (6:39) - If you're at all curious how the filming of live action with digital dragons was done, this is a version of the Toothless/Hiccup bonding sequence but shown with in-progress, on-set footage. So here, Mason Thames is shown as Hiccup interacting with a puppeteered Toothless. It's pretty neat.

Test Drive (3:32) - Likewise, this is an in-progress example of the "Test Drive" flight sequence, featuring Mason riding the gimbal.

Exploring the Isle of Burke at Epic Universe (2:21) - Orlando's Universal Studios recently debuted a brand-new theme park called Epic Universe, and it features a whole section devoted to the world of How to Train Your Dragon, called the Isle of Berk. This features some of the creatives behind the park (very) seriously talking about the park while showing us some features of it.

Feature Commentary (2:05:20) - Finally, you can watch a feature commentary for the whole film, recorded by Director/Writer Dean DeBlois.