And now, it’s time for us to dive into the very first remake of an animated film that was made by DreamWorks. Oh dear! Will DreamWorks be remaking most of their animated films into live-action like Disney has in more recent years? Well, I guess we shall see. For now, let’s discuss a remake of the classic 2010 animated films, from DreamWorks, the one, and only, 2025 remake of 2010’s How To Train Your Dragon.
Plot: In the fictional land of Berk, a tribe of Vikings have had to deal with a band of dragons that have been stealing sheep of theirs, and other supplies of theirs. The Vikings want to kill any dragon that comes, and invades their territory. That is with the exception of one teenager named Hiccup (Mason Thames), the son of Stoick The Vast (Gerard Butler), Chief of the Viking tribe. One day, after catching a dragon called a Night Fury, Hiccup befriends the dragon, whom he names Toothless. Now, with potential opposition between him, and his Viking tribe, will Hiccup be able to convince his tribe to have a different attitude about dragons, or will they end up having to kill many more dragons to come?
Well, here’s the thing! The film was very good, even if it felt like a mostly shot for shot remake. Honestly, for the most part, people may find themselves thinking that they might as well just rewatch the original animated film. But is this remake bad? Absolutely not. There is great acting, and there is still emotion in this remake. Seeing as that has sometimes been lacking in some of Disney’s recent remakes, that is most definitely saying something. Also, I’m not sure if it’s due to the dragons not talking, like in the original animated film, or some other reason, but this remake actually does feel like it can be live-action. I mean this film could feel like say Eragon, if that one was actually good. As for the score, once again, John Powell composes the score. Let me tell you, if you liked his score in the animated one, even if it’s mostly the same, it doesn’t change that it’s still awesome even for this go round. One other thing! There were a couple characters that seemed to have a slightly bigger in this new remake. Finally, as far as pros go, definitely stay for the credits for a bit. Trust me, let’s just say that if you do, you’ll be glad that you did.
The one con that this movie has going for it is the casting of Astrid. Okay, hear me out! Nico Parker did a good job as this character. Still, since she doesn’t have blonde hair like the animated Astrid did, and it didn’t seem as accurate to the Viking culture, the way that the character looked this time around felt a little off. But hey, I guess that’s typical Hollywood for us as of nowadays, isn’t it? Oh well!
And that’s my review for the 2025 remake of How To Train Your Dragon. Honestly, there is a part of me that wants me to advise you to see this remake of the film, if you haven’t yet. Still, there is another part of me that wants to advise against it not because it’s bad, but because the film’s success is probably going to make DreamWorks want to do more remakes of their animated films like Shrek, The Prince Of Egypt, and films like those. At that point, I guess I’ll go ahead, and say to see this remake, but let’s hope that DreamWorks won’t get on the remake train after this! Time will tell, eh?
Final Rating: 9.5/10
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 