How To Train Your Dragon Review (2025)
Here’s my How to Train Your Dragon review which is directed by Dean DeBlois and stars Mason Thames, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost and Nico Parker and is distributed locally by Universal Pictures Philippines!
While I didn’t really ask for a HTTYD live action remake, I was actually pleasantly surprised with what Universal Pictures and Dreamworks have done with this project. The movie is a faithful adaptation of the 2010 animated feature which was directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. And since DeBlois returned for this live action version, you can already expect that the film would be as good or even better than the original. And they actually did it.
In case you’re not aware, here’s a quick TLDR, Hiccup is the son of a viking chief from a tribe that hates dragons. He traps and later befriends Toothless, a rare Nightfury dragon and learn that they can co-exist. Unfortunately for Hiccup and Toothless, Hiccup’s dad, Stoik is deadset on hunting down the dragons and finding their nest which they were able to find accidentally. In between, Hiccup uses the knowledge he has gleaned from Toothless to become the “Top Slayer” in their batch which also exposes his friendship with the dragon.
Well that’s the gist of it anyway.
The cast was pretty diverse to say the least with Mason Thames being able to put more nuances to the character Hiccup; something that was also done in the past by actor Jay Baruchel who has voiced Hiccup in the original movie. And while we’re so used to animated Hiccup, we are getting more feelings and emotions with this version. We also get a slightly different Astrid with Nico Parker (The Last of Us) but she’s still the tough viking lady we all know and love. She’s also just as quirky and fun as the animated version.
Also a welcome sight in this project is Gerard Butler who reprises his role as Stoick, Hiccup’s father and the pseudo antagonist of the film. It’s pretty obvious that he’s very comfortable with the role as he already lent his voice to the character a decade or so ago. It is refreshing though especially for fans of the movie to see him bring life to the character.
Also wanted to give credits to Nick Frost who played Gobber in this one. Although it’s not as wild as the animated version he does hold a candle to this and again just like the others, we are getting some solid performance.
What I’m not a fan of though are how some characters looked weird particularly Julian Dennison (Firefist in Deadpool 2) Fishlegs who looked like he was just stuffed into a fatsuit or maybe his neck gear was off. Still that was my only complaint. Super minor but still.
One of the things that really made How to Train Your Dragon live action work for me was how they never set out to reinvented or change anything, well anything that mattered. Everything that made us cry, or tug our heartstrings was here; untouched and unbothered. So if you cried the moment Stoick and Hiccup finally connected as Hiccup rides off the fight the Red Death, you’ll be doing the exact same thing in the live action version.
It’s all here.
Gitdamn, even the sweeping orchestra music in the climax is back. It totally feels like they just transferred everything to a live action setting (again watch the video above to get what I’m talking about).
How to Train Your Dragon
They also managed to make the dragons scary and fearsome and even giving a jumpscare here and there. Wasn’t expecting that but yeah. And I know that they did a good job with the project because my daughter went through the same emotions as the characters onscreen. She got a little scared at the start during the dragon raid but as the film rolled, she too understood and even liked the dragons (her favorite was Toothless too). So I know it worked. More so, HTTYD also successfully introduced a new generation of audience to the wonderful world of Berk and it’s denizens. So I really am already looking forward to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 3 although I’m not emotionally prepared for the sequel.
RATING: 9/10
Special thanks to Universal Pictures PH for the passes. And don’t forget to catch the film in SM Cinemas near you and also if you find yourself in SM Mall of Asia, drop by the Viking Village experience area to take a photo or buy some merch.
