The Super Powered Fancast

How to Train Your Dragon

Universal Pictures

Written by Dean DeBlois, Cressida Cowell and William Davies

Directed by Dean DeBlois

Starring Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Peter Serafinowicz, Naomi Wirthner and Ruth Codd

Rated PG

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.

Like many moviegoers, I have become wary of live action remakes of animated films. Many of them feel like unnecessary cash grabs or strategic moves to keep control of aging properties to prevent them from becoming public domain. My suspicions aside, I entered the live action remake of the animated How to Train Your Dragon with an open mind and more importantly, an open heart.

How to Train Your Dragon is an animated series beloved by my kids. My oldest, who will be turning 19 this summer, was the first to discover the world of this film when the animated movie came out in 2014 and I sat in the theater with him seeing the explosive joy on his face as he watched the adventure unfold. My youngest, who was born the year the first movie came out, discovered the series through his older brother and is one of the things that continues to connect them to this day. So a live action adaptation of a film so close to my family has a high bar to reach for us.

To say I was both pleasantly surprised and relieved that this version not only lived up to the emotion of the animated feature, but also expanded on that world is an understatement. The story is essentially the same with all the beats from the original film being hit, but what makes the live action version special is that it has moments that give character relationships and conflicts context that the immediacy of animation can’t. Scenes are expanded on in ways that give them more emotional weight and allow the viewer to learn more about the characters and their motivations.

The relationships are at the heart of the film. Mason Thames does a great job of embodying the awkwardness of Hiccup. He plays the character as a young man wanting to prove to his father that he belongs among the other Vikings and is worthy of his father Stoick’s respect. He has the innocence, heart and determination the character needs. Nico Parker’s Astrid is a fantastic foil for the innocent Hiccup portraying the character as ambitious, determined and sublimely skilled. I also love that Gerard Butler played the live action version of Stoick after giving the character his voice for the animated features.

The only other thing I worried about with the live action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon was whether the director would use the more comedic versions of the dragons or go for something hyper-realistic that removed the visual heart of the characters. Thankfully, the special effects team struck and wonderful balance between the two giving the main dragon Toothless a design that stayed true to the animated aesthetic while also having a tactile realness that didn’t force me to suspend too much of my disbelief. The first flight between Hiccup and Toothless is visually breathtaking and the live action locations expand on the beauty and thrills of that moment.

I hate to say that my personal bar for live action remakes of animated features is painfully low, but it has been for a while. The live action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon from the writer and director of the original animated feature raises that bar to new heights. Dean DeBlois understands this world and its characters and taking the reigns of this film allows him to not only showcase the heart of the story, but expand on the world of Berk, its characters and the dragons that live within it. This movie gets it right and let’s hope it is the start of a trend rather than a glaring anomaly.