HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON -- Shot for Shot

Review by Adam Donato

Dreamworks saw what Disney was doing and thought they would copy their playbook. Universal clearly believes in the How To Train Your Dragon heavily because there’s a whole new theme park with an Isle of Berk section. There is a lot of precedent being set with this live action remake. If the plan is to remake the whole trilogy in live action, then the failure of this first remake would cancel those plans, but you can’t tear down a brand new theme park section. If it succeeds, will Dreamworks explore live action remakes of other beloved franchises? There’s enough distance in the release date between Lilo & Stitch and Jurassic World: Rebirth so How To Train Your Dragon should clean up at the box office. How safe of a bet is How To Train Your Dragon for Universal?

The safest a live action remake can be in 2025. There’s minor changes, but for the most part it’s a shot for shot remake. There isn’t a Disney live action remake that is as faithful as this one. Unfortunately for Universal, Disney has oversaturated the live action remake market so there is an element of fatigue, especially since Lilo & Stitch and Snow White are fresh in our memories. How To Train Your Dragon is certainly better than the majority of the Disney live action remakes, but it’s less interesting to explore because there’s really nothing new here. The story and everything is more or less the same. 

One place where the live action remake is different is in the cast, excluding Gerard Butler. He is the best part of the cast though. Butler in his career has such little range that it’s funny to see him just redo a performance of his own straight up. The biggest glow up in the cast has got to be Nick Frost as Gobber. The look and utilization of his tool like appendages is well done. He is a lot funnier and more heartfelt than Craig Ferguson’s animated version. The biggest downgrade is Ruffnut, played by Bronwyn James. Part of the appeal is that she is twins with Tuffnut and they look nothing alike here. Her sense of humor is also less comically gruff. 

The main couple of the film played by Mason Thames and Nico Parker feel like Tom Holland and Zendaya were the blueprint. Thames doesn’t pull off geeky quite like Jay Baruchel did, especially with a lack of that iconic voice. Still a very serviceable performance. Unfortunately, the topic of conversation around Parker has been more about the color of her skin than anything else. It seems foolish to complain about a black Viking when dragons definitely don’t exist. She embodies the character well and her role is beefed up as her character aspires to be chief. The entire handling of Astrid’s character is the most “woke” aspect of the remake, but aren’t actual problems at all. Both of these characters are too cute. All of the other Vikings are properly ugly so the couple definitely stands out weirdly. 

At the end of the day, it’s the same complaint as every other live action remake. This story and these characters were designed to be represented in animation. Adapting it into live action and doing the exact same things only draws attention to how much of a useless downgrade this movie is. It’s not a bad film, but it provides nothing new. There should be zero sympathy for the film as it will gladly utilize the franchise recognition for box office success, therefore the film must be held to the standard of the franchise’s quality. The law of diminishing returns is strong in this one. 

Every movie borrows from movies that came before it, but How To Train Your Dragon doesn’t even bother making it its own in any way. This makes for a very disposable experience. It’s hard to imagine anyone preferring the live action to the animated version. This safety is good for the box office and theme park success, but its lack of ambition will make this movie fade away over time. It’s not necessarily a bad movie, but it’s not worth going out of your way to see. 

How To Train Your Dragon will be in theaters on June 13.

Rating: 3/5