I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed with my kids to the live-action remake of How To Train Your Dragon. The previews looked good, and the reviews certainly were, for the most part. But I’d been burned so many times before thanks to Disney’s countless shoddy efforts at reimagining their classic animated films into live-action (or CGI). Thankfully, this wasn’t a Disney film.
How To Train Your Dragon in live-action was absolutely spectacular. Better still, it was a genuinely faithful retelling of the same story, as faithful to the original animated movie as you could hope for; a lovingly retold story that hits all the same emotional beats and flys away with some of the best action I’ve seen all year.
Scenes of Hiccup (Mason Thames) flying with his dragon buddy Toothless are simply astonishing. I am rarely moved by action sequences like this, especially when they involve CGI, but these scenes gave me the feels in a big way. These are genuinely breathtaking moments. I’ve certainly never seen dragon-riding that looks this good. None of the awkward perching that we saw in Game Of Thrones, however good that show’s special effects were. It’s rare for a film to inspire a sense of awe in me these days, but this one did in spades. Awe and wonder and yes, nostalgia, too.
Much has been made online of the diversifying of the cast, with a lot of focus placed on Astrid, played this time around by Nico Parker – who is not blond. But Parker did a terrific job in the role (though I often felt like I was watching a young Thandiwe Newton, Nico’s mother). And the movie does an interesting thing with its diversity that I really appreciated.
In a scene in Stoick the Vast’s hall, the viking chieftain gives a speech about hunting down the dragons and finding their nest in which he mentions that warriors from all over the world have gathered on the Isle of Berk to slay dragons. Instead of just making the Berk tribe inexplicably multiracial, this little bit of world-building gives an explanation to the (slightly) more diverse casting. It’s a nice touch, and one that creators of fantasy films and TV shows should take note of.
Speaking of Stoick, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a Gerard Butler performance more. He absolutely inhabits the role, bringing the animated character to life in live-action in a big, blustery way, while also capturing the awkward sentimentality of the hulking warrior.
The entire cast is perfect. Thames was a great choice for Hiccup, capturing the original character’s mannerisms and voice perfectly, though perhaps – as my daughter noted – with a little less squeakiness. This version of Hiccup is more plucky, less cynical, and it works, especially thanks to a slightly more emotionally vulnerable Stoick. The two play off one another perfectly.
Nick Frost’s performance as Gobber, the wise and limb-challenged blacksmith, was as charming as you’d expect. And the supporting cast of kids all did a great job creating a zany band of misfits who at first scorn, then embrace, our hero. Changing the twins to look nothing like one another actually leads to one of the best jokes in the film. It’s small changes like this that don’t fundamentally alter the story that I enjoy in a remake.
Whether you’ve seen the original or not, this is a tremendously fun movie that honors the original without trying to drastically change the story or its message. It’s a delight for the senses. The gorgeous score is even more powerful somehow, as Hiccup and Toothless skirt across the sea, narrowly dodging cliff sides and rocky outcrops, before soaring up into the sky, the music hitting its glorious crescendo as the camera flies higher, gives us sweeping vistas of craggy mountaintops against the setting sun. Meanwhile, the emotional reconciliation between father and son make this the perfect family film for Father’s Day weekend.
The few complaints I have are small ones. At times the sound could use better mixing. Dialogue is lost in some of the more action-packed sequences. Darker-lit scenes can feel a bit muddy at times. Most of this takes place in the opening minutes, however, and the film finds its feet (and audio and lighting balance) after that.
Funny, heartfelt, a sight to behold, and faithful to the source material, How To Train Your Dragon is everything I hoped it would be. And everything we’ve been hoping Disney would do with its live-action remakes but has fumbled time and time again. Somehow, DreamWorks managed to knock it out of the park on its first try. No wonder audiences are responding with a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Some critics may call the film too similar to the original, but that’s exactly what these ought to be. There is no need to tread new ground. Sometimes it’s the small changes that can make the biggest impact.
I can’t wait to watch it again when my 4K Blu-Ray arrives. My only regret is that we don’t have an IMAX anywhere close because this film deserves the biggest, best screen (and sound system) you can find.
Just don’t bother sticking around for the post-credits scene.
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