How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon
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.
Kevin Ward anmeldte
30. juni 2025•
A couple notes off the top: How to Train Your Dragon is one of my all-time favorite trilogies. The first two especially were on in our house constantly while the kids played.
I’m not someone who needs a film to “justify its existence” just because it’s a remake. If it’s good, it’s good.
Those notes out of the way—I loved this.
The jump from animation to live action works way better than I expected. The flying scenes look incredible—worthy of the IMAX splurge. There’s so much care in how they pulled this off, and it helps that the original directors (Dean DeBlois directing, Chris Sanders executive producing) are back at the helm. The story sticks close to the original, and honestly, I’m glad it does because the bones are so solid.
Hiccup and Stoick’s father-son dynamic is excellent—shaped by grief, expectation, love, and misunderstanding. It’s such a smart, emotional throughline. Add in themes of questioning the way things have always been done, bucking conventional wisdom, pushing back against cycles of fear and violence despite immense societal/cultural pressure—it still feels just as powerful now.
This film (and the original) gets a massive lift from the score. John Powell’s original score, is one of my favorite scores ever, full stop. It would have been a huge let down if any of the main themes hadn’t found their way into this version. The way it builds, the emotion it carries, when those bagpipes kick in…🤌🏼 still lands just as beautifully here.
Nothing’s been drastically reimagined, but that’s okay. We don’t have to justify every retelling of a story by adding updated messaging or incorporating a new theme.
Kevin Ward anmeldte
30. juni 2025•
A couple notes off the top: How to Train Your Dragon is one of my all-time favorite trilogies. The first two especially were on in our house constantly while the kids played.
I’m not someone who needs a film to “justify its existence” just because it’s a remake. If it’s good, it’s good.
Those notes out of the way—I loved this.
The jump from animation to live action works way better than I expected. The flying scenes look incredible—worthy of the IMAX splurge. There’s so much care in how they pulled this off, and it helps that the original directors (Dean DeBlois directing, Chris Sanders executive producing) are back at the helm. The story sticks close to the original, and honestly, I’m glad it does because the bones are so solid.
Hiccup and Stoick’s father-son dynamic is excellent—shaped by grief, expectation, love, and misunderstanding. It’s such a smart, emotional throughline. Add in themes of questioning the way things have always been done, bucking conventional wisdom, pushing back against cycles of fear and violence despite immense societal/cultural pressure—it still feels just as powerful now.
This film (and the original) gets a massive lift from the score. John Powell’s original score, is one of my favorite scores ever, full stop. It would have been a huge let down if any of the main themes hadn’t found their way into this version. The way it builds, the emotion it carries, when those bagpipes kick in…🤌🏼 still lands just as beautifully here.
Nothing’s been drastically reimagined, but that’s okay. We don’t have to justify every retelling of a story by adding updated messaging or incorporating a new theme.
