What is the point of taking a beloved animated movie and making it into a live-action film? Sometimes it makes sense to change up the story a bit or to introduce it to a new generation. In the case of How To Train Your Dragon, the remake ends up being shot-for-shot. So when you’re doing that for a movie that is already amazing, you end up being unable to mess anything up. So, we’ll have to answer the question of why and how good this live-action remake is for How To Train Your Dragon.

The original film was directed by Dean DeBlois and this new live-action remake is also directed by DeBlois. That’s a plus for this at least, because it carries over some cohesion. The other returning face is Gerard Butler as Stoick. Other than that, the voice cast for the 2010 film are replaced by new actors for this remake. It stars Mason Thames as Hiccup, Nico Parker as Astrid, Nick Frost as Gobber, Gabriel Howell as Snotlout, Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, Bronwyn James as Ruffnut, and Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut.

The story follows HIccup as he tries to fit into the Viking lifestyle as someone who isn’t really Viking material. He ends up injuring a mythical dragon, named Toothless, and begins a future together with the beast. Along the way, he has to hide the dragon from his community while going through training to be a warrior. His father, Stoick, is after the dragon’s nest to eradicate them once and for all.

If you’ve watched the 2010 animated film, you’ll feel right at home with this story.

The Good Of How To Train Your Dragon

The good of the film is that it’s beautiful. The original is a touching piece of animation that has a story that translates well to live-action. Hiccup is a great character and the supporting cast here do a great job. Mason Thames embodies Hiccup with an energy and makes the character his own. I know Jay Baruchel did a fantastic job with his voice, but this is Thames’ character now. Nico Parker is also magnificent as Astrid. Her performance and how she changes throughout the story is a real highlight. Gerard Butler coming back as Stoick also fits really well. His performance as the uber-masculine dad wouldn’t have worked as well with any other performer.

The look of How To Train Your Dragon is also a bit of an update in the jump to live-action. The Isle Of Berk looks beautiful with stunning landscapes and the scenes with dragons flying around are exhilerating. Toothless and the rest of the dragons have updated designs to live-action that don’t fundamentally change how they look. The other dragons look silly, but in a good way. They used actual models for some of the scenes with dragon-riding, and it shows, making the scenes feel more lived in.

The story here is the real highlight,t though. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Anyone can relate to this coming-of-age story about Hiccup finding himself. We’ve all been here, and his relationship with Stoick and the rest of the people of Berk is just as great the second time around.

The Bad Of How To Train Your Dragon

The worst thing about How To Train Your Dragon is that it doesn’t fundamentally add anything to the original film. Normally, you’d see something where a filmmaker would try to remedy a mistake or add something to make it stand out. Here, Dean BeLois, might as well have just followed the animated film as a blueprint. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad, because that movie is amazing, but it just doesn’t stand out as a live-action film from that version.

You can sit down and watch How To Train Your Dragon and have a good time, but it just doesn’t do enough to separate itself from the original film. If I’m going to show someone one of the movies, what’s the point in skipping the animated version? It makes this movie feel more like a novelty. After you’re done with the old movie, “oh, hey, do you want to see what the dragons looked like in live-action?”

That’s really what this movie ends up feeling like after watching it. It’s beautiful, stunning, but through it all, it still feels like it didn’t need to be made. Great movies can cross over generations. You don’t always need to make a live-action film just to get it to new generations.

How To Train Your Dragon Is Still Worth Watching For Fans Of The Original Or Newcomers

Even with that question of why this movie got made in the first place, I’m still struck by how great this story translates. Mason Thames and Nico Parker are electric together. With a sequel already in the works, we’re going to see more of the Isle of Berk. As an introduction to this world, How To Train Your Dragon works on a lot of levels. It’ll make you just as emotional as the original, which means I can’t be too hard on it. This is still an excellent movie for kids and adults alike.

How To Train Your Dragon is in theaters on June 13th.

For more Reviews, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Keep Reading:

‘Ballerina’ Review – This John Wick Spinoff Still Kicks Plenty Of Ass