How to Train Your Dragon (2025) review: This time, the fire feels real

It’s always risky when a studio takes a beloved animated classic like How To Train Your Dragon and tries to repackage it in live-action — especially when the original is still fresh in our collective hearts (and our streaming queues). But How to Train Your Dragon (2025), DreamWorks’ first venture into the live-action adaptation game, manages to beat the odds. It doesn't just mimic its predecessor — it deepens it in places, sharpens it in others, and above all, remembers that this is a story powered not by spectacle alone, but by soul.

Using his experience from previous films, director Dean DeBlois has returned to the project and has a lot of emotional insight for its completion. The outcome is a movie that understands precisely when it should re-create, reimagine or resolutely allow a boy and a dragon reignite our affection for them anew. It’s more than just nostalgia—orchestrated in an attention-grabbing, lazy way; rather it is an artistic reconnection achieved through filmmakers’ balancing both reasons behind their actions and methods employed to achieve them.

Disclaimer: The article contains writer's opinions.

A story retold, but with new texture and teeth

How To Train Your Dragon Source: Universal Pictures

The core narrative hasn’t changed — and it doesn’t need to. Hiccup, a scrawny Viking misfit with more brains than brawn, still lives in a dragon-fearing society where slaying is sport. When he spares a wounded Night Fury, an unlikely friendship sparks, challenging the tribal norms and ultimately reshaping his entire community’s worldview. But what makes this retelling click isn’t what’s been carried over — it’s what’s been layered in.

Mason Thames, stepping into the well-worn boots of Hiccup, brings a fresher vulnerability to the role — less sarcasm, more sincerity. There’s more adolescent fear in his eyes, more wonder when he reaches out to Toothless for the first time.

Astrid (Nico Parker) gets a more nuanced backstory, Stoick (a growly, magnificent Gerard Butler) feels like a real man weighed down by generational pressure, not just a cartoon of fatherly repression. And subtle tweaks — class tensions, emotional beats held just a second longer — give the story added resonance without disrupting its rhythm.

Dragons fly, but the world breathes first in the new How To Train Your Dragon

Visually, the film is a feast. Cinematographer Bill Pope, drawing inspiration from Roger Deakins’ work on the original trilogy, delivers a Berk that feels both mythic and lived-in. From the ash-black cliffs to the glowing forge, every space feels tangible. And when the dragons take flight — oh, you’ll feel that familiar lurch in your chest again.

What’s impressive is not just how good the flying scenes look (and they do look very good), but how grounded the rest of the film is. Unlike many live-action remakes that go full VFX overload, How to Train Your Dragon knows when to let the landscapes do the talking. You can smell the sea spray. You can feel the fog settling over a pre-dawn raid. It's immersive, not just impressive.

And Toothless? He’s still the real MVP. Animated just enough to retain his mischievous soul, his design walks the perfect line between realism and fantasy. If you weren’t already prepared to cry over a fictional reptile, brace yourself.

Performances that understand the assignment

One of the remake’s biggest triumphs is its casting. Mason Thames is note-perfect as Hiccup — awkward, determined, and genuinely funny when it counts. He sells the growth arc with ease. Nico Parker adds an emotional intelligence to Astrid that makes her more than just the strong girl archetype. And the young supporting cast — especially Gabriel Howell as the perfectly puffed-up Snotlout — match their animated predecessors with surprising precision.

Then there’s Gerard Butler, the rare case of a voice actor returning to play the same role in live action — and somehow topping his own performance. He leans into Stoick’s contradictions with real fire: loud, intimidating, but heartbreakingly lost when it comes to parenting a kid he doesn’t understand.

It’s big acting in the best way — operatic when it needs to be, tender when it matters most. Even Nick Frost, who replaces Craig Ferguson as Gobber, slots in well, though he wisely avoids doing an imitation. He brings his own kind of eccentric charm — less Scottish-slapstick, more mumbly mentor.

Final verdict: A worthy successor that knows when to fly and when to listen

I'll be giving this movie a 9/10⭐

Navigating the balance between innovation and staying true to the source material is no easy task, especially for live-action remakes. Fortunately, How to Train Your Dragon (2025) manages that struggle much more often than not. It’s not merely a passable remake; it’s one of substance. The world is immersive and the story remains impactful, alongside dynamic characters.

For dedicated fans, this marks a gentle welcome back to Berk that strikes a deeper note than what was shown prior, while for new viewers, it serves as an excellent entry point. No matter which category you fall into, it stands as evidence on how DreamWorks — unlike countless other studios before them — actually cared about what made the original beloved. Turns out, training a dragon isn't merely about brute force; trust is critical too—and How to Train Your Dragon earns that trust.