Dannyboi94

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is easily one of the best animated movies of its decade. It's a masterpiece - perfectly paced, beautifully voiced, tightly written, and scored to perfection. Seriously, there's not a single thing wrong with it. So when they announced a live-action remake, I just rolled my eyes. Hollywood's a circus these days, so I wasn't exactly shocked. But since this wasn't coming from Disney, I thought, "Ah, screw it - can't be worse than that Snow White mess, right?" Well... it isn't. Thank God.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is a decent enough movie. It's fine. But it's also shallow, a little dull, and honestly, kind of pointless. It brings nothing new to the table - doesn't improve on the original, doesn't reimagine anything, just sort of... replays it. Shot for shot in some cases. If you've seen the 2010 version, you've basically already seen this one.

That can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. For me, it just highlights the fact that this remake didn't need to exist. It hits the same beats, tells the same story, and somehow manages to have less heart.

The characters are mostly forgettable. Mason Thames actually does a really solid job as Hiccup - I'll give him that. He channels Jay Baruchel's energy pretty well, and he carries the film on his shoulders. Gerard Butler returns as Stoick and, yeah, he's great. No surprises there.

But everyone else? Ehh. The twins are just annoying - none of the fun chemistry that T. J. Miller and Kristen Wiig brought to them. Snotlout's just ... there. Fishlegs is completely wasted. And then there's Astrid. Look, I'm not getting into the race debate because I genuinely don't care - but I will say I wish she was blonde (they did give her highlights, so I suppose meet in the middle, right?), just for consistency's sake. More importantly though, Nico Parker's performance is flat. And that's a shame, because I know she can act. But here there's just no spark between her and Mason. No chemistry. Half the time, I couldn't even tell what she was feeling - scared, angry, impressed?

America Ferrera made Astrid one of the standout characters in the original trilogy - full of strength, charm, and depth. Here, she's just... boring.

Also, the film's longer than the 2010 version, and the extra scenes don't really add anything. In fact, they left out some important bits - like the part where Hiccup learns that dragons aren't fireproof on the inside. That's a huge detail that plays into the final act, and it's just gone. Stuff like that really undercuts the impact.

Now, I know it sounds like I'm just tearing the movie apart - and look, I stand by everything I said - but I did still enjoy parts of it. The visuals are gorgeous. The mix of practical sets and CGI works really well (most of the time, anyway). The action scenes are solid. And John Powell's music is still absolutely stunning.

So yeah - if you loved the original, you'll probably like this. It's basically the same story, just with less soul. If you've never seen the 2010 version and you're into dragons, you might even love it. But overall, it's flat and unnecessary.

Still miles better than any live-action Disney remake, though. That's something.

6/10.