How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I was so confused with the fact Dreamworks would start copying Disney’s formula of remaking animated classics for an easy payday, especially redoing How to Train Your Dragon only 6 years after concluding its preceding trilogy. And with Dean DeBlois returning to direct, I was afraid it would be a copy paste situation much like how Michael Haneke made two versions of Funny Games a decade apart from each other. Ironically, the former is able to avoid that feeling.


PLOT


The 2025 film follows the same plot of the 2010 Classic with some new elements, so bear with me as I recollect some familiar moments. In the island of Berk lies a human village where vikings and their livestock are constantly endangered by dragons. Hiccup, the teenage son of chieftain Stoick the Vast, wants to prove himself the way other teens have, but he is deemed too weak to fight and works as an apprentice blacksmith for Gobber the Belch. He takes advantage of an unplanned opportunity when the village goes through another dragon attack at night; He uses a bolas to successfully shoot down a rare Night Fury, but no one believes him. He later goes to the forest finding it trapped as expected, but can’t go through with finishing it, ultimately deciding to free it and the creature returns the favor in sparing him. He tries to tell his dad he’s changed his mind, but Stoick enrolls him for dragon fighting like he previously wanted, encouraging him to give it a chance while he goes with a fleet to search for the dragon’s nest, hoping to end the war between both species. Amongst the students include: dragon fanatic Fishlegs, the twin-pair of Ruffnut & Tuffnut, Snotlout who wants to impress his own dad Spitelout, and Hiccup’s crush Astrid who looks up to Stoick. Predictably, Hiccup’s first day doesn’t go well due to instantly struggling. When returning to the forest, he realizes the Night Fury is trapped in a cove due to the bolas severing half of his tail fin. As he learns how to make a retractable fin for the dragon and a saddle to for him to ride, his bond with him becomes so close that he names him Toothless for his retractable teeth. All he learns of dragon behavior would also give him an advantage in his classes, but Astrid would be the only one suspicious on his improvements. By the time Stoick returns with a damaged fleet after failing to find the nest, he would be surprised to hear his son’s improvement and would task him to complete training by killing another dragon. Not wanting to do that, Hiccup intends to flee with Toothless until Astrid catches them. He shows her the dragon’s kindness, but he gets to the nest Stoick has been looking for. Firsthand, they see all the smaller dragons be demanded by a more gigantic one, Red Death, to feed it in order for them all to be spared with their lives. Astrid suggests telling Stoick what they uncovered, but Hiccup pleads not to as that means Toothless will be in danger too. On the day of his exam, he goes face to face with the Monstrous Nightmare, but he goes forward in showing everyone that dragons can be peaceful. Stoick’s demand to stop the fight leads to inadvertently enraging the dragon, leading not only Astrid but Toothless intervenes. Stoick would then be disappointed that both teens would go against Viking tradition. He’d also express for his son to protect a dragon knowing that he blames the creatures for the death of his wife Valka. This leads to Hiccup inadvertently revealing he’s been to the nest and that only dragons can find it. Stoick uses this information as an advantage by using the Night Fury to guide him to what he wants. Not wanting to lose his dad, Hiccup & Astrid quickly train the other teens to pair up with other dragons to save the fleet. Predictably, the adults get overpowered by Red Death until the teens get there to distract the behemoth. Chained down to a ship, Toothless drowns until Stoick frees him and apologizes to his son for disowning him. With Toothless, Hiccup lures Red Death into the air and damage its wing membranes, setting its insides alight that cause it to crash and explode. Its tail strikes them both however upon crashing and Toothless does catch Hiccup from falling to his death, but at the loss of the boy’s left foot. When he wakes up, he finds out Gobbler got him & Toothless new prosthetics and all the villagers of Berk are learning to coexist with the dragons like he did. As he starts dating Astrid, the film ends with the village truly admiring him for all that he’s done.


THOUGHTS


Again it was a gamble remaking a movie so young compared to the majority of Disney’s 100 year catalog because I was worried there wouldn’t be any real passion in the final cut. Surprisingly, Dean’s involvement is able to make sure it’d be there without forcing preceding beats to be replicated. This gives a chance for some authenticity to be placed which is visible when looking at how lifelike Berk is with impressively detailed costume/production design. It’s already a bonus for John Powell to redo his score, but the VFX done to redesign all the dragons was a big win. The color scheme change for Red Death was smart to further emphasize how frightening a dragon can really be apart from looking cool. Having said that, seeing the likes of the Deadly Nadder Stormfly, Gronckle Meatlug, and Hideous Zippleback Barf & Belch all have that Game of Thrones aesthetic that’ll impress adult fans like myself. In the long run, what mattered most was maintaining the adorability of Toothless we’ve known him for since the beginning. If that didn’t work again here, then it would’ve been quite challenging to maintain an interest. With all the dragons looking great, it does make the cinematography by Bill Pope all the more stunning. To me, I think the big reason this remake deserves better respect compared to what Disney’s been doing because it sticks to maintaining its heart in exploring the original lesson to embrace individuality; If we are incapable of doing that or finding common ground with one another, then it’s gonna get all the more harder for society to thrive when we’re long gone. This is the point made when following Hiccup & Toothless together because they know they’re different and establish respect in order to pull off the needs to adapt. It was definitely dope for Randy Thom to return providing the Night Fury’s vocals again, actor Mason Thames had big shoes to fill in playing Hiccup and fits in very fluently. Arguably, he was great at giving his own spin in making this character an ideal lead who has an inventive mind and wants to share that without judgment. He looks up to his dad and still wants to live up those expectations he makes as a leader and fit in so bad, but wants to do it his way which is why it was a challenge when it came to the unintentional bond he had with Toothless. There’s no sugarcoating when he said his decision to spare him came from seeing himself in him, relating to that fear he had. Had they not bonded overtime which led to being allowed to pet him, he would’ve not been brave enough to speak up to his dad. Having Gerard Butler return as Stoick was as big of a deal when having James Earl Jones be Mufasa one more time because it would feel so wrong recasting a role meant to be irreplaceable. In the live action medium, he’s still great in living up to his name and backs it when being good with words towards other adults in not giving up, rather than guilt trip them to babysit Hiccup like the original hysterically did. The fact he says aloud he blames dragons for losing his wife gives proper validation to hate the creatures overall, which is why he feels betrayed & confused his son changed his ways in his absence. But seeing how it works out for him to go against tradition, he does the right thing in saving Toothless in order to defeat Red Death. Nick Frost was also a good choice as Gobber because he was quite on point in being snarky yet not so grouchy when it comes to being a teacher. He could be cranky 24/7 knowing he’s short on limbs thanks to dragons and he’s gotten used to prosthetics, but the fact he doesn’t let that define him, thus inspiring Stoick & Hiccup to be open minded overtime. Like before, I think the rest of the teen characters succeed in bringing the comedy factor that makes this story all the more fun. I like the irony that Bronwyn James & Harry Trevaldwyn look nothing alike yet let their obnoxious attitude towards each other & everyone else prove they’re twins as Ruff/Tuffnut. Julian Dennison also felt tailor made in expressing Fishlegs’ timid yet more enthusiastic in the culture he’s surrounded with. I also like how Gabriel Howell adds depth for Snotlout revealing his cocky arrogance comes from wanting to impress his dad just like Hiccup tries to, who comes around going easy on the lead knowing they’re not so different. Off of that, getting to ride a dragon and also face one like Red Death was enough for him to still get what he hoped for. Last but not least, Nico Parker was fluently great as Astrid because she felt so natural in reflecting her fierceness. As before, it’s an opposites attraction relationship with Hiccup since she’s a natural to be that while he takes more time to build it and she doesn’t tell anyone his secret as it comes out on its own because she understands why the Night Fury means so much to him. She’s still willing to take a chance on him going forward because she sees better than anyone how big her heart is, which in turn becomes a great reflection of blossoming Dreamworks’ best onscreen relationship. While I can give this remake enough credit for the changes that keep me interested, it still feels like there are a whole set of things that don’t make much sense upon rewatching. Like for starters, if the dragons’ fire breath can’t even destroy wooden door with a single blow, I’m surprised the village hasn’t decided to make that material for the sheep they’re protecting. The same can be said with the arena since the Monstrous Nightmare is the biggest one in the village to try sticking its head out to breathe fire. Hiccup’s redesign definitely worked when it came to trapping Toothless, but it feels like a stretch that it needs two different levers for it to work. Maybe if he kept it as a single cannon, it wouldn’t appear so complicated. It then feels dumb that Gobber doesn’t stay with Hiccup when Stoick told him to make sure he doesn’t leave the house after the opening attack. I know we need an excuse for Hiccup to meet Toothless, but it’s odd Gobber doesn’t take the order serious. And why would Stoick’s fleet leave at night for the nest? Even if they think they can get the jump on some dragons at night, those creatures likely see better at night than them. It’s even strange for Fishlegs to say he’s excited to see some dragons up close for training because he makes it sound like the opening wasn’t enough. Fanatic or not, that’s not the way to go about the excitement for training. Also, how come we didn’t see any Viking use shields for noise to distract dragons the Gronckles? If Gobber knows this, it’s embarrassing none of the adults did it. It’s then odd no adult walked in on Hiccup making the fin at night. I mean he and Gobber can’t be the only vikings that want to craft things like that. And if Stoick made a big deal about needing enough food for winter, it’s stranger that no one noticed Hiccup take a basket of fish with him on his way to Toothless. And they still don’t notice the eel Hiccup threw. I also don’t like the fact Stoick chooses to him a helmet only after he comes back impressed of his improvement. That shit’s important and he or Gobber should’ve given him one before he started training. I even don’t like the idea that the Vikings waited until Toothless showed up to intervene. They all heard Stoick demand the fight to be stopped, so it’d be on them if Hiccup died right then and there had Toothless not revealed himself. Heck, they don’t even seem to react with Hiccup being able to convince the Night Fury to spare the chief of all people. Stoick shouldn’t even blame Hiccup for almost getting people killed when they chose to enter that arena with him. And yeah, I think it’s a little bit of bullshit that Spitelout can recognize Snotlout all the way up in the sky as he’s distracting Red Death. Ignore these flaws however, then you can still be in for a good time with this family flick. In conclusion, 2025’s How to Train Your Dragon is one of the better remakes to come about due to actually have passion to express in what makes the original stuff special to this day. If you are still a fan of the franchise after all the tie-in shows that were connected to the animated trilogy, I promise you’ll enjoy this too.