I was honestly nervous before watching How to train your dragon(2025). The animated version is such is such a beloved movie, that bringing it into live action felt like a risky move. I kept wondering if it would actually capture the same magic or just feel like another remake trying to cash in on nostalgia. Thankfully it worked out for me. The story takes us back to Berk, a viking village where fighting dragons has been a way of life for different generations. At the centre of it all was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Mason Thames). Unlike other Vikings, Hiccup wasn't just strong, fearless or particularly interested in proving himself with a sword. His father Stoick the Vast ( Gerald Butler), was the chief of Berk and want his son to become a proper Viking. But Hiccup saw things differently. His live changed completely when he encountered Toothless, a night fury that he had initially tried to capture. Instead of killing the dragon, he began to understand him. What started as a secret friendship slowly turned into one of the strongest bonds in the movie. And honestly Toothless and Hiccup were the heart of the story.
I loved watching how Hiccup slowly realized that dragons weren't the monsters everyone had always told him they were. Toothless wasn't just a dangerous creature. He was intelligent, playful and surprisingly expressive. Their friendship also gave Hiccup the confidence to question the beliefs of his entire village.
Then there's Astrid Hofferson(Nico Parker), one of the strongest young Vikings in Berk, and I liked that she wasn't reduced to simply being Hiccup's love interest. She was competitive, brave and determined, and she didn't immediately accept Hiccup's strange ideas about dragons.
Her relationship with Hiccup developed as she began to see things from his perspective, and I enjoyed watching that change happen.
Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost) also adds some humour to the story. As Stoick's trusted friend and one of the older Vikings, Gobber had that mixture of toughness and warmth that makes him easy to like.
Stoick loved his son, but he doesn't really understand him. He wanted Hiccup to become the kind of Viking he thinks a chief's son should be. Hiccup, on the other hand, was trying to prove that he can make a difference without becoming someone he's not. That conflict between father and son felt very relatable.
Visually, the movie was beautiful. Seeing Berk, the dragons and those huge flying sequences in live action was impressive. And Toothless? He still managed to be ridiculously adorable.
My only real issue was that the movie followed the animated version quite closely. If you've watched the original several times, you already know where the story is going, so some emotional moments didn't hit quite as hard.
Still, I didn't mind revisiting the story. What I loved about How to Train Your Dragon is that beneath all the action and fantasy, the message was actually quite simple, which is "sometimes the things we fear are simply things we don't understand."
Hiccup didn't change Berk by becoming the strongest Viking. He changed it by being willing to look at dragons differently. And maybe that's why this story still works after all these years. The 2025 live-action version may not replace the animated classic for me, but it gave me another reason to fall in love with Hiccup and Toothless all over again. My Rating : 80/100
Rating: 80/100