How To Train Your Dragon is a live-action remake of the 2010 animated film, from writer and director Dean DeBlois, who also served the same function for the original. Based on a series of books by Cressida Cowell, the films became a media sensation, offering a slightly more mature and sophisticated animated world than what has long been typical from American studios.
Courtesy Universal
The story, about a teenager named Hiccup (Mason Thames), who is seen as a liability by everyone, including his father, the chief (Gerard Butler). This is because he uses his brains rather than his brawn, something his culture is averse to, and shuns him for doing. After befriending a rare black dragon he names Toothless, Hiccup winds up discovering that the dragons his people fight are not the mindless killing machines that his people feared. Complications ensue.
In this version of the film, only the dragons are animated, and the result is both a film that is almost exactly the same as the original yet different in very subtle and meaningful ways. Being live action, the result is a work with higher stakes, because these are “real” people that we see interacting with the dragons and one another. Therefore, things like the bullying that Hiccup endures from his fellow Viking villagers of Berk, carries more weight.
This makes later events feel different than the original, as you get a sense of accomplishment and change that the original film was not as concerned with. The scenes of physical violence, particularly given the — mostly — excellent effects work, also feel more consequential than the previous version. While some of the flying sections seem to go for speed rather than creativity, with occasional jumbles of imagery, a sense of danger is ever present and creates a real tension, despite knowing everything will turn out fine, especially if you have seen the original.
The changes from animation to live action happens mainly through expansions of what occurred in the first version of the film, via scenes that cut away before we saw what happened, but now show those events. The result is that some of the mystery is lost, but that was never the point of the story beats during which this occurs. As such, what we have is a film that shows more than tells or suggests. Your mileage may vary, especially if you are a fan of the original work. There are also new details for characters. Astrid (Nico Parker), who in the original was essentially the “loyal to her village” female warrior and nominal love interest, but is now given more of a backstory and she and Hiccup share a heart to heart prior to a key sequence.
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It is in such small, meaningful emotional moments that the differences between versions occur. Your level of empathy or desire to just get on with the story, will likely determine how well you respond to these, particularly if you are extremely familiar with the original film. That film, however, is not just a blue-print for this one, though it is close. Without the ick factor, the dull or the pointlessness, this version of How To Train Your Dragon is often close to a shot for shot remake of the original, much like Psycho.
Here, it works. Not only is DeBlois less interested in simply copying his own work than Gus Van Sant was with Hitchcock, but you get the sense DeBlois truly loves the material. While it can be said that if you’ve seen the earlier film, you have seen this one, it is not precisely true. Again, the subtle differences make for a film that anchors itself in a reality the earlier animated films were unable or not attempting to reach.
You do have other alterations, which may feel more significant, but which do not affect the final form of the film as much as you would expect. These include some deletions, and some expansions but always with an eye toward tightening the development of a plot or furthering the emotional bonds between characters. One curious change is the addition of non-European Vikings, including both African and Asian ones, which is explained by this version of Berk not being just an ancestral home of a single group of people, but a melting pot where anyone with a grudge against Dragons can go to seek their revenge.
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If the film has a flaw, it is not expanding on this, though that could happen in sequels, because it opens up a whole world of questions and possibilities. It is also in keeping with the theme that you are more than what you are born as, and what matters most are the choices you make in life. Much like the original, this may not be a perfect film, but it is a perfectly enjoyable and worthy viewing that will appeal mainly to older kids, teens and adults.
How To Train Your Dragon is now playing in theaters.
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