Movie Review: ‘How To Train Your Dragon’

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Admittedly, it had been about 15 years since I last watched the original animated How To Train Your Dragon; and I may have watched the first sequel, but nothing after that. I didn’t dislike the series, it’s just that Viking stories usually are not high on my watch list(s). So, this new movie seemed familiar, but still kinda fresh and new. That being said, as I write this, I am rewatching the animated movie and it is remarkable how well the new movie adapted the animated version.

The new version is nearly a shot-for-shot remake with some minor changes and a slower pace, adding nearly a half hour to the runtime. And it works well. The story is well told. The music is enjoyable. The casting is perfect, with Gerard Butler returning as Stoic (the village chief and Hiccup’s father), though it replaces Craig Ferguson with Nick Frost (can’t really say who I like more). The cinematography, especially the flying scenes, is amazing and beautiful. I would highly recommend watching it in a theater (IMAX, if possible) just for the flying scenes; I did notice the aspect ratio change when these scenes started. Some of the movie was darker (physically, not metaphorically), but that added to the realism since the scenes were at night and Vikings didn’t have electricity to light up the night.

The story is fairly straightforward. Hiccup is the son of a chief of a village of Vikings that are on the hunt for dragons that constantly attack their village for food. He desperately wants to prove himself to his father and the village, but when he gets the change to kill a dragon, he cannot. Instead, as he is given the chance to enter the village’s “dragon training” for the chance to kill a dragon, he sneaks away to the injured dragon to befriend and train with him. Through both training sessions, Hiccup learns more about dragons and discovers a greater threat to both the villagers and the dragons.

I enjoyed this movie overall. As I stated earlier, I am not a huge fan of Vikings and dragon stories, but they can be fun, as this one was. It made me want to go back and watch the animated sequels, though I may wait for future live action installments to catch up.