How to Train Your Dragon (2025) (Christian Movie Review)
How to Train Your Dragon is a live-action remake done right, an enjoyable and faithful re-imagining that captures the heart of the original, if not all its charm.
About the Film
Hollywood’s corporate greed and bankruptcy of new ideas endeavor to repackage every animated film into live action is spreading beyond the borders of Disney Studios. Fifteen years after the original became a smash hit, Universal is giving How to Train Your Dragon the live-action treatment. The result is one of the most enjoyable adaptations to date. How to Train Your Dragon is a live-action remake done right, an enjoyable and faithful re-imagining that captures the heart of the original, if not all its charm.
Films should be evaluated on their own merit, but live-action remakes don’t exist in a vacuum. A large part of what makes them exciting (or exasperating) is comparing them to their animated counterparts. While most of the Disney remakes are enjoyable only due to their nostalgic connection to the better animated versions, How to Train Your Dragon would be a good film even without that nostalgic link. The original is superior, but had this live-action version been released first, it may well have spawned its own successful franchise. It’s a different experience. But for once, “different” is not synonymous with “bad” or “soulless.”
Of course, the extent to which the new film is a “different experience” is debatable. How to Train Your Dragon (2025) may not be a shot-for-shot remake (although it comes close at times). But, at the very least, it’s a beat-by-beat retelling. Some differences are unavoidable—characters look like real people, not cartoons—but for better or worse (and I’m inclined to think “better”), this film tells the story audiences already know and love, but re-imagined and with a new aesthetic. Some audiences may bemoan the lack of surprises or risk-taking, but I suspect that many others will appreciate the filmmaker’s willingness not to try to fix what isn’t broken.
Returning elements from the original may establish an unfavorable comparison at times, but they also remind viewers why the animated film was so highly regarded. The return of the original’s fantastic soundtrack works almost as a “cheat code,” infusing the movie with an irresistible sense of adventure. Perhaps the most consequential return is Dean DeBlois, the writer and director of the animated original.
Interestingly, DeBlois’s other notable directing credit is the animated Lilo and Stitch, which received its own live-action treatment last month without his involvement. While I enjoyed that film for what it was, many viewers felt that some alterations (particularly to the ending) were antithetical to the thematic heart of the original tale. By bringing back the original creator, the How to Train Your Dragon remake exudes a sense of love and respect for the original story rather than coming across as a wearisome attempt to deconstruct it. The subtle changes that do work to align the story with modern sensibilities—such as added diversity to the original’s all-white cast—are given in-world explanations that feel consistent with the thematic message (even if a brief dialogue about “privilege” comes close to pandering).
Most of the film’s new additions add value to the story. The increased runtime allows the film to deepen character motivations, fill out backstories, and give supporting characters an increased role. The additions feel like material that would have been included in the original had the runtime allowed for it. In fact, audiences who have not watched the original recently may struggle to pinpoint the additions, since they blend so seamlessly into the story.
The classic “boy and his dog” story remains largely unchanged, but the live-action aesthetic lends it a slightly more serious tone, and young fans of the original may be pushed outside their comfort zone. No, this is not a Netflix-style “dark and gritty” version. But the human drama is weightier, and the dragon-fueled action is more intense. Despite the new look and relatively sharper tone, the film conveys the same adventurous spirit and visual beauty as the original. The dragons look as convincing as a CGI creature feasibly can, but the power of the visuals comes more from how they are used. Scenes of Hiccup and Toothless soaring through the clouds or over the lush landscape of Berk are an immersive, thrilling cinematic experience.
Overall, How to Train Your Dragon soars as one of the best remakes in years. While Disney may have tested audiences’ patience with its series of uninspired re-imaginings, Universal breathes new life into the story (but hopefully not too much life, because we really don’t need to see a live-action Kung Fu Panda). Should every animated film get a remake? Absolutely not. But if they do, then How to Train Your Dragon shows how to do it right.
For Consideration
On the Surface—(Profanity, Sexual content, violence, etc.).
Language: Before a battle with the dragons, the Viking leader shouts at his warriors to “send those devils back to hell.” A character says “bloody,” and another exclaims, “For god’s sake.”
Violence: The action is more intense in live-action form, and there is the implication that both Vikings and dragons are being killed in combat, but no deaths are depicted on screen (although, like in the animated film, several characters sport artificial limbs).
Sexuality: There is a returning joke from the original about a pair of helmets being made from the breastplate of Hiccup’s mother. Upon seeing a miniature dragon, a character says, “It’s about the size of my….” before being interrupted (with the intended words seemingly clear).
Other: Pagan religion plays a more prominent role. In one scene, a character voices a desperate prayer to Odin. In another, the village’s spiritual leader casts bones in order to discern the best course of future action.
Engage The Film
Fathers, Sons, and Misunderstandings
As in the original, the remake explores the themes of empathy and reconciliation, but it uses its increased runtime to delve even deeper into those messages. The film explores the human tendency to make inaccurate judgments about that which we don’t fully understand. In many ways, the conflict between the humans and dragons is an external reflection of the more personal disconnect between Hiccup and his father, the warrior Viking chief. In one amusing scene, the father and son sit down to chat, only to quickly discover that they don’t have much to talk about. Snotlout, Hiccup’s chief rival, is presented more sympathetically this time around. The film gives him a character arc, revealing how his insecurities and bully tendencies stem from his upbringing and unaffectionate father.
The spirituality in the film may be pagan, but the message is consistent with Christianity. Much of the New Testament is devoted to instruction and exhortation for how Christians are to live among people who differ from them and whom they may not understand. The film may present the process of reconciliation and unity in an unrealistically simplistic manner, but the core message is biblical and edifying. On a broader cultural level, the message feels even more timely now than when the original film released.
The film also challenges youth to lead the way (see 1 Timothy 4:12). During a training session, the fiery young warrior Astrid says, “In case you haven’t noticed, our parents’ war is about to become ours.” It is ultimately the youth of Berk who lead to peace and the end of the war.
