A young Viking named Hiccup befriends an injured dragon and discovers they’re not the scary monsters they’ve been made out to be.
Disney has been remaking its animated films for years and now DreamWorks is getting in on the trend by doing a live-action remake of its 2010 animated hit How to Train Your Dragon.
Like the animated original, the live-action film is set on the fictional island of Berk, where the Vikings have been locked in a war with the dragons for years.
From a young age, the locals are trained to fight the creatures to protect their home but Hiccup (Mason Thames) resists this, despite his father being the leader Stoick (Gerard Butler, who previously voiced the character).
One day, he befriends an injured dragon – who he names Toothless – and comes to realise that they aren’t fearsome monsters and are capable of peacefully co-existing alongside humans.
The original 2010 animation is a very good film and it was so successful it spawned two sequels and a couple of shorts. This live-action version is also very good and will probably achieve enough success to warrant remakes of the next two films.
The live-action is essentially a shot-for-shot and line-for-line remake and you can’t help but wonder why the original’s co-director Dean DeBlois would return to make the same film again, albeit with real actors this time.
DeBlois assembled his live-action cast well. Thames doesn’t quite achieve the goofiness of the animated Hiccup – but that would have been impossible – but he’s likeable and awkward and does a brilliant job at interacting with a dragon that isn’t there.
Butler as Stoick is a genius piece of casting – he just embodies the character so perfectly – and Nick Frost is good fun as Hiccup’s teacher Gobber the Belch.
Nico Parker is visually different to the animated Astrid but she channels her determined fighter persona well.
The CGI is extraordinary – Toothless looks flawless and their flying sequences are stunning. In fact, the flying scenes are the standouts thanks to the beautiful Northern Irish landscapes and John Powell’s rousing score.
The live-action remake is very well done and will attract a new generation of viewers to the franchise. However, it is unlikely that fans of the original will pick this over the animation since they’re essentially the same.
In cinemas from Monday 9th June.
By Hannah Wales.
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