How to Train Your Dragon (dir. Dean DeBlois)
By: Adam Freed
Families tired of the ho-hum nature of regurgitated remake storytelling will feel incredibly seen by Dean DuBois and his beautiful live action remake of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. The 2010 animated film proved to be a financial and critical success for DreamWorks, which is why its earning the live action treatment feels somewhat predictable. What DeBlois and his capable cast have accomplished is to eliminate concerns that come along with the prior knowledge of a film remake and instead offers a fully immersive worldly environment, the Isle of Berk is beautiful, tactile, liberating, and even a little scary at times.
One cannot begin to consider the How to Train Your Dragon franchise without first thinking of central character Hiccup, caught somewhere between being a boy and man, played by Mason Thames (The Black Phone). Hiccup is the son of King Stoick, a bearded warrior embodied to perfection by Scotsman Gerard Butler (300, Den of Thieves) in a reprisal of his vocal role from the 2010 animated original. Stoick exudes masculinity from every pore, a seemingly unattainable vision of adulthood for Hiccup to say the least. As fans of the original will already know, Hiccup’s evolutionary process begins when he comes into contact with a legendary dragon, a Night Fury by the name of Toothless. Although Stoick’s son isn’t as tall, strong or brave as his father, he possesses an inventor's intuition, one that serves him well in his quest to view the world differently than his predecessors. How to Train Your Dragon is as much about overcoming the generational expectations of a community as it is about approaching the problems of the world from a different angle. For hundreds of years, vikings have killed dragons and dragons have killed vikings, which is why Hiccup’s willingness to view their sworn enemy in a different light feels so refreshing.
Dean DeBlois’ live-action remake threads a tight needle when it comes to its potential audience as it may offer a little too much intensity for children younger than six, yet should serve youthful populations very well through their early teen years. Creating a natural island world isolated from the mainland is a massive undertaking that DeBlois and DreamWorks certainly accomplish with laudable initiative. In addition to its world building, How to Train Your Dragon offers a strong supporting cast spearheaded by Nico Parker (The Last of Us), who plays Astrid, an enviable young woman with designs on becoming a warrior. In viewing Parker’s performances, one cannot escape the apt comparison of feeling as if they are viewing a young Zendaya present in her performance. Despite offering a story that most theatergoers will already know, DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon is a rollicking adventure, one that allows audiences to take flight just as Hiccup and Toothless do. It is rare that a family film can breed a perfect mix of familiarity and exhilaration, and luckily for audiences this summer, How to Train Your Dragon does exactly that.
Target Score 7/10 - Hiccup and Toothless are back in what is all but guaranteed to be a runaway hit for families with children ages 6 to 13. How to Train Your Dragon feels like a new exploration of a pre-existing world in a way that is both livable and fantastical.