How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

[Mike Blakesley]

This live-action remake was the only screening at CinemaCon this year, which to me was kind of ridiculous. What they did show was mostly standard trailers --- almost none of the extended footage like we used to get in the past. Even the Rocky Mountain NATO convention last year had three full screenings.

Anyway, Universal put up a confusing slide ahead of this screening. They said the movie was not approved for reviews yet, but that social media posts were welcomed. So I guess, in other words, please, critics, don't trash this movie until after the regular folks have had a shot at it. I would say Film-Tech counts as social media, so I'm jumping in with a few not-very-detailed thoughts.

It was decent. It seemed to take a LONG time to get going, but once the kid meets the dragon and makes friends with it, things pop pretty well. There are some very scary scenes, which were made scarier by the burn-your-ears-right-off-the-side-of-your-head sound levels at CinemaCon, an annual annoyance which muddles about half of the dialog -- at least in the crappy seats that us poor non-chain theater folk are confined to. For the peril scenes, it may deserve a PG-13 rating. It'll freak out some kids for sure.

The special effects (dragon flight scenes) were spectacular, but I thought the various fights, battles, skirmishes and such went on too long. They could have trimmed 15 minutes of exposition off of the first third of the movie, edited down a few battles, and had a real winner. As is, it's a good family film but not a classic, in my book at least. But I think it will do pretty well.

2.5 out of 5 stars for me.

[David Ferguson]

First I should say that I'm a huge fan of the original 2010 movie (and by huge I mean mega-huge, I could - and have been known to - talk about this film all day). It's the movie that got me into cinema and film collecting, and I've organised/helped with quite a few screenings of the original, so I am coming at this from the point of view of loving the original, and being highly skeptical that a reboot is needed.

I've not seen it yet (nearly considered coming over to CinemaCon, but the ticket prices are not meant for individuals so couldn't justify it), but the trailer(s) I have seen show a shot-for-shot remake, with the same dialogue, same acting, and even same small facial expression movements. They are possibly just going for the nostalgia-trap at the moment, hooking people in with "Oh, I remember this!", but so far, I've not seen anything different.

For the peril scenes, it may deserve a PG-13 rating. It'll freak out some kids for sure.

The original was PG, but maybe having real people in it will have to up it to PG.

They could have trimmed 15 minutes of exposition off of the first third of the movie, edited down a few battles, and had a real winner.

The irony is that they have added 18 minutes to the runtime compared to the 2010 original... so it sounds like they may have tried to pad it out a bit, but it hasn't added much, and may have caused it to drag at times. I've always thought the plot and runtime of the original was pretty tight - (nearly) all the scenes are needed, all the dialog is necessary for the story.

However I think it will do well, but probably not as well as some of the recent Disney live actions. It's only been 15 years since the original - which is a good chunk of time, but if you were a kid when you watched it, you're not quite at the age where you have your own kids that are old enough for you can take along to this reboot yet.

Have you watched the original 2010 movie, Mike? If you give it a rewatch, with the Live Action fresh in your mind, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on how they compare.

[Mike Blakesley]

I haven't watched the original. I think when we played it, we were too busy for me to ever sit and watch it. That happens with a lot of popular movies.

That's interesting that this new one may be a shot-for-shot remake. I had not heard that before, but I guess it's possible.

One thing I always thought was kind of funny is the way Hiccup makes friends with Toothless at first. He holds out his hand and looks away, Toothless takes a sniff, and they're buddies. That wouldn't happen with most wild animals. Dogs, maybe. A deer (or anything smaller) would never let you get that close without running away, and a bear would be more likely to bite your hand off, or worse.

[David Ferguson]

I am very biased, but I'd recommend giving the 2010 original a watch - it's a classic... (If I was on the same continent you could borrow my print of it).

What you describe is also exactly how it happens in the original. I guess in an animated film, you can more easily believe that sort of thing, but it probably stands out more in live action. But you are right that this shouldn't be taken as a instructional manual of how to deal with wild animals!

[Mike Blakesley]

I guess I don't understand why Disney, and now Universal, think they have come up with the best plan of the century by making "live action" remakes of their animated films. What's the point, beyond a cash grab? To me they would be better off making new animated versions. That way they could preserve the feel of the original while updating the dialog, improving on the action and special effects animation, sound, and so on. I suppose they figure people would get confused about a new animated version and think it was just a reissue of the original, and they are probalby right about that -- I already had one person ask me if the upcoming Lilo and Stitch movie was a reissue.

So I suppose we are stuck with more live-action remakes, although DIsney seems to have pressed the pause button on theirs, after the Snow White debacle.

But if the new HTTYD hits big, that'll open the Universal floodgates. What's next? A live action Shrek? Live-action Minions?

[Mike Blakesley]

Well tonight (Fri. 6/13) was one for the books and not in a good way. We had a sellout crowd for the movie, which was good. We also had "severe thunderstorm watches."

Now, I have no problem with severe thunderstorm watches. The problem is, the weather gods lately tend to elect to send out these notices when a storm is 50 miles away, and again when it's 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, or 1 mile away, or "in the area." They tend to embellish the notices with a list of every last thing that COULD happen in a severe storm. A storm "watch" does not mean a storm is going to happen or is happening. It only means conditions exist for it to happen. The problem is, people don't understand the difference between a storm WATCH and a storm WARNING. And these notices come with such frequency, and such urgency, that they tend to whip everybody into a lather, especially if "large hail" is on the list of possible things that could happen...and in springtime in Montana, it usually is. It's as if the weather service is run by the kid who cried "wolf."

So we had a sellout crowd in the theatre, and almost all of them were getting continuous pings on their phone every few minutes saying there was a severe thunderstorm. In reality, outside, it was...raining. Yes, there was some thunder and lightning, like we've had for ten thousand storms in the past. There was no hail, wind was normal for a thunderstorm, and it was all over within a half hour. It was in no way severe. But we had people of all shapes and sizes continually wanting to go outside to "look at the weather." Back and forth, back and forth. I wanted to say, "What are you going to do if there's a big hailstorm? Wave your arms like a maniac and make it stop?"

Then, as sometimes happens around here, the power went out. On top of that, for reasons I don't know and will find out as soon as possible, our emergency lights did not work. This REALLY unsettled everyone. It came back on after about three minutes, but the damage was done. By this time nobody was giving two shits about the movie any more. The kids were restless, some were crying, bathroom breaks were way more frequent than usual, etc. etc. This two-hour movie seemed to drag on for about four hours.

I'm sure it will be better tomorrow. That's what usually happens when we have a "bad night" -- a series of good nights will follow. So I keep holding on to that thought.

[Frank Cox]

On top of that, for reasons I don't know and will find out as soon as possible, our emergency lights did not work.

That happened to me here once. The power went out (and stayed out) about 98% of the way through the movie and neither of the emergency lights came on.

Which boggled my mind because they are two completely separate fixtures and I had tested them (by unplugging them) about three weeks before and they worked fine.

They were the emergency lights that I bought when I made my theatre so they were about 25 years old at that point. I just bought two new ones and replaced them, but I still don't know why they would both conk out at the same time.

[Ryan Gallagher]

That happened to me here once. The power went out (and stayed out) about 98% of the way through the movie and neither of the emergency lights came on.

Which boggled my mind because they are two completely separate fixtures and I had tested them (by unplugging them) about three weeks before and they worked fine.

They were the emergency lights that I bought when I made my theatre so they were about 25 years old at that point. I just bought two new ones and replaced them, but I still don't know why they would both conk out at the same time.

You could have the other version... we had emergency lights kick on despite no power outage, there was an issue with their circuit that provides them the power signal to react to. Thankfully it was during doors and on a showing where I had a full crew compliment downstairs due to it being in festival context. But it was a weekend, and our facilities folks could not get to the venue in time... despite finding the breaker (no small task in a historic venue), resetting it was of no help, would just trip again. We ended up covering the couple offending flood units with black wrap and having a show. Thankfully it was just the two at the back of the house in the orchestra level, there are quite a few others it would have been harder to get to.

[David Ferguson]

I saw this at the weekend, went to London to see it first in the BFI IMAX (with laser, 2D), and then the Odeon Leicester Square (Dolby Cinema). I should say that this review is written from the perspective of a big fan of the original movie...

Movie review

It is almost a shot for shot remake - some of the dialog is changed up, but most is verbatim. The story is the same, the characters are the same (except for a couple new ones that don't get any screen time), the settings are the same, and for one character, the voice actor is the new actor. If you liked the original, you'll probably like this too - although hardcore fans may be upset by the small changes.

The visuals are ok - for a "Live Action" there is clearly a lot of green screen, and a lot of animators. In the end credits, there were quite a few pages of animators' names! The main dragon, Toothless, alternates from looking cute and similar to the original 2010 design in some shots, to being eye-wateringly ugly in others and I am wondering how this is the same model, animated by the same people. I'm looking forward to getting the Blu-ray so I can pause on those frames and really look in detail.

The biggest disappointment for me is the dialogue. Not the writing, but the delivery from the actors and sound mix. I watched this movie twice in one day, in two different cinemas, and there are still a couple of lines I am unsure what was said. There is a lot of mumbling, or just lack of clarity in the delivery, and for some shots I am surprised they didn't retake them.

Overall I enjoyed it, but it did leave me feeling "why did they..." a lot. It was directed by the co-director of the original, but doesn't have the same magic.

Cinema reviews

BFI IMAX (with laser, 2D)
The BFI is the UK's largest screen, and it looked and sounded very good. Overall thoroughly enjoyed it, and found no issues with anything. I have been to the BFI IMAX many times before, and while I prefer it when they run 15/70mm, their digital presentations are always excellent.

The movie has 9 sequences in the 1.90:1 ratio, which is why I wanted to see it in IMAX. These were (and I realise that these names will only make sense to those that know the film):

1. The opening "This is Berk" battle scene
2. Gronckle dragon training
3. Vikings on ships + Nadder dragon training
4. Zippleback dragon training
5. Test Driving Toothless
6. Romantic Flight
7. Red Death fight
8. Ending flight

Odeon Leicester Square (Dolby Cinema)
The Odeon Leicester Square was the UK's top venue for film premieres for many years. It's now a Dolby Cinema venue, which I hadn't experienced before, so this is also a review of Dolby Cinema.

The colours and contrast were better than the IMAX with laser. It was like watching a giant high end OLED, and I was pretty blown away. I also thought the sound was better than the IMAX, although that was tougher to pick a favourite with. My only criticism was they played awful pop-music before and after, which didn't set the mood very well!

[Ryan Gallagher]

My only criticism was they played awful pop-music before and after, which didn't set the mood very well!

Picking appropriate music for walkins depending on the film is something I try to do for every film, given time, but it is actually quite an undertaking to do well. We have an HOUR of doors. So hour long playlist for every film. Some of mine I'm more proud of than others, and music is so subjective, there will always be those that don't agree with your choices. I've got no complaints yet, and plenty of compliments, but I'm sure there are detractors out there wishing I would just play some country music yada yada. (Which I definitely do, just depends on the film). ;-)

It gets especially challenging when you haven't seen the film before, as would be the case with every 1st run. The OST (or even the film) usually isn't published yet to give you a tone reference, nor is any AI going to have specific knowledge to help lead you in any directions unless it's a franchise installment.

My efforts thus far are public playlists on spotify if anyone is curious.
https://open.spotify.com/user/clickykbd/playlists

Welcome to enjoy or use them, but keep in mind we are a classic/arthouse, what our audience tolerates and enjoys may differ from a general public audience.

Of course there are legal issues to consider. We do walkin music and internal show music for all our event types, so much that we just maintain an ASCAP and BMI license, it doesn't cover EVERYTHING, but it will cover most things. Most small tours and comedy acts will just hand you a spotify list, so maintaining the licenses is really the only way to attempt to be above the board.

Chain 1st run cinemas that opt for music would probably be more prone to purchase a handful of genre mixes and license or use some sort of elevator music service to cover their legal butts. Which is probably why if you encounter it, it almost never fits the film.

What would be really fancy is if directors and creative teams packaged walkin music TOO, it could behave like an prelude to the soundtrack if done well, or maybe just one or two tracks they would prefer play right before films. Wait a minute, am I just re-describing the old practices of doing overtures with curtains? LOL. But almost no one does music in 1st run cinemas, so why would they bother?