How to Train Your Dragon

"The legend is real."

2025 2h 5m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 3,161

FantasyFamilyActionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup stands apart, defying centuries of tradition when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury dragon. Their unlikely bond reveals the true nature of dragons, challenging the very foundations of Viking society.

“The legend is real.”

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Cast

Mason Thames
Hiccup
Nico Parker
Astrid
Gerard Butler
Stoick
Nick Frost
Gobber
Gabriel Howell
Snotlout
Julian Dennison
Fishlegs
Bronwyn James
Ruffnut
Harry Trevaldwyn
Tuffnut

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dean DeBlois
Writers: Dean DeBlois
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "How to Train Your Dragon (Live-Action) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dean DeBlois, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Wyatt Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Mason Thames and Nico Parker and Gerard Butler carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dean DeBlois directs. Bill Pope behind the camera. John Powell scores. Wyatt Smith cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Made its money back 4.2× over at the box office.
3Released last year.
4Part of the "How to Train Your Dragon (Live-Action) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Dean DeBlois, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Wyatt Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Mason Thames and Nico Parker and Gerard Butler carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The legend is real.".
10IMDB entry: tt26743210 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 8 themes, including "flying", "vikings (norsemen)", "remake", "dragon".

The technical file

Cinematography: Bill Pope
Original score: John Powell
Editing: Wyatt Smith
Production design: Dominic Watkins
Costume design: Lindsay Pugh
Makeup / hair: Alessandro Bertolazzi
VFX supervisor: Christian Manz
Sound: Randy Thom
Runtime: 125 min · 2h 5m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $150,000,000
Box office: $636,596,299
Return: 424% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

Part of

How to Train Your Dragon (Live-Action) Collection

A live-action remake franchise based on the DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" films.

Also by

Dean DeBlois

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-06-18
★ 7/10
Whatever happened to Brenton Thwaites? For some reason that crossed my mind as this thoroughly entertaining fantasy adventure gets off to a rollicking start and keeps going. Now if you are the “Hagar”-esque Viking chief (Gerard Butler) expecting your son to take over as fearless dragon-chaser after you, why would you call him “Hiccup”? Might as well call him “Buttercup”? Anyway, that hapless lad (Mason Thames) maybe isn’t the most adept on the muscle front but cerebrally he has something of the Leonardo Da Vinci to him as he determines to set about devising a weapon that will tackle the most formidable of their foes - the “Night Fury”. Well, would you believe it - his contraption actually works, but instead of slaying the thing this young man decides that the decades of combat between the species has accomplished nothing, so he decides a bit of co-operation might be in order instead. Of course, he has to be fairly clandestine about this as his dad will go ape if he finds out and fellow, and competitive, student “Astrid” (Nico Parker) - on whom he has a terrible crush - might decide to take her axe to both him and his new friend. There are a few slight modifications from the animation (2010) but otherwise it largely sticks to the story with a lovely hammy effort from Butler, an enjoyably mischievous one from his multi-appendage sidekick “Gobber” (Nick Frost) and two solid performances from the leads. It’s Thames who really steals the show amongst the humans, with a cheeky and personable effort which must have been quite a task as he spent much of the filming dangling in front of a green screen. As to the visuals, they are great. A combination of dragons galore, huge scale pyrotechnics and loads of imagination immerses you into a story of family and friendship without even the vaguest hint of the moralising that often peppers this genre. They say that, aerodynamically, a bee ought never to be able to fly: well I think that could be said of almost all of the critters here as they dart about menacingly and colourfully for a couple of hours of what is really good fun. It’s well worth a cinema outing as the whole thing looks and sounds great on a big screen and dare I say it, I might quite like a sequel if they can keep the standard of storytelling up to that of the imagery.
Chris Sawin2025-07-26
★ 1/10
The How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is a shot-for-shot remake of the original 2010 animated film. It is DreamWorks Animation's first foray into live-action and original screenwriter and director Dean DeBlois returns. The few highlights of the live-action version of the film are that the majority of the dragons transition to live-action or are computer generated to extremely satisfying results. Monstrous Nightmare (the red dragon with the long snout that can ignite its entire body on fire) is exceptionally cool. Visually, How to Train Your Dragon is stunning. Many live-action shots are realistic copies of what was accomplished in the animated film which is a major accomplishment regardless of whether it was shot on location or required a green screen and various other visual effects. No one is taking away from the fact that the film looks incredible. Gerard Butler, the one returning actor from the animated films, acts his ass off as Stoick. Butler’s performance was already solid, but him embodying the character and dressing as him brings out more emotion and more passion in his acting. DeBlois claims that Universal Studios wanted to tell the same story with this film; to embellish what made the animated film great. DeBlois says that the live-action version enhances the original, but the only significant enhancement is Butler’s performance. All of the jokes and story points are the same, which don’t hit the same in live-action. It seems like an obvious fault to say that a live-action film just isn’t as animated or as energetic as an animated film but that is exactly the case here. Performances lack that cartoonish nature that made How to Train Your Dragon entertaining, funny, touching, and memorable. None of the humor works here as none of the other casting choices work like they’re supposed to. The only reason this was remade was to add people of color to the cast. This would be fine if it was done for a valid reason, but nearly all of the black actors are background characters or have one or two lines. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are no longer actual twins. Ruffnut is suddenly a BBW and both twins are redheads. Julian Dennison (The Hunt for the Wildepeople, Deadpool 2) is Fishlegs and his performance is mostly fine as he captures the same energy, but it’s just too brief to make much of an impact. Astrid is now portrayed by Nico Parker while Gothi, the town elder, is played by Naomi Wirthner. Both characters are now portrayed by biracial actors. Wirthner is fine as Gothi because Gothi doesn’t have any lines. Parker portrays Astrid as a super bitch. In the original film, Astrid was trying to prove she was the strongest despite being a girl. Hiccup’s unorthodox methods and seeming entitlement annoyed her and the ride on Toothless softened the character and represented the fact that Berk’s stance on dragons could be altered. Now Astrid stomps around like an entitled brat for what feels like a two-hour tantrum. Not to mention Hiccup (Mason Thames) looks 25 and Astrid (Parker) looks 12. Thames is younger than Parker in real life, but still. I revisited the first two How to Train Your Dragon films before seeing the live-action remake and watched How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World after. With a franchise, it’s usually a good idea to revisit the older films so major characters and story points can be fresh on your mind. Doing so before this film made it incredibly boring. This new version of the film is made for people who either haven’t seen the original film in a very long time or for a new generation of people who have never seen it. Revisiting the other films just made this one feel boring and long; the live-action film is both of those things but seeing the other films beforehand made it feel even more boring and long. At least with live-action Disney films the animated films are used as a base and new material is built around that. The live-action Lilo & Stitch at least had the balls to try a new ending and Jumba was turned into the film’s major villain with no redemption arc. An exact replication feels so unnecessary on all accounts and something worked along the way because a live-action sequel is already greenlit. Dean DeBlois and Universal Studios have somehow recreated an incredible film about dragons and the struggle to survive and turned it into this lifeless, carbon-copy shell of its former self. Hiccup’s initial riding of Toothless has this magical and tingle-inducing aura about it in the original film and here it just feels like retreaded terrain with no charisma. This is a film aimed to enhance the filmmakers and studio’s pockets and nothing more.
JPV8522025-08-18
★ 6/10
Maybe some of the stellar reviews are based on some sort of nostalgia for the 2010 animated movie but I don't hold the same regard to that movie, although I did enjoy those movies. However, this live action version, like the ones Disney has been churning out, feels a bit pointless even though most of the CGI wasn't bad. It is certainly watchable but I found myself a bit bored having seen most of this before in the 2010 version. That said, the cast was pretty good, and I did like Nico Parker as Astrid. Not sure there's really any reason to see this one, just re-watch the animated version... 3.0/5