How to Train Your Dragon 2025
I was pleasantly surprised by the original How to Train Your Dragon and ended up owning all three of those movies on blu-ray and then 4k. The criticism I heard of this movie was that it was just basically the same as the animated movie but with live action actors. Having seen it, I agree. There really wasn't much reason to make this movie. I haven't seen the original in many years, so I don't know all of the details, but I think they needed something to set this movie off, but then that risks audiences who loved the first one. Also the movie looked very dark. I saw it in 3D and maybe that was part of the reason, but I just wanted it to be a little brighter. I need to go back and watch the original to catch any differences. As is common in Hollywood, the actress who plays tough, heroic Astrid is just a waif of a person. She's very pretty, but just too slight to do much damage to anything. I was very hopeful about seeing it in 3D and there are a lot of flying scenes, but they don't make the best use of 3D, maybe because 3D works better when the stage isn't as deep. Still, all of the things that I liked about the original are still here, which mostly relates to the themes of non-violence and empathy, so it is still a good movie, but there is a better one that came out 15 years ago.
Written: 28 Jun 2025