How To Train Your Dragon

This weekend, How to Train Your Dragon, the live-action remake of the 2010 film of the same name, was released in theaters. How To Train Your Dragon follows Hiccup, a young Viking struggling to fit in his village, when he encounters an injured dragon and must choose between fitting in and making his own path. I was a bit skeptical about this one, as I felt it just didn't need to be made, but I'm always hoping a movie will win me over.

As far as live-action remakes go, How To Train Your Dragon is probably one of the best. A lot of remakes will change a lot of aspects of the story to make it more modern and ultimately upset a lot of people. This movie doesn't do that. It is incredibly faithful to the source material, understanding what people loved about the original film and just doing it again. It also didn't need to modernize much of anything, considering the original film came out in 2010. This movie plays it pretty safe. It is pretty much a shot-for-shot remake and doesn't beef up the story and runtime very much. While it is essential to a shot-for-shot remake, it doesn't feel super shallow or hollow. It still hits all the emotional notes that the original film does and you still get chills when Hiccup and Toothless take their first flight. It may not be at all original, but it does a very good job of capturing the magic of the original. I thought the casting in the film was very good. All of the young actors playing the characters in dragon training were perfectly cast. I was also impressed by how good the dragons look. Considering they are all CGI, they still look real and you feel like they are there standing next to the human character. Finally, I liked how making it live-action, brought a sense of epicness to the story. Everything just feels bigger in live action by creating a scope and scale that just can't come across in animation.

While it is good as far as a remake goes, I still feel it to be largely unnecessary. I can appreciate that they don't change a ton and upset all of the fans, but at the same time, why bother making it at all if it just going to be the exact same as the animated version? I get that it will make the studio a lot of money but at the end of the day, I am never going to choose to watch this version over the animated movie. It also feels too soon to do a remake of this film. It has only been 15 years since the original film came out. All of the other live-action remakes have a space of at least 23 years. I feel like it could have waited another 10 years before doing a remake.

Overall, this movie is on the higher end of the live-action remake spectrum. It plays it safe by faithfully remaking the movie fans love but at the same time why bother if it is going to be the same as the original film? However, even with my gripes, I feel like families with kids are going to have a good time with this film and fans of the original will not be disappointed.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B Recommendation: Check it out with the family.