How to Train Your Dragon (Dean’s Version) is a Crowd-Pleasing Cover of the 2010 Animated Classic
It was recently reported that Taylor Swift had reacquired the rights to her first six albums. That means fans shouldn’t expect either Reputation (Taylor’s Version) or her self-titled debut Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) to become available anytime soon. However, the precedent was set with the four records the musical titan re-recorded: Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. In their way, these albums present the story of an artist taking back control of their achievements by covering — and even expanding on — what they had previously done to great fanfare and success. This was Swift wrestling back control of the narrative.
With How to Train Your Dragon, it could be said that writer-director Dean DeBlois takes a cue from Swift in his bringing a live-action reinterpretation of the beloved 2010 animated film to life. He once more rises to the challenge of adapting author Cressida Cowell’s source material and, while this new take isn’t exactly better than the previous motion picture, it’s still a solidly crafted piece of family-friendly entertainment sure to sell plenty of tickets.
The story beats remain largely the same: Teenager Hiccup (Mason Thames), in an attempt to make his commanding Viking father Stoic (Gerard Butler, who also voiced this character for the animated trilogy) proud, tries to show he’s as much of a resolute dragon-killer as anyone else in the battle-hardened township of Berk already is. But after he befriends a disabled Nightfury — a mysterious species of dragon he is the first to see — he names Toothless, the youngster rethinks this decades-old war between the fire-breathing creatures and his kinsmen. Together, Hiccup and Toothless try to erase entrenched prejudices and change hearts and minds for the better, and in doing so forge a new way forward that will enrich all of their lives, Viking and dragon, for the better.
There is nothing here that will surprise those already familiar with the previous version. Hiccup’s introduction. Gags involving sheep. Stoic’s stubborn refusal to listen to what his son is trying to tell him. The various shenanigans that transpire when the teen goes into dragon training alongside his peers Astrid (Nico Parker), Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison), and the “twins” Ruffnut (Bronwyn James) and Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn). The unbreakable friendship that develops between Hiccup and Toothless. The truth about where the dragons are coming from and why they’re constantly trying to steal food from the Vikings. It’s all here again, and it all transpires in the same way it did in its animated incarnation.
But DeBlois is a confident filmmaker. Even as he examines narrative beats that he already magnificently brought to the screen 25 years ago (along with co-writer and co-director Chris Sanders, who returns as an executive producer here), the director still manages to give them an aura of magnetic resonance that’s undeniably appealing. Working alongside celebrated cinematographer Bill Pope (The Matrix), DeBlois adds a colorfully textured resilience to this new take that produces one captivating image after another. There is a free-flowing visual ebullience to the proceedings I was instantaneously pleased with.
Thames, likely best known for 2021’s The Black Phone, is also quite good as Hiccup. He refuses to mirror what voice actor Jay Baruchel previously brought to the character, forging a path that feels lived-in, physically nuanced, and emotionally authentic. Thames lets silence do much of the heavy lifting for him, his reactions — whether they are in the ring during dragon training, with Toothless in their early stages of getting to know one another, or alongside Butler who continually (and suitably) fills the screen with his bombastic largess — having tactile weight and majesty. There is a pained, almost haunted urgency behind his eyes that drew me in, DeBlois allowing the actor an evolutionary freedom that triumphantly mirrors the very one Hiccup is also experiencing throughout this story.
Still, for those who adore the animated trilogy, the sense of déjà vu one has while watching this quest is fairly massive. While returning composer John Powell (Wicked) does not copy himself note-for-note, it’s hard not to catch that many of the core musical cues are eerily similar to the ones he utilized for the previous epic. All of the big moments — the first flight of Hiccup and Toothless, the introduction of the Alpha dragon, the triumphant final fight, even the jokes with the sheep — closely mirror their doppelganger moments from the 2010 version.
It all still works, mind you, and younger viewers will likely be enthusiastically over the moon. Like listening to those rerecorded Taylor Swift albums, one can find a lot of pleasure in watching this cover version play out to a conclusion even if they still find the original How to Train Your Dragon to be the superior fantasy adventure. Call it “How to Train Your Dragon (Dean’s Version)”; you wouldn’t be too far off the mark if you did.
Film Rating: 3 (out of 4)
