Mason Thames
Hiccup
Overview
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.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Gravity of Flight
I'll be honest: I showed up to Dean DeBlois's live-action How to Train Your Dragon in a foul mood. We are deep in the studio phase where adored animated movies get translated into dutiful realism just to keep the intellectual property conveyor belt moving. (And yes, I am exhausted by photoreal creatures with dead eyes.latestnetflix.com's view is that ) But about twenty minutes in, this remake takes a turn I didn't expect.
By stripping away the airy cartoon physics of the 2010 film, DeBlois makes the story feel heavier. Suddenly it is about weight, impact, and the cost of leaving the ground.
It helps enormously that DeBlois is revisiting his own material. He co-wrote and directed the original, and that protectiveness shows. Berk is not handed over to a sterile green-screen volume; the production built huge, filthy practical sets in Northern Ireland, and the difference matters.
Wet wool, sea salt, smoke-blackened timber—you can almost feel the climate on your skin. When dragons breathe fire here, it doesn't register like a bright animation cue. It scorches wood.
The core premise—a village stuck in a generational war with predators it does not understand—stops feeling like a bedtime story and starts feeling like a hard, stupid way of life.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.7/10
"A spectacularly rendered, emotionally stirring live-action retelling that preserves the original’s heart and scale while feeling overly familiar and less magical to some."
CGI work on the dragons and the Island of Berk, combined with John Powell’s returning score, delivers big-screen spectacle and strong emotional punch, with several viewers leaving the theater elated. Performances from Mason Thames as an awkward, earnest Hiccup and Gerard Butler as a gruff yet affecting Stoick win over initial casting doubts, and the story is kept almost entirely intact. At the same time, the near copy-paste approach, some flat or washed-out visuals, latestnetflix.com contends, and a few nostalgia-heavy scenes that do not land as powerfully as in animation lead a portion of the audience to still prefer the 2010 film.
What viewers praise
- Impressive CGI dragons Dragon designs are praised as incredibly realistic yet faithful to the animated versions, with flying scenes described as epic and breathtaking.
- Respectful, faithful retelling The plot tracks the original extremely closely, with only minor tweaks, which is appreciated as a loving revival rather than a reinvention.
- Emotional, memorable score John Powell’s music is repeatedly called out for delivering chills and carrying major scenes, with some viewers giving the film extra credit purely for the score.
- Strong character portrayals Hiccup’s awkward charm, Stoick’s stubborn authority, and the kids’ expanded character moments are seen as well-acted and true to the spirit of the animated characters.
- Rich sense of place The live-action Berk comes across as immersive and cinematic, with landscapes and Viking production design considered a clear step up in realism.
Common complaints
- Feels overly copy-pasted The story and many scenes are so close to the original that some viewers see it as a Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V remake with little new to offer.
- Animation still preferred A noticeable group feels the material simply works better animated, arguing that the remake cannot match the energy and magic of the 2010 film.
- Uneven pacing and energy The middle stretch is described as bloated or emotionally neutral at times, lacking the tight momentum and kinetic feel of the original.
- Mixed visual tone Despite strong VFX, some shots are criticized as flat or washed out, with a few comedic and nostalgic beats not landing as sharply as before.
- Missing or altered moments A handful of beloved small character scenes from the animated version are absent or changed, which for some viewers dulls the impact of key emotional beats.
Recommended for
Fans of the 2010 original Family fantasy adventure seekers Dragon and creature-feature lovers Live-action remake supporters Epic score and soundtrack devotees
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsUniversal gave $150 million to a director who hates remakes
Dean DeBlois used to skip live-action versions of cartoons on purpose. At Annecy in 2020 he called the habit lazy on the part of the studio. When Universal rang about How to Train Your Dragon, the mail from fans, as he later told Dexerto, was "please don't do this, you're going to ruin our childhoods." He still took the job. "The studio wanted to do it, and I didn't want somebody else's version," he said. "I don't love this trend, but if you're going to do it, I want to be the steward." Polygon printed the same protective instinct. If he did not do it, someone else would, latestnetflix.com contends, and he did not want to watch that cut. 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22w7z_lT6YM
This is the 2025 movie, not the 2010 cartoon, even though the credits look like a reunion. DeBlois wrote and directed. John Powell scored it again. Gerard Butler stepped out of the old voice booth and played Stoick the Vast in the flesh. Mason Thames, off The Black Phone, is Hiccup. Nico Parker, off The Last of Us, is Astrid. Nick Frost is Gobber. Wikipedia and The Numbers put the budget at $150 million. Cameras rolled in Belfast from January 2024 and wrapped in May. DreamWorks had never made a live-action feature. Universal's official trailer pointed at a June 13, 2025 U.S. date. , ,
Toothless, on set, was not charming. Thames told Screen Rant the dragon was "a foam head with dead green eyes" until the puppeteers arrived. He had worried he would be acting at a tennis ball. Instead he could touch the head and improvise, and some of that improvisation stayed in the movie. Parker said she could not picture how they would even film the romantic flight.
The fight in the replies was never the dragon. A slice of the internet wanted a blonde, blue-eyed Astrid and said so as soon as Parker was announced. DeBlois told Variety, in a quote Game Rant ran after opening weekend, "She was cast because she was the best that came in, and within the context of this movie, and sort of the expanded mythology of the tribe, the whole idea that Astrid has to be white and blue-eyed and blonde goes away." The New York Times logged the quieter fan detail. Thames once dressed as Hiccup for Halloween. Parker saw the 2010 film in theaters four times with her family. ,
The opening weekend closed the argument. The Hollywood Reporter had $84.6 million domestic and $197.6 million worldwide, a series high. The Numbers later listed about $263 million domestic and roughly $640 million global on that $150 million spend. Universal had already dated a live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 for June 11, 2027, before the first one even opened. DeBlois told Entertainment Weekly he was "a little reluctant" to announce a sequel that early. The Wrap has him hoping Cate Blanchett takes Valka. "It's hers to turn down, let's put it that way." , , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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