How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Reviews: What Critics Said

Editorial note: This is a roundup of published criticism of How to Train Your Dragon. Celluloid has not screened the film for this piece, and it carries no Celluloid rating. The critics are named and linked under Sources.

Is How to Train Your Dragon worth watching?

Critics were split: most agreed that the live-action How to Train Your Dragon is a faithful, good-looking and well-cast remake, but they divided sharply over whether a near-copy of the 2010 animated film was worth making. Admirers found the flying sequences thrilling and Mason Thames a natural Hiccup. Sceptics felt the switch to live action dulls the original’s colour and expressiveness while adding little of its own.

What is How to Train Your Dragon about?

On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, a young Viking named Hiccup defies centuries of tradition when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury dragon. Their unlikely bond reveals the true nature of dragons and challenges the foundations of Viking society. Dean DeBlois, who co-directed the animated original, writes and directs this live-action version. Mason Thames plays Hiccup and Nico Parker plays Astrid, with Gerard Butler as Hiccup’s father, Stoick, and Nick Frost as Gobber, alongside Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James and Harry Trevaldwyn. The film runs 125 minutes and was released in June 2025.

What critics praised

The strongest enthusiasm came from critics who felt DeBlois had found the right balance of loyalty and scale. At Collider, Maggie Lovitt called it a model of how to do a live-action remake, a close adaptation that brings the original vividly to life. She praised Thames’s charm and charisma as Hiccup, the extra depth given to Astrid and Stoick, visual effects that she felt raise the bar, and a Berk that feels more tangible and lived-in. Sarah Moran of Screen Rant went further, arguing that the film not only honours the animated version but elevates it into a thrilling blockbuster; she credited DeBlois’s judgement about what to keep and what to adjust, admired Bill Pope’s cinematography and the flying scenes, and singled out Thames and Butler.

Even more measured reviewers found plenty to admire. In Empire, Helen O’Hara described a film that is often soaring and gorgeous, with an irresistible Toothless, a moving bond between boy and dragon, a good Hiccup in Thames, an excellent Astrid in Parker and a warm-hearted Butler. James Grebey of the AV Club thought the supporting characters gain depth, especially Parker’s Astrid, and that the first-flight sequence matches or even surpasses the original.

Where critics were divided

The central argument was about necessity. O’Hara, for all her admiration, felt the film defers so heavily to its predecessor that it becomes a near-replica, and that small additions to the story do not change its shape. Grebey argued that live action hurts more than it helps: the palette turns grey and dark, Toothless sits uneasily in the uncanny valley, and dragon fire that never seems to burn anyone leaves the film feeling less real than the cartoon. He also found Thames’s Hiccup more generic without the distinctive voice of the original.

The harshest verdicts treated the remake as redundant. Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence saw a faithful but unnecessary copy, stretched by close to half an hour without new storylines, in which real actors beside a familiar digital dragon create an awkward disconnect and visible effects work breaks the spell; she did credit Thames, Parker, Butler and Frost with committed performances. William Bibbiani of The Film Verdict agreed that it is competently made, enjoying Butler’s comic timing and the functional action, but found the look closer to a theme park than a real village and the whole exercise a visual downgrade with little reason to exist. Even Lovitt, one of the warmest of these critics, noted that the longer running time may test younger viewers, while Moran found Frost’s Gobber merely serviceable.

Who is it for?

Families with children who have not seen the animated film, and fans curious to see Berk in live action, are the audience most likely to be won over. Viewers who already love the 2010 original may, like several critics, find little here that it did not do better. The film is rated PG in the US and the UK. It joins the site’s fantasy and family titles, and makes an interesting comparison with another 2025 live-action remake, Lilo & Stitch. Cast and streaming details are on the How to Train Your Dragon page.

The critical verdict

Critics broadly agreed that DeBlois’s remake is faithful, polished and well cast, with Toothless and the flying scenes as its highlights. They disagreed on what that fidelity is worth. Supporters saw a rare live-action remake done right, while detractors saw a handsome but redundant copy of a film that needed no improvement.