How to Train Your Dragon… again? (trailer).
Sharpen your axes, adjust your helmet horns, and practise your best dragon-whispering growl, because DreamWorks is dusting off its most beloved animated franchise and letting it loose in live-action. Yes, How to Train Your Dragon is back—bigger, broodier, and significantly more three-dimensional—soaring into cinemas on June 13, 2025, just in time to convince your children that befriending large airborne reptiles is a perfectly reasonable life choice.
But this isn’t just a CGI cash-grab wearing dragon wings. Oh no. This is a Dean DeBlois event. The Oscar-nominated director who gave us the original trilogy is returning to helm this majestic remake himself, ensuring every tear, torchlit sky, and toothy smile is lovingly recreated with the sort of reverence normally reserved for national monuments or Taylor Swift albums.
And if you’re wondering whether this new Dragon adaptation has changed dramatically from the 2010 classic—don’t worry, the answer is: not much at all. Which is exactly the point.
Yes, Hiccup is still awkward. Yes, Toothless is still adorable. Yes, Vikings are still ragingly unqualified pet owners.
But now it’s all real(ish)! Hiccup is played by Mason Thames, presumably cast for his impressive ability to look both terrified and inspired by dragons. Stoick the Vast—Berk’s gruffest Viking and reigning champion of yelling—is once again brought to life by Gerard Butler, who is bravely reprising his role, presumably because no one else could shout “Hiccup!” quite so thunderously while wearing animal pelts.
Joining the clan is Nico Parker as Astrid (axe-wielding, dragon-kicking, and the best crush a nerdy Viking lad could hope for), Nick Frost as Gobber the Belch (master of prosthetics and mixed metaphors), and Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, who is still made entirely of snack cravings and encyclopaedic dragon trivia.
And then there’s Toothless. The stealth bomber of the dragon world. The purring, plasma-blasting feline-lizard with the expressive face of a confused dog and the loyalty of your nan’s spaniel. Thanks to the magic of modern VFX (courtesy of Framestore), the Night Fury returns in glorious, near-tangible detail. You can practically feel the heat of the plasma blasts and the judgement in his eyes when Hiccup inevitably does something stupid.
This version sticks close to the original film—and by extension, Cressida Cowell’s book series—right down to key scenes recreated shot-for-shot in IMAX-friendly splendour. Expect high-flying dragon sequences, slow-burn father-son angst, and the kind of emotional crescendo that makes hardened Viking warriors sniffle into their mead.
Of course, the whole thing is marinated in the sort of earnest, mythic hero’s journey storytelling that fantasy dreams are made of. Hiccup learns that empathy is stronger than brute force, that tradition sometimes deserves a good kicking, and that if your best friend has wings and scales, maybe don’t tie them up in the village square for a laugh.
Here at SFcrowsnest, we salute this brave new flight. Because let’s face it, dragons in live-action can go very wrong (yes, Eragon, we’re looking at you). But How to Train Your Dragon feels different. It has heart. It has soul. And most importantly, it has Nick Frost shouting at teenagers in a horned helmet.
A sequel is already set for 2027, so if this film succeeds, you can bet we’ll be strapping in for another round of heartstrings and wingbeats.
Until then, mark your calendars for June 13, polish your dragon-saddle, and remember: you don’t train a dragon with force. You do it with compassion, patience… and possibly a smoked fish.
