“How to Train Your Dragon” is a huge franchise, and a live-action version has been released in theaters around the world in hopes of drawing fans, with showings starting June 13, 2025. Many childhoods and memories were made for both older and younger generations alike while watching the magical bond between an outcast and a dragon. A new live-action version of this iconic movie was released, and there are many mixed feelings about the movie overall.
Lately, many remakes have been released and reviewed, such as “Lilo and Stitch” and “The Little Mermaid”, and they have sparked a lot of controversy over the differences that can be seen in the film and how they fail to live up to the expectations set by the original. The live action of “How to Train Your Dragon” is very similar to the original, but some people don’t like that either. However, many others aren’t quite fond of the casting either.
The main complaint that has been brought up is primarily about Astrid Hofferson’s casting. While many people who haven’t seen the movie yet may think it’s because of the actor’s skills, it is actually about the actor’s appearance.
Nico Parker was chosen to bring this iconic character to life. Parker is known to be Zimbabwean, but in the original, Astrid was Scandinavian. This made a lot of people mad because they wanted Astrid to look as similar to the original as possible; however, they do make an explanation inside and out of the movie.
The movie states that many Viking tribes came together on one island, which helps explain all the diverse appearances of the Vikings in the movie. In real life, the director also addressed this personally after seeing the attack and controversy on the casting. He went ahead and clarified that real Vikings used to sail and mingle, which is why they included that in the movie.
Another point that people made was the fact that it was too close to the original. To many people, a remake seems useless if it’s the exact same. This started a debate within the community on whether the remake is too much of a remake.
Most of the scenes are there word-for-word; however, there are a couple of scenes missing. One of the most memorable ones is when Stoic is trying to convince everyone to come search for the dragon’s nest, and when no one agrees, he says, “whoever stays behind, will watch Hiccup”.
This is an important scene because it shows how much of an outcast he really was, despite being the son of the chief. This scene, however, wasn’t in the remake, which is disappointing.
On the other side, some people are unhappy that it’s almost scene-for-scene since they think the remake has no point if it has no change. These two points, however, contradict themselves since many people want different things, so there is no way to cater to the tastes of everyone. Thankfully, most people who watched the movie really enjoyed that it was similar to the original, since it takes them back to their childhood.
Overall, these things are minor complaints, and the movie itself is really well made. The detail is great, and overall, the acting was well done. While there are minor flaws, it is still a great watch overall for all ages, and it holds up well to the original.
