How To Train Your Dragon’s Remake Proves The Sequels Are Going To Hit Hard

I remember going to see How To Train Your 💖Dragon in the cinema when I was 12 years old. It’s remained one of my♌ favourite films, and last week, 15 years later, I went to see the live-action remake.

I found myself sitting thereꦦ watching it twice. Once on the screen, and once in my head, recalling the original scene for scene, line for line, and finding all of the similarities and differences of the new version. So, I’m pleased to say that 2025’s❀ How To Train Your Dragon hits all the beats perfectly, balancing a faithful adaptation with just enough slight improvements to elevate the experience.

NOTE: The already-incredible music is even grander here, with so many more moments fꩲor it to shine through.

But now, I’m worried. I can’t wait for 2027’s How To Train Your Dragon 2, but at the same time, I can wait.

SPOILER WARNING for HTTYD 1, 2 & 3

The Benefits Of Live-Action Adaptations

Don’t get me wrong, these newer versions aren’t going to replace the originals for me. I adore HTTYD, and I will continue toꦉ do so with the live-action movies added to the pile, but there are certainly moments where the benefits of live action are evident, and this primarily 🅠comes in the form of acting.

Animation is a wonderful thing, with modern styles like the Spider-Verse films and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish striking something unique, reaching heights like we’ve never seen before. In comparison, live action can display human emotion with the benefit of using a real꧂ human, from in-the-moment acting, mannerisms, and further emotion performed through subtle facial expressions. Sure, animation is capable of these feats, too, but the distinction c♛omes in the actors themselves.

The acting in this film is fantastic, with Hiccup and Stoic’s (performed by Mason Thames and returning Gerard Butler) pivotal argument expressing so much more frustration and hopelessness, as Hiccup shouts with more anger and emotion than we ever saw in the original. We also get to see an extended moment of Stoic and Astrid thinking Hiccup had been killed, and the short-but-long aftermath of coming to terms with it. Even further, Hiccup processing the loss of his leg when he wakes up at the end of the film felt heavier than it ever has, as it onlܫy seems more real this time around.

While I love the live-action remake for these reasons, I’m also aware of the stories to follow in HTTYD 2 and 3, and I don’t think I’m prepared for🤪 how much harder things will hit this time around.

The First Film Is The Least Emotional, So Prepare Yourself

Final spoiler warning for HTTYD 2 and 3.

The second film is dramatically more emotional for Hiccup and his father. Finding and reuniting with his long-lost mother will make for some tragically beautiful scenes in how each of them deals with this moment, with raw emotion taking over. As if that was bad enough, we then have the dragon-abusing antagonist who can take control of our favourite dragons, which leads to a possessed Toothless killing Hiccup’s father. Even in the original, this moment is ꦚheartbreaking, so I know I’m going to struggle through it in the live-action follow-up.

As for the final film, which is likely to be made follo♉wing the live-action sequel, we see the bitter departure of Toothless with his new found love, as the people of Berk must say goodbye to the dragons. There are some incredible scenes in this movie already, like Hiccup🐻’s sacrifice (albeit not fatal) to save Toothless, and live action is only going to make that hit harder. A friend and I witnessed this scene in the cinema back in 2019, with the theatre empty aside from the two of us, and it made this film all the more memorable. I can’t wait to return to theatres to see each moment again, appropriately expanded, and Hiccup fully stepping into the role of Chief as the difficulties of giving up your best friend cause pain.

It’s going to cause me more pain than Hiccup, I just know it.