By Mattie Stinson, Stentorian Staff Writer
This June, a slightly disoriented, post-wisdom-tooth-removal version of myself walked into the movie theater with one goal: to hate the new How to Train Your Dragon movie. I’ve been a long time hater of live action remakes for many reasons, some of which being that most of them (if not all) are cash grabs that never amount to the original and that people need to stop pretending that live action is automatically better than animation. Beyond my beef with live action remakes, I am a giant How to Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) lover— I spent many years of my childhood running around my backyard pretending to be Astrid with a braid in my childhood blonde hair as well as Hiccup and Astrid in the sequel being my first case of bi-panic. So naturally, this remake had to suck.
I was especially nervous about the live action dragons. As an avid Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon fan (highly recommend!), I’ve seen my fair share of good live action dragons. The first photo Dreamworks released of Toothless sent me and many other HTTYD fans into a spiral of how awful this movie was going to be. However, when watching the movie, I was positively surprised when seeing the good quality of the dragons, especially Hookfang and Stormfly. The artists were able to capture many similarities to the animated dragons while also adapting them to fit the live-action environment better. Beyond the CGI dragons, the setting itself didn’t look like your typical greenscreen background. All of the visuals looked very professional, especially given the budget and the fact that this movie was aimed toward younger audiences.
The reveal of Toothless wasn’t the only scare HTTYD fans had when finding out more about the remake. There were many outrages and worries floating around the internet when the casting for the main group got released. Main critiques of fans were that the twins didn’t look remotely similar to each other and that Astrid, played by Nico Parker, didn’t look anything like her animated blonde self. Similar concerns were voiced when Leah Jeffries, a Black girl, got cast as Annabeth Chase for the Percy Jackson remake. Despite the concerns of the public, I think Nico Parker did a fairly good job playing Astrid, especially her more serious parts. I do think the humor behind Astrid’s seriousness is lost throughout the remake, partially due to some script changes, which is my only real critique of Parker.
After watching the movie, my largest critique of casting choices was that I wish they were a little younger. The main group is only 14/15 in the first movie whereas the cast ranges from almost 18 up to 32 for just the main group. The older casting choices added to the slight loss of humor throughout the film, especially with the twins. Throughout the franchise, the twins are known for their ridiculous and immature actions and it just didn’t hit the same for me when seeing a 32 year old say the lines a 15 year old was supposed to.
Other changes from the original were some script changes and an added backstory about people coming from different clans to destroy the dragons. These were all very minor and didn’t affect the story as a whole. I was disappointed that some of my favorite lines weren’t included, but it didn’t affect the plot as a whole.
Overall, the movie was extremely similar to the original. Despite my deepest wishes for this movie to be bad, it wasn’t. When remaking a beloved childhood series, there will always be such a large range of reviews. Afterall, that’s someone’s childhood— the series that helped build them to who they are today. So naturally, some will love the new adaption and others will find every little flaw they can that differentiates it from the original. My mom, who has seen the original probably once, loved this movie and found it extremely funny. My brother, who is an even more enthusiastic HTTYD fan than I am, had even more critiques than I did.
To me, the remake wasn’t a bad movie, it wasn’t a flop, it just didn’t hit the same. When leaving the theater, I wasn’t filled with the same sense of hate that I normally get after watching a live-action remake. I was just discontent. Separated from the original, this was a very good movie and will probably become a favorite for many years to come. However, it lacks a sense of nostalgia and personality that makes it incomparable to the
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