How to Train Your Dragon remake doesn't slay but ... it's OK

The Advertiser

a day ago

In the old days, studios would rerelease movies that were perennial favourites to cinemas before selling them to TV or issuing them on home media. The Disney studio in particular was a master of this strategy, bringing out its classic animated films every few years to capture new generations of kids.
Nowadays, animated movies aren't reissued. They're remade. It's an expensive way to try to make more money from a property, but it often seems to work. There are a lot more serious players in the feature animation game now, so Disney's not the only one doing it. Sometimes the new movies are reinterpretations, quite different, and other times they're very similar to their predecessors indeed.
Definitely in the latter category is Dreamworks' new live action/CHI hybrid redo of its excellent 2010 animated feature How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. It's written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and co-directed the earlier version, so it's no surprise there are a lot of similarities.
The story is set on the isle of Berk, where for generations Vikings have battled dragons. Despite heavy casualties and constant danger, the Vikings don't want to find somewhere else to live - that stubborn macho pride, perhaps - so they keep having to train new generations to fight.
Hiccup (played sympathetically by Mason Thames from The Black Phone) doesn't seem destined to be a warrior. He's a gawky, inventive teenager who, deemed too feeble to fight, has been apprenticed to the community blacksmith, Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost). It's a worthy occupation but it doesn't command respect like fighting dragons or even putting out fires. And Hiccup knows it.
What makes things worse is that Hiccup is the son of the Viking chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler reprises the role from the earlier film, this time seen as well as heard). It's an awkward situation for both of them.
During one raid, Hiccup uses one of his gizmos to shoot down a dragon, a rare Night Fury, but it doesn't land nearby so nobody sees what happened. He goes away and discovers the wounded creature but can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, he befriends and trains the beast, whom he names Toothless, and goes for flights on its back.
He keeps all this under his Viking helmet, but his knowledge comes in handy when his father finally makes him enrol in dragon-fighting classes: he's able to subdue the beasts without fighting.
One of his classmates, Astrid (Nico Parker from The Last of Us), suspects something is up and follows him, discovering his secret.
And the story goes on much the same as before, so if you liked the previous version you'll probably enjoy this one too.
For a movie that has no compelling artistic reason to be, How to Train Your Dragon isn't bad. It's about half an hour longer than the animated version and there are a few changes - one rather strange one being a multi-ethnic group of Vikings. But the additional length hasn't been used to add much more depth and the final battle is a bit of a disappointment. There's still a broad-brush approach to the story and characters, and the original remains superior.
The colour palette is perhaps limited by the setting of the story - lots of furs, fogs and forest - but this and especially the lighting (very dim even when it's not night) could have been brightened up a little. The bursts of flame provide some welcome visual relief.
For newcomers, this might be "their" version of the story, and they could do worse. The tale and the characters are still appealing - older viewers might even see political allegories - but the earlier movie should not be forgotten. Whether the new film does well enough to lead to sequels, like its predecessor, remains to be seen.
In the old days, studios would rerelease movies that were perennial favourites to cinemas before selling them to TV or issuing them on home media. The Disney studio in particular was a master of this strategy, bringing out its classic animated films every few years to capture new generations of kids.
Nowadays, animated movies aren't reissued. They're remade. It's an expensive way to try to make more money from a property, but it often seems to work. There are a lot more serious players in the feature animation game now, so Disney's not the only one doing it. Sometimes the new movies are reinterpretations, quite different, and other times they're very similar to their predecessors indeed.
Definitely in the latter category is Dreamworks' new live action/CHI hybrid redo of its excellent 2010 animated feature How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. It's written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and co-directed the earlier version, so it's no surprise there are a lot of similarities.
The story is set on the isle of Berk, where for generations Vikings have battled dragons. Despite heavy casualties and constant danger, the Vikings don't want to find somewhere else to live - that stubborn macho pride, perhaps - so they keep having to train new generations to fight.
Hiccup (played sympathetically by Mason Thames from The Black Phone) doesn't seem destined to be a warrior. He's a gawky, inventive teenager who, deemed too feeble to fight, has been apprenticed to the community blacksmith, Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost). It's a worthy occupation but it doesn't command respect like fighting dragons or even putting out fires. And Hiccup knows it.
What makes things worse is that Hiccup is the son of the Viking chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler reprises the role from the earlier film, this time seen as well as heard). It's an awkward situation for both of them.
During one raid, Hiccup uses one of his gizmos to shoot down a dragon, a rare Night Fury, but it doesn't land nearby so nobody sees what happened. He goes away and discovers the wounded creature but can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, he befriends and trains the beast, whom he names Toothless, and goes for flights on its back.
He keeps all this under his Viking helmet, but his knowledge comes in handy when his father finally makes him enrol in dragon-fighting classes: he's able to subdue the beasts without fighting.
One of his classmates, Astrid (Nico Parker from The Last of Us), suspects something is up and follows him, discovering his secret.
And the story goes on much the same as before, so if you liked the previous version you'll probably enjoy this one too.
For a movie that has no compelling artistic reason to be, How to Train Your Dragon isn't bad. It's about half an hour longer than the animated version and there are a few changes - one rather strange one being a multi-ethnic group of Vikings. But the additional length hasn't been used to add much more depth and the final battle is a bit of a disappointment. There's still a broad-brush approach to the story and characters, and the original remains superior.
The colour palette is perhaps limited by the setting of the story - lots of furs, fogs and forest - but this and especially the lighting (very dim even when it's not night) could have been brightened up a little. The bursts of flame provide some welcome visual relief.
For newcomers, this might be "their" version of the story, and they could do worse. The tale and the characters are still appealing - older viewers might even see political allegories - but the earlier movie should not be forgotten. Whether the new film does well enough to lead to sequels, like its predecessor, remains to be seen.
In the old days, studios would rerelease movies that were perennial favourites to cinemas before selling them to TV or issuing them on home media. The Disney studio in particular was a master of this strategy, bringing out its classic animated films every few years to capture new generations of kids.
Nowadays, animated movies aren't reissued. They're remade. It's an expensive way to try to make more money from a property, but it often seems to work. There are a lot more serious players in the feature animation game now, so Disney's not the only one doing it. Sometimes the new movies are reinterpretations, quite different, and other times they're very similar to their predecessors indeed.
Definitely in the latter category is Dreamworks' new live action/CHI hybrid redo of its excellent 2010 animated feature How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. It's written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and co-directed the earlier version, so it's no surprise there are a lot of similarities.
The story is set on the isle of Berk, where for generations Vikings have battled dragons. Despite heavy casualties and constant danger, the Vikings don't want to find somewhere else to live - that stubborn macho pride, perhaps - so they keep having to train new generations to fight.
Hiccup (played sympathetically by Mason Thames from The Black Phone) doesn't seem destined to be a warrior. He's a gawky, inventive teenager who, deemed too feeble to fight, has been apprenticed to the community blacksmith, Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost). It's a worthy occupation but it doesn't command respect like fighting dragons or even putting out fires. And Hiccup knows it.
What makes things worse is that Hiccup is the son of the Viking chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler reprises the role from the earlier film, this time seen as well as heard). It's an awkward situation for both of them.
During one raid, Hiccup uses one of his gizmos to shoot down a dragon, a rare Night Fury, but it doesn't land nearby so nobody sees what happened. He goes away and discovers the wounded creature but can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, he befriends and trains the beast, whom he names Toothless, and goes for flights on its back.
He keeps all this under his Viking helmet, but his knowledge comes in handy when his father finally makes him enrol in dragon-fighting classes: he's able to subdue the beasts without fighting.
One of his classmates, Astrid (Nico Parker from The Last of Us), suspects something is up and follows him, discovering his secret.
And the story goes on much the same as before, so if you liked the previous version you'll probably enjoy this one too.
For a movie that has no compelling artistic reason to be, How to Train Your Dragon isn't bad. It's about half an hour longer than the animated version and there are a few changes - one rather strange one being a multi-ethnic group of Vikings. But the additional length hasn't been used to add much more depth and the final battle is a bit of a disappointment. There's still a broad-brush approach to the story and characters, and the original remains superior.
The colour palette is perhaps limited by the setting of the story - lots of furs, fogs and forest - but this and especially the lighting (very dim even when it's not night) could have been brightened up a little. The bursts of flame provide some welcome visual relief.
For newcomers, this might be "their" version of the story, and they could do worse. The tale and the characters are still appealing - older viewers might even see political allegories - but the earlier movie should not be forgotten. Whether the new film does well enough to lead to sequels, like its predecessor, remains to be seen.
In the old days, studios would rerelease movies that were perennial favourites to cinemas before selling them to TV or issuing them on home media. The Disney studio in particular was a master of this strategy, bringing out its classic animated films every few years to capture new generations of kids.
Nowadays, animated movies aren't reissued. They're remade. It's an expensive way to try to make more money from a property, but it often seems to work. There are a lot more serious players in the feature animation game now, so Disney's not the only one doing it. Sometimes the new movies are reinterpretations, quite different, and other times they're very similar to their predecessors indeed.
Definitely in the latter category is Dreamworks' new live action/CHI hybrid redo of its excellent 2010 animated feature How to Train Your Dragon, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. It's written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and co-directed the earlier version, so it's no surprise there are a lot of similarities.
The story is set on the isle of Berk, where for generations Vikings have battled dragons. Despite heavy casualties and constant danger, the Vikings don't want to find somewhere else to live - that stubborn macho pride, perhaps - so they keep having to train new generations to fight.
Hiccup (played sympathetically by Mason Thames from The Black Phone) doesn't seem destined to be a warrior. He's a gawky, inventive teenager who, deemed too feeble to fight, has been apprenticed to the community blacksmith, Gobber the Belch (Nick Frost). It's a worthy occupation but it doesn't command respect like fighting dragons or even putting out fires. And Hiccup knows it.
What makes things worse is that Hiccup is the son of the Viking chief, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler reprises the role from the earlier film, this time seen as well as heard). It's an awkward situation for both of them.
During one raid, Hiccup uses one of his gizmos to shoot down a dragon, a rare Night Fury, but it doesn't land nearby so nobody sees what happened. He goes away and discovers the wounded creature but can't bring himself to kill it. Instead, he befriends and trains the beast, whom he names Toothless, and goes for flights on its back.
He keeps all this under his Viking helmet, but his knowledge comes in handy when his father finally makes him enrol in dragon-fighting classes: he's able to subdue the beasts without fighting.
One of his classmates, Astrid (Nico Parker from The Last of Us), suspects something is up and follows him, discovering his secret.
And the story goes on much the same as before, so if you liked the previous version you'll probably enjoy this one too.
For a movie that has no compelling artistic reason to be, How to Train Your Dragon isn't bad. It's about half an hour longer than the animated version and there are a few changes - one rather strange one being a multi-ethnic group of Vikings. But the additional length hasn't been used to add much more depth and the final battle is a bit of a disappointment. There's still a broad-brush approach to the story and characters, and the original remains superior.
The colour palette is perhaps limited by the setting of the story - lots of furs, fogs and forest - but this and especially the lighting (very dim even when it's not night) could have been brightened up a little. The bursts of flame provide some welcome visual relief.
For newcomers, this might be "their" version of the story, and they could do worse. The tale and the characters are still appealing - older viewers might even see political allegories - but the earlier movie should not be forgotten. Whether the new film does well enough to lead to sequels, like its predecessor, remains to be seen.