How To Train Your Dragon ★★★
- 2filmcritics
- Jun 29
- 6 min read
Availability: Showing widely in the United States and internationally. Online streaming rental and purchase for this DreamWorks/Universal Pictures production is expected on Peacock in September or October 2025—3-4 months after its theatrical release June 13. See JustWatch here for the latest online options.
How To Tame Your Dragons
We’re guessing that 2 Film Critics are not the typical viewers of this live-action version of a cottage-industry franchise that has yielded a shelf of books, TV series, and 3 animated film versions—beginning in 2010—of a now-familiar story. We haven’t read any of the books nor seen any of the animations. One of us went because the 8-year-old granddaughter wanted to, the other because he wanted to know, well, how does one train (and tame) a dragon? It seemed an especially important question, made more relevant because we saw the film on the same day that the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear sites. Here’s what we learned.
How does one train (and tame) a dragon?
You need to start with a dragon that’s alone (so you only have to deal with one) and one that needs some help you can provide. Along the lines of Androcles plucking the thorn from the lion’s paw. In this case, the dragon had lost part of its tail and couldn’t fly out of the pit it was in. Our protagonist, a skinny late teen named Hiccup (an appealing Mason Thames), apprentices in a blacksmith shop and, being a clever lad—a tinkerer, designer, and drawer like Leonardo da Vinci—is able to craft a prosthetic tail (the Viking community is full of humans with prosthetics, veterans of battles with dragons) and make the repair. The dragon is grateful. Taming has begun. Feed the dragon, and show him that the food (raw fish) is tasty by eating some yourself. And pet the dragon. It helps that this particular dragon has smooth skin and big eyes, like a child’s doll, doesn’t breathe much fire, and is, for a reason, named “Toothless.” Almost a bromance.
Above, Hiccup (Mason Thames), taking the risk of touching the fiercest, but at present neediest, dragon, which he names "Toothless" - fortunately, the name is appropriate.
Following advice that tracks contemporary parenting, Hiccup does not threaten the dragon or yell at it, let alone brandish a weapon, but is always soft-spoken and understanding. In a later scene, when the somewhat willful creature is acting up during flight, his demeanor is quickly changed when the rider—here, the young woman Astrid (perfectly cast, the beguiling Nico Parker from “The Last of Us” TV series), a competitive, aggressive, independent “Hunger Games” warrior type—apologizes to the dragon, who has apparently learned a few words of English. This approach calms the pet beast.
Hiccup (Thames) has to figure out how to deal with the unrealistic expectations of his father, Viking chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), right.
The obvious question, especially when one is in conflict with multiple dragons, is can the method be scaled up? The answer is a definite “yes,” though it will take some time to convince others in the village (on the imaginary island of Berk in the North Sea [Iceland was a prime shooting location]) that the dragons they have always hated, feared, fought, and been maimed by, can become friends and neighbors.
There is another dragon that must be tamed (though perhaps not trained), even if a metaphoric one: Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast.
There is another dragon that must be tamed (though perhaps not trained), even if a metaphoric one: Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler, the voice of Stoick in the 3 animations), Chief of the dragon-fighting tribe of Vikings, and its outstanding warrior. Dad lives to kill dragons, and he has the body (and the oversized beard and fur coat) to do it; he would be comfortable as an NFL nose guard. What would it mean to tame this human beast, with his traditional ideas of what it means to be a man? Would it be enough for his son to enter and win (an unlikely prospect) the annual Viking training program and competition, held in a circular arena that’s part bullring, part coliseum, part rodeo?
The teens readying themselves for training in dragon-slaying in their
coliseum-rodeo-bullring-like arena, coached by, at far right, Gobber (Nick Frost),
with his various prosthetic limbs. The (mostly) comic teens are, from left, braggart Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn), determined-to-win and mild love interest Astrid (Nico Parker), Tuffnut's twin Ruffnut (Bronwyn James), and by-the-book Fishlegs (Julian Dennison).
The training is a comic set-up to be sure, featuring the next generation of dragon-fighters: the overweight kid who’s read the book and knows the rules (Julian Dennison); the short one desperate to please his father and get the girl (Gabriel Howell); the “nut” twins, braggart Tuffnut (eerily echoing DOGE wunderkind/destructokind “Big Balls”?), there to make ludicrous claims that he was best at everything (Harry Trevaldwyn), and Ruffnut, the chubby girl who thinks she can parlay a bit of feminism into teamwork (Bronwyn James); the earnest, ever-competent Astrid, determined to win; and the thin, pale Hiccup, who has only one skill, and it isn’t one his father is likely to appreciate.
Or, rather than prove to Dad that he, too, can be a warrior, is there another way to reach him—to show Dad that he, Hiccup, is a worthy son—even (as in “Inside Out 2” [2024]) by being true to his inner self, his essence? Can both Dad and the dragon be taught some “humanity”?
The script presents only 3 women of consequence.
“How To Train Your Dragon” is very much a male film, its treatment of men a seeming throwback to the hypermasculinity of the 1980s and 1990s, when many young men rejected strong women and welcomed the “thrash metal” of Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and other bands that fetishized power and aggression. The script presents only 3 women of consequence: a voiceless seer who judges the training competition; the most evil of nemeses, Queen of the Dragons, a dark, featureless boulder-like behemoth who, in the production’s disappointing final battle, must be killed; and Astrid, who, pressing the metaphor, is the third dragon that Hiccup must tame, her ego-driven competitiveness to be tempered and finally converted into admiration, love, and a simple kiss (so simple, even the 8-year-old smiled rather than cringed).
The village blacksmith—make that weapon and prosthetic maker—Gobber (British comedian Nick Frost) occupies a middle ground between the teens and the hyper-men, though as a village hero he sports at least 3 prosthetic limbs. Gobber is a kind of step-father to Hiccup, protecting the young lad who is his apprentice while not entirely understanding him.
Beneath the surface is a minor theme with modern ethical implications: the next generation wants to explore living responsibly on the planet, getting along with other species rather than extinguishing them. The opening scenes crackle with flashes of fire in the blackness as the older generations battle in the dark night. The closing ones are of a pacific, cooperative community of Vikings and dragons, bathed in sunlight. Not too subtle.
There’s plenty of dragon-fighting here, all of it featuring dragons decidedly more fierce than Toothless, the heretofore unseen Night Fury who has gone over to the other side. Even so, the underlying stories are strong and cleverly presented; Hiccup is motherless, but the dead mother, killed by dragons, is represented in a talismanic metal hat, fashioned from half of her breast plate, that he wears somewhat reluctantly while engaged in dragon combat (Dad wears the other breast, er…hat—how touching!). For all her coolness, Astrid rewards Hiccup with a subtle and intimate line, one to be repeated: “and this is for everything else”—that reveals the script-writing talents of Oscar-nominated Dean DeBlois (director of this live-action animation and the prior 3 animated versions, as well as the original “Lilo & Stitch” [2002]) and the source material of Cressida Cowell (author of the books on which the series is loosely based).
The film can also be visually inspiring. Two scenes stand out. The first has Toothless, having found peace and affection, soaring in and above the clouds, our young couple aboard, the trio joyfully embracing friendship and freedom. The other, the film’s finale, has the Vikings and their new dragon companions celebrating the end of their long war. Both scenes had one of the 2 film critics in tears. If only something similar would happen in the Middle East.
He says: It’s great to have grandchildren. They’ll take you to the movies.
She says: Yet another remake, capitalizing on a well-worn series. It may be fresh to us, but it does not auger well for creativity in the industry.
Date: 2025
Director: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn
Country: United States
Language: English
Runtime: 125 minutes
Other Awards: 1 win to date (for trailer)
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