Young Viking Hiccup (Mason Thames) is something of an embarrassment to his brave dragon fighting father Chief Stoick (Gerard Butler). But when he shoots down the most fearsome dragon of all, a Night Fury, he finds an unexpected friend. 

I had found myself putting off watching this live action remake for quite some time because the original animated feature is quite frankly perfect. So it was rather odd when watching this feature that it feels like an almost identical remake… just with actual actors instead of animation. Initially this meant that I spent a reasonable amount of time wondering what the point was. But as the story is just so winning and this remake is essentially the same I found myself being won over and ultimately enjoying myself immensely. 

But that still begs the question of why would you watch this when the original exists? I guess if you think that animation is for kids, a view I could not disagree with more vehemently, this one is for you. Otherwise this just feels like a case of DreamWorks seeing how much money the Disney live action remakes are making and wanting in on that piece of the pie. 

As for this film, it’s wonderful. Mason Thames is a great Hiccup and his relationship with the Dragon Toothless is as beautiful as in the original. Gerard Butler gets to reprise his role as Chief Stoick. And speaking of returning creatives, writer/director Dean DeBlois and composer John Powell are clearly key in the film looking and feeling like the original. 

As for new entries to the franchise I would say that Nick Frost as the Blacksmith Gobber is the biggest success and probably gives a good insight into how much fun he should be as Hagrid in the upcoming Harry Potter TV remake. 

Yes this is a great watch… but why would you not just watch the 2010 original?