I was wrong about the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake

How to Train Your Dragon has swooped back into cinemas with a new live-action version (Picture: Universal Pictures/AP)

After a bit of turbulence at the start, the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon saw my heart take flight as it reached its barnstorming potential.

Coming only 15 years after the original film adaptation of author Cressida Cowell’s books, How to Train Your Dragon remains a hugely lucrative franchise thanks to three animated films and several TV shows.

So, questions arise over the reasons for retreading creative territory – other than the obvious cash grab thanks to an already-present strong fanbase, just like Disney has relied on for its persistent remake strategy since 2010.

Before watching this new version of How to Train Your Dragon, I was therefore unsurprisingly sceptical.

But with original director Dean DeBlois back at the helm once more, his commitment to the characters and the cinematic world he helped build the first time around still shines through.

Most importantly, DeBlois recognised the three things you simply couldn’t do a live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon successfully without: Gerard Butler reprising his role as Viking leader Stoick the Vast, the return of composer John Powell with a subtly but perfectly revamped version of the franchise’s stirring theme Test Drive, and a faithful but carefully tweaked Toothless, rendered to fit in more seamlessly with the real world.

Mason Thames (L) is Hiccup, a shy and nerdy Viking who forges an unexpected bond with a dragon – considered his village’s mortal enemy (Picture: Helen Sloan/Universal Pictures)

One of the treats of this film is seeing the real-life interpretations of the animation’s original designs as all the dragons live and breathe on the screen in truly impressive ways.

It does make them scarier though, especially for younger viewers, with the danger levels amped up. And that’s even with hero dragon Toothless, who may continue to look cute but displays a little more edge over endearing features until closer to the end of the movie.

We get to see Butler wrestle one of these dragons in the flesh in one of the film’s most satisfyingly recreated moments. The Scotsman has aged nicely into the role in a piece of casting that goes beyond mere fan service and cements it as the one he will likely become most synonymous with.

Original director Dean DeBlois has returned to helm the new film, alongside Gerard Butler (R), who reprises his role as Stoick the Vast in a welcome treat for fans (Picture: Helen Sloane/Universal Pictures)

Newly-minted Harry Potter star Nick Frost also slots in easily to this world as blacksmith-cum-trainer Gobber the Belch, a mentor to Stoick’s sensitive son Hiccup (Mason Thames) who enjoys sporting a vast array of deadly weapons in place of his missing arm.

These Vikings all live on the small island of Berk, which suffers from a major dragon problem – and Hiccup, who wants nothing more than to help protect his village from that threat, is stuck on the sidelines after being deemed too weak for dragon-fighting training.

But things get complicated when he accidentally captures a Night Fury – the rarest and most deadly breed of dragon – and cannot bring himself to kill it, just as Stoick finally relents and allows him to enrol in training.

Thames make for a good Hiccup, seeming like a believable but sweet loser who you can root for as he struggles to go against the status quo and try to impress his gruff father. He shares good awkward chemistry with Butler, which is used to particularly great effect in a surprising story about his helmet’s origins.

Nico Parker stars as Astrid, a fierce Viking warrior-in-training who grows to appreciate Hiccup and his unusual talents (Picture: Helen Sloan/Universal Pictures) Dragon Toothless is faithfully recreated, if a little more wild and scary – as with the film’s other dragons – compared to the animation (Picture: Universal Pictures via AP)

However, the film does initially feel like it’s missing some of the animation’s zany energy, staying a little too faithful to the beats of that film at the expense of anything especially new or exciting.

But as relationships develop – between both Hiccup and Toothless (that fish bonding ritual is truly gross here) and Hiccup and his crush Astrid (a kick-ass Nico Parker), who is frustrated over his attitude to the war they’re inheriting from their parents – this How to Train Your Dragon starts to prove its worth.

The film swoops up a gear as Hiccup begins learning dragon behaviour from Toothless, stealthily applying that knowledge to the deadly challenges thrust upon him as part of his training.

How to Train Your Dragon soars to new heights (Picture: Helen Sloan/Universal Pictures)

And when it comes to Hiccup’s first ride on Toothless, Test Drive’s gorgeous melody makes you want to fly with them; you can really feel and hear that experience too with the thumping flap of dragon wings and the camerawork emphasising the power and disorientation that comes alongside that. It’s exhilarating.

As this How to Train Your Dragon reaches its peak, it reminded me how good Cowell’s original story was for the animation, convincing me that his new version will work very well again for a new audience as well as its nostalgic original fans.

It feels like everything is turned up to 11 – including both the frightening and emotional bits, so bring your tissues – showing that How to Train Your Dragon is still able to soar to new heights.

How to Train Your Dragon is in UK cinemas from today. It releases in the US on Friday, June 13.

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