Now I’m hesitant to revisit the original animated version.
As an early birthday present, I was treated to an IMAX showing of the new How to Train Your Dragon, the one with real people and real animated dragons. And while I may have been the oldest person in the audience, I was not the only baby boomer (i.e., senior). After all, I have a knitting project bag that says
I will never be too old for Toothless.
The movie is a nearly scene-for-scene remake, but I can’t complain. After all, it’s hard to improve on perfection. Some lines were changed, a few added, a few more deleted. So, after a very long hiatus, here is a new Sunday Seven.
Seven thoughts on How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
1. John Powell’s score is little changed. And where it is, it’s actually better than the original. (And here I thought you couldn’t improve on perfection!) If you don’t know my feelings about the score, my mantra since 2011 has been
John Powell was robbed (of an Oscar)!
2. Toothless is even more adorable! Again, I guess you can improve on perfection. (Hiccup is also pretty adorable.)
3. The other teens resent Hiccup to a greater degree. They see Hiccup not only as inept, but also feel he gets special treatment because he’s the chief’s son. It emphasizes how much of an outcast Hiccup really is and puts greater pressure on him to succeed.
Dragon training: Ruffnut, Astrid, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Gobber
4. There seems to be a bit of a friendship between Astrid and Tuffnut. It’s more obvious from Tuffnut’s perspective… because who wouldn’t want to be friends with Astrid?
5. The Monstrous Nightmare is downright frightening. I actually had a jump-scare when he attacked Stoic from the flames. (Re: pronoun: we know this dragon is male because that’s how he’s identified in all the follow-on HTTYD properties.)
6. The scene with the Terrible Terrors following Hiccup’s and Toothless’s “test flight” is deleted. It’s a key scene because it establishes that dragons are “not so fireproof on the inside.” This is the technique that ultimately defeated the Red Death, so I feel it should have been included.
7. Spitelout (Snotlout’s father) is not played by David Tennant. Tennant, who you may remember as Doctor Who‘s beloved 10th Doctor, narrated all the How to Train Your Dragon audiobooks and voiced Spitelout in the original movie (all 2-3 lines). He also appeared in all four seasons of the HTTYD series spinoffs, Riders of Berk, Defenders of Berk, and both seasons of Race to the Edge. Nonetheless, Peter Serafinowicz does an admirable job of portraying Spitelout’s disappointed, disapproving “tough love.”
Will I return to the theater to see How to Train Your Dragon in RealD 3D? Yes, I will.
Stream of Conscience 
Talk to me!