Gerard Butler reprises his gruff Viking patriarch with heart, while Mason Thames brings fresh sensitivity to the role of Hiccup
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
The latest animated hit to produce a live-action remake, Universal’s new-ish “How to Train Your Dragon” has so much CGI that you may struggle to figure out where the live-action elements are exactly, outside of the Irish location photography, as opposed to the original film’s CG images. Even the people look CG’d.
The 2010 DreamWorks Animation hit “How to Train Your Dragon,” based on the books by Cressida Cowell, has already produced two sequels, five short films and merchandise aplenty.
This film, directed and co-written by Dean DeBlois, the co-director of the original, boasts among its assets the young actor Mason Thames (“The Black Phone”) in the lead role as a Viking boy with the unlikely name of Hiccup from the remote island of Berk. The hardy inhabitants of Berk, including Hiccup’s widower father Stoick (Gerard Butler, who voiced the role in the original film) endure attacks by a variety of dragons and even manage to slay a few. Buried beneath a giant beard, a big, horned helmet, a heavy fur cape and an arguably un-Viking-like Scottish burr (Butler’s real one), Stoick is the burly leader of the islanders. Hiccup, an outcast due to his sensitive, un-Viking-like characteristics, including his small size (especially in comparison to his dad), is the stand-in for every tweener and adolescent whose father seems like a giant compared to them, even if they are soon to catch up.
Hiccup once again finds his soulmate (and flying steed) in an injured dragon known as a Night Fury, whom Hiccup names Toothless. Notably, the dragon is not as frightful in appearance as many of its fellow dragons. In fact, it resembles a cross between a winged lizard and a giant bat.
Among the other dragons in “How to Train Your Dragon” are the more fearsome Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare and Red Death. In action scenes, dragons raid Hiccup’s village, try to burn it down, and snatch its sheep, while the villagers defend it. Warrior Stoick is hopeful that his gentle son will find his true self during dragon-fighting training led by blacksmith Gobber (Nick Frost, another asset) for whom Hiccup works as an apprentice. Hiccup secretly befriends the injured Night Fury and repairs its damaged tail with a flap-like device that the boy, a sketch artist, designs and builds.
This narrative is a dream for every nerd who didn’t fit in with the cool kids or jocks at school, but found happiness and fulfillment in some secret, if not semi-magical skill, most frequently involving video games or such endeavors as Dungeons and (yes) Dragons. It’s easy to see what these “How to Train Your Dragons” films tap into. This new film, which is both similar to the original and yet somehow 27 minutes longer, tells a story that is mostly the same, although without much excitement or novelty.
Music by Oscar-nominated Hans Zimmer studio graduate John Powell (“Wicked”), who also composed the original film’s score, begs the question: Did Vikings dance jigs? Astrid (Nico Parker, “The Last of Us”), Hiccup’s romantic interest, is also a dragon fighter and perhaps a better one. Hiccup is once again harried by comically dumb bullies Snotlout (Gabriel Howell), Fishlegs (Julian Dennison, “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) and ginger-haired twins Ruffnut (Bronwyn James) and Tuffnut (Harry Trevaldwyn), who add to the fun. The village’s non-speaking oracle, Gothi (Naomi Wirthner), once again intuits bigger things for Hiccup (and, please, a more suitable future name). Sequences involving the dragons’ fiery lair are entirely computer-generated, making a case for this film being just another animated entry. However, the human cast is likable and entertaining enough, and the aerial spectacles are impressive.
‘How to Train Your Dragon’
Rating: PG for intense action and peril.
Cast: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler
Director: Dean DeBlois
Writers: DeBlois, Cressida Cowell, William Davies
Running time: 125 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters June 13
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 