IMAX TRAILER: How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Today, DreamWorks and Universal released yet another trailer for the live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake. Are you tired of this thing yet? Because I am. This one is an IMAX trailer and features more shot-for-shot recreations of scenes from the brilliant animated original. Check out the How to Train Your Dragon IMAX trailer here, if you even care at this point:
Why is this How to Train Your Dragon IMAX trailer the whole movie? This is literally a bare-bones summary of the entire first film. And, of course, there are more scenes and visuals copied straight from the original animated feature. Some of Astrid’s lines seem new; at least, I don’t recall “You have something none of us have,” although I may be due for a How to Train Your Dragon rewatch. I’m just so tired of these live-action remakes of animated films at this point. They’re usually either a perfect recreation (like this) or an insulting reimagining (like Snow White), and I don’t want any more of either variety. I hope this and the upcoming live-action Lilo and Stitch remake bomb for all of our sakes, but I don’t have a good feeling. And I’m well aware that How to Train Your Dragon isn’t Disney, like the other films I mentioned. It’s just that the idea of more studios hopping on this trend is even more concerning than only Disney wasting resources on it.
I’m not going to say the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake doesn’t look good visually, although I still think it was better in animation, especially Toothless. He looks silly and over-the-top here because this design existed in a cartoony world. Toothless just looks off when put next to Gerard Butler and the other live actors. This simply doesn’t appeal to me visually. At the risk of bringing up too many live-action remakes, the live-action Cinderella did this really well. It had its own look and style apart from the classic animated version, and I find that so preferable to a mindless recreation of something that already exists. Going in the opposite direction, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast incorporated elements of the Jean Cocteau version but still had its own identity. I know we haven’t seen the new How to Train Your Dragon yet, but they’ve shown us a lot of the film, and so far, everything has been exactly like the animated movie.
As for the How to Train Your Dragon IMAX trailer itself, it’s fine. Nico Parker’s dialogue delivery is a little flat, but Gerard Butler gives the exact same performance he did in animation. Mason Thames seems fine, and the plot and visuals, like I said, look exactly the same in this version. I don’t know what to say about that beyond that I just don’t like it. I’m not sure why this How to Train Your Dragon trailer is specific to IMAX because it’s a lot of the same stuff they’ve been showing off in prior marketing for the film. I know it’s frivolous, but I just wish they weren’t doing this. The worst part is that Dean DeBlois is doing How to Train Your Dragon, and Chris Sanders is doing Lilo and Stitch at Disney. They directed both films together, and I can’t understand why they would remake their own animated stuff in live-action. It’s so disappointing.
But what do you think about the How to Train Your Dragon IMAX trailer? Am I being too harsh on this movie? Are you going to watch How to Train Your Dragon when it comes out? Sound off in the comments!
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