How to Train Your Dragon
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 13, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
19
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJun 13, 2025
The new version excels because it makes its teenage protagonist deeper and more mature — and its monsters extra frightening. Read full review
100
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 12, 2025
There are plot levels here that are deeper than the original, which is quite complex and moving in its own right. Read full review
91
Original-CinThom ErnstJun 11, 2025
DeBlois elevates a beloved cinema memory and creates a spectacle, a mythical fairy tale—Game of Thrones lite—with enough DreamWorks Animation magic to warrant its own theme park ride. Read full review
90
ColliderMaggie LovittJun 9, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon is the gold-star example of how to do a live-action remake right. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrJun 9, 2025
Kids deserve movies that are made on the biggest possible canvas. “How to Train Your Dragon” is one that’s worth the trip to the theater. It might just spark some young imaginations, whether it’s to go back and read the books or dream up their own worlds. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 9, 2025
Original writer/director Dean DeBlois returns for a revamped “Dragon” that feels like a different experience but is just as good as the original, with moments of wonder and awe featuring characters fleshed out in new ways – literally and figuratively. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 10, 2025
By preserving the core narrative, characters, and emotional arc of the original, the live-action remake remains true to its roots. Though the cast is new, the heart of Hiccup and Toothless’s friendship still soars. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJun 9, 2025
That bond between Hiccup and Toothless, mostly thanks to Thames’ impressive commitment, with that Powell score thrown in for good measure? Heavens, it’s simply glorious. And just like the original, you’ll want to experience it all over again. Read full review
80
Screen DailyNikki BaughanJun 13, 2025
Returning director Dean DeBlois (who helmed the animation alongside Chris Sanders, as well as its sequel) has retained the energetic spirit of the original, and he’s helped by some fantastic CGI and a game cast, both of which lean into the fantastical charm of this tale of a hapless young Viking who discovers he is something of a dragon whisperer. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 13, 2025
All in all, this live-action adaptation works remarkably well — a rare feat. Read full review
80
Screen RantSarah MoranJun 9, 2025
The How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is a fantastic movie, not just emulating the animated original, but elevating it, all while also delivering an exciting summer blockbuster poised to thrill Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 13, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon represents solid family entertainment even if it feels like it’s tracing over an existing pattern rather than developing something new. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 12, 2025
Dragon imparts these pearls of wisdom with verve and delight, in a telling that is as visually impressive as it is emotionally stirring. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerJun 11, 2025
There’s honestly no real reason for this iteration to exist. At least, though, it doesn’t cheapen its source material, trusting in the good (dragon) bones that have always been there. Read full review
70
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariJun 13, 2025
The dragons are fine by today’s CGI standards. Toothless glistens, thankfully. Young audiences will be delighted. Read full review
70
LooperAudrey FoxJun 13, 2025
It's a nice enough movie, and honestly it might just be the best possible version of a live-action adaptation of its source material. But if you're expecting anything more than an almost exact shot-for-shot remake, you may be disappointed. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBrandon YuJun 12, 2025
To be sure, this new iteration is entertaining, bears a sense of heart and brings a tight script of fantasy and friendship to life. Read full review
70
Little White LiesYasmine KandilJun 10, 2025
On the whole, the live-action How to Train Your Drag­on plays it extreme­ly safe. It’s per­fect­ly pass­able, but only because it close­ly mir­rors a nar­ra­tive that’s already well-loved. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 9, 2025
At first, DeBlois’ involvement felt like a way of protecting “Dragon” from some other director coming along and destroying it. But by the end, his vision serves to bring the whole fantastical story one step closer to reality. Read full review
70
IGNEric GoldmanJun 9, 2025
The live-action How to Train Your Dragon can feel hemmed in by its faithfulness to the animated original, but it’s re-creating that film’s sense of heart and soul as well as its entire plot and most enduring images. Read full review
69
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJun 11, 2025
Kudos to everyone here for doing their jobs, and for doing them reasonably well, but the end result of all the effort is a film which, when people talk about How to Train Your Dragon, will eventually be referred to as 'no, not that one. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 9, 2025
No one needs a live-action remake, but ones this faithful and sweet are not the problem. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonJun 12, 2025
I’m on the fence here. I enjoyed the animated version of this movie quite a bit, so I’m torn between being happy this film was nowhere near as bad as I’d expected and being frustrated that I sat through a carbon copy. Your enjoyment will depend on whether your Toothless nostalgia has a full set of teeth. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 10, 2025
The transition from the DreamWorks CGI version from 2010, one of the best family flicks in years, to real human actors is thankfully smoother and not as off-putting as most of Disney’s recent, pitiful princess efforts. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJun 10, 2025
One could bang on all day about how familiar so much of this seems. But it is only fair to acknowledge that, judged as an independent entity (if such an assessment is possible), the current How to Train Your Dragon works as sleek, charming, funny entertainment. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeJun 9, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon honors the charm of the original. I’s not an essential remake, but at least it’s not an offensive one. Read full review
60
SlashfilmEthan AndertonJun 9, 2025
Admittedly, How to Train Your Dragon is not terrible like some of the Disney remakes out there, and it's better than almost all of them, but it's not substantial enough to warrant its existence. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraJun 9, 2025
It’s clearly made with real love and care, but shows far too much deference to its progenitor. Even in a remake, we need more originality and less playing the hits. Read full review
58
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerJun 11, 2025
To be clear, Dragon is not the worst live-action remake this year — congrats to Snow White on holding onto that prize. It’s just a slightly distorted copy of what came before. Its best attributes are fully a credit to the original, while its worst qualities all come from the foolishness of adapting a movie that was just fine the way it was. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJames Grebey Jun 9, 2025
Rather than trying to train something new, How To Train Your Dragon is riding an already proven beast; even its “first flight” has been done before. It can’t reach those old heights, let alone any new ones. And it doesn’t try to, nor does its audience really want it to. For live-action remakes, cruising altitude is the highest they can hope for. Read full review
52
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerJun 10, 2025
Most of the time, though, How to Train Your Dragon’s live-action craft fails to match the equivalent in its animated counterpart, even with original filmmaker Dean DeBlois on hand for his live-action feature debut. Read full review
50
The AtlanticDavid SimsJun 13, 2025
Yes, visual-effects technology is up to the task of re-creating a cartoon on a larger scale and dotted with real actors, and yes, these redos tend to turn a profit for their makers. These shouldn’t be the only reasons for art to exist. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJun 13, 2025
The movie generally looks great, thanks also to Dominic Watkins’s expansive production design, yet it thinks very little of its audience and comes across as a pee-wee “Game of Thrones.” Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 12, 2025
Look past the surface of this remake and you’ll find ... basically the exact same movie you’ve seen before, and could watch at home anytime you want. There are no surprises, except maybe the total lack of surprises. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 11, 2025
Debate all you want about whether this movie actually teaches you how to train a dragon. What this movie is actually trying to accomplish, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is how to train their audiences to keep buying the same thing over, and over, and over again. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonJun 11, 2025
But having stuck the landing once (and a few more times), DeBlois doesn’t leave himself much runway to do something new and improved. This “How to Train Your Dragon” is merely longer. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 11, 2025
The remake is just like the original, but there’s more of it. And less. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 9, 2025
It’s a film that’s constantly painting in the lines. If you’re going to remake a film, especially one as recently beloved as this one, it requires something new in the tracing. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkJun 9, 2025
As heartwarming as this story remains at its core, it’s hard to shake that you already know how it will play out. Read full review
40
The GuardianRadheyan SimonpillaiJun 10, 2025
The script, the gags and the action remain mostly intact. But this time around, real actors and sets become deadweight to a story that soared in larger-than-life animated form. Read full review
40
The TimesKevin MaherJun 9, 2025
It’s loud and diverting and very young children are sure to be entertained. But it’s also utterly dead, right down to its hollow, greedy, cash-grabbing core. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 9, 2025
Will it enrapture its target audience regardless? It should certainly keep them occupied for a couple of hours, though perhaps more with nodding recognition rather than delight. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJun 9, 2025
All that’s really changed is that How to Train Your Dragon is now distinctly less charming and less playful than before, with even its pièce de résistance Toothless losing some of the cute factor (he looks real mean when he growls). Read full review
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