How To Train Your Dragon Was Already Amazing, And There's One Thing The Story Improves On

Dragons, dragons, and more dragons – it feels like my life has been jammed with dragons over the last few years.

Whether it was BookTok and Fourth Wing becoming a huge thing – with a Fourth Wing TV show in the works, or it was House of the Dragon and all their dragons, there was always some winged beast that lured me to my couch or the movie theater – and now, it just so happened to be the live-action How To Train Your Drago., Of course, I had to see it in theaters. It’s dragons.

And I have to admit that this live-action remake kicked butt. Hard, strong Viking butt. But there’s one thing about it that they improved upon that made it that much better – let’s talk about it.

The Live-Action Remake Was Done So Incredibly Well

Before I delve into what it was, I must say that this movie was great. Like, on another level, great.

I feel like in this modern age of live-action remakes – especially all the Disney live-action remakes – we’ve come to expect a level of quality that is pretty low. Rarely does a live-action remake capture the magic of the original animated film without somehow compromising it in the process. We’ve only had a little success with things like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast – and I guess, in some ways, the others have succeeded, but haven’t been nearly as great.

However, this one was done perfectly well. If we’re being honest, there’s really not much else they could have done to improve upon it. The story was basically completely the same as the original How To Train Your Dragon movies, so it’s not like we were being thrown around with a new tale. The characters were great, and the effects were amazing – I walked out of the theater wanting my own Toothless yet again.

But there’s one aspect of the story that they improved upon this time around, which made it significantly better for me.

This Time Around, I Actually Liked The Side Characters

Let’s be honest: most of us watch How To Train Your Dragon for Hiccup and Toothless. If it weren’t for this dynamic duo of a misfit and a wounded dragon, we would never have these movies in the first place.

Or, you could be like me and love the love story between Astrid and Hiccup and how it truly feels like it’s one of the most realistic animated relationships I have ever seen – and how amazingly perfect they are together. I could talk about them for ages.

But let’s be real, the side characters from the original movies – while fun – were pretty forgettable. Sure, there were villains and other characters that stood out, but the student Vikings that Hiccup trains with? They were just…so forgettable in so many ways.

However, in the live-action, I genuinely loved them.

In the animated films, it always felt like they were just there to be a foil for Hiccup, which is fine, but as the movies went on, their presence only grew more irritating to me. They made silly comments that had no impact on the story, and I feel like they didn’t grow much at all. By the time the third movie in the trilogy was over, I was over it.

But the live-action gave them a lot more personality and a lot to work with this time around, and I genuinely found myself laughing out loud at many points because of what they said, not what the other side said.

Giving Them A Little More Backstory Was Such An Amazing Idea

This is a surefire way to make you care about side characters – don’t just have them there for comedic effect; give them a backstory that actually makes you remotely care about them.

A prime example of this is the inclusion of Snotlout’s backstory with his father. Yes, I know that we get tiny glimpses of it in the TV series, but let’s be honest – many people who go to see this movie probably haven’t seen the TV show. Only the die-hards have. Including this backstory makes us like Snotlout just a little more in the movie in comparison to how it was in the original films.

Seeing him get that small moment with his father at the very end of the movie was rewarding, and that’s something that I genuinely never thought I would say about this character because I hated him in the film.

And Somehow, There Was So Much More Emotion In Them This Time Around

One thing I like about DreamWorks Animated movies and all the Disney animated movies is that, with animation, you can express so much emotion. You really have a lot to work with because it’s right there, waiting to be drawn.

But with the live-action side characters, I felt so much more emotion from them this time around than I did from the animated version. Maybe it’s because we really dug a little deeper into their fight skills this time around, but their feelings felt real. I could feel their fear, their anger, their suspicion when Hiccup suddenly started to do well – everything worked really well.

Maybe that’s praise for the How to Train Your Dragon live-action cast, too, but there was just something I loved about this group of kids this time around.

I Want To See A Heck Of A Lot More Of Them In The Sequels

I really never thought I would say this, but I want to see more of them.

When I first watched the How to Train Your Dragon movies, I didn't care for the side characters. I was there for Hiccup and Astrid and, of course, Toothless, Stoick, and his crew, but other than that, I didn't care about anyone else.

And that was the mentality I had going into this live-action movie, but I have to admit that I was wrong, truly wrong. I still got everything I hoped for – from Gerard Butler as Stoick and how he perfectly brought his iconic character to life, to how perfect Nico Parker was as Astrid, despite all the backlash her casting received earlier on. Everything worked.

But now, I want to see way more characters—so many more side characters.

I really think there’s a lot you could do with this. Bringing the characters to live-action offers a new way to explore their backstories, as we couldn’t dive as deep as we could in animated films due to time constraints. And as someone who really didn’t think she would care for any more tales about them, I want to see more.

While the next live-action How To Train Your Dragon film won’t be on any 2025 movie release schedule, I will gladly be awaiting the next one with an open mind – and hoping to see a lot more side characters.