Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Dean DeBlois, the writer/director of the 2010 animated How to Train Your Dragon (with Chris Sanders, also partnered on Lilo & Stitch) spared no expense for his return to the tale, bringing it into the live-action realm in grand fashion. Full disclosure: This is my first exposure to the popular franchise, its success across movies, TV and even theme parks notwithstanding. Looks and feels like it’s giving Game of Thrones with a bit of Avatar thrown in, but overall it’s a fun and smartly executed take on the coming-of-age archetype.

The fictional Viking land of Berk is routinely besieged by flying, fire-breathing beasties, a plight which has over generations led to great loss of life, limb and property. Understandably, the dragons are public enemy number one and so killing them is the noblest thing a citizen can hope to do. Young lad Hiccup dreams of becoming a dragonslayer; mostly to impress his father, the chief of their tribe; and he almost succeeds, pegging the most feared species of all one fateful night, but what he soon discovers will change him and the dragon/Viking dynamic forever.

Some research suggests that this new rendition is quite similar to the animation, right down to specific shots, but some of the characters and relationships have been fleshed out to make them less, well, cartoonish. Kudos for keeping Gerard Butler as Hiccup’s dad, Stoick the Vast, as the same actor between both media, as well as composer John Powell: Why mess with success?

The story lends itself beautifully to live action, as the photography of the Northern Ireland locations in particular is awe-inspiring, and the image shifts nigh-imperceptibly from 2.39:1 to 1.9:1 and back again to better capture it all. This world is craggy, furry and scaly, not to mention extensively etched and carved, and all of these nuances and more are dependably sharp. The dragons themselves are achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art digital VFX and puppetry with some of the most realistic results I’ve ever seen, even in 4K resolution. The color grading is often striking, especially when it’s finagled to convey different times of day, and although blacks are a little crushed in a few scenes, that issue is far from a dealbreaker.

The Dolby Atmos audio excels in just about every way, establishing big outdoor spaces and enormous interiors with equal veracity. The surround channels are quite active, sometimes for the expected action beats but also for a subtle touch like water gently flowing in the background. Rain and mighty flyovers keep the overheads busy, LFE deftly reinforces a great many moments throughout, and we recommend you don’t start this movie too late because final battles don’t get much bigger than this one.

The brief featurettes hit the usual behind-the-scenes touchpoints, while the nifty “making of” takes a deeper and more intimate dive into what appears to have been a true labor of love. A gag reel is here along with a pair of substantial deleted scenes with director introductions, and DeBlois really opens up in his audio commentary. All of these extras are shared between the 4K and 1080p movie discs, and all but the commentary carry over to the Movies Anywhere digital version, which is unlocked via the unique printed code.

Not sure what higher praise I can give 2025’s How to Train Your Dragon beyond admitting that now I want to go and watch all the animated installments, too.

Chris Chiarella