How to Train Your Dragon (2025) review

Watched it twice, once in a regular cinema for the story and again in IMAX for the visuals. The difference was night and day. Brought Arya with me the first time, but she got scared of the dragons (understandable, they can look intense on a big screen) and got bored after an hour. So if may 3 year old ka, maybe not yet the right time, medyo mature pa ang pacing. For visuals, ang ganda. The texture of the dragons looks so real yet still keeps the cartoonish charm. I honestly don’t know how they balanced that, but it worked perfectly. Flight sequences are pure bliss, a mix of Avatar: The Way of Water’s fluid grace and Top Gun: Maverick’s adrenaline rush. Each glide, dive, and roll gives that childlike thrill. The landscapes are breathtaking. Whether it’s CGI or shot on location, ang natural ng feel parang nilipad mo rin talaga. The costume design nails the Viking aesthetic without overdoing it. With those visuals and production detail, I couldn’t help but get excited thinking about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey! Sound design is top tier: the crackling of dragon fire, the whoosh of wind, every flap of wings. The musical score? Perfectly heroic. It elevates both the tension and the tenderness. Casting is also on point, and Gerard Butler stands out you can read in his eyes the arc from disappointed father to proud leader. And Toothless? Massive on IMAX. They nailed the sense of scale, especially in the third act when the alpha appears. A perfect “final boss” visual. You actually feel the difference in size and power. In the end, it’s more than a kids’ movie. It’s about courage, empathy, and breaking cycles: just a bunch of young people trying to change centuries of old thinking. Beautiful, emotional, timeless.