How to Train Your Dragon

Dean DeBlois co-directed the 2010 animation with Chris Sanders and directed both sequels. He had been hostile to live action remakes, saying they diminish what the animated films achieved, and took this one so the story would not become someone else’s reading. His first call went to John Powell, the trilogy’s composer, his second to Roger Deakins, a consultant on all three, who suggested cinematographer Bill Pope. They shot in Belfast with the Game of Thrones crew, with flight plates taken at Tindhólmur and Drangarnir in the Faroe Islands. Framestore built the dragons alone, but the set was not empty: Tom Wilton’s puppeteers carried foam dragon heads so actors played against an object, not a tennis ball, and for riding shots those heads went onto eight axis gimbals. The remake adds 27 minutes to the 2010 film while keeping its three act shape, restaging scenes like Hiccup’s first contact with Toothless shot for shot. Gerard Butler plays Stoick in the flesh after voicing him. At the 79th BAFTAs it was nominated for special visual effects, won by Avatar: Fire and Ash. A good fit if you want that first contact rebuilt shot by shot and do not mind knowing every turn ahead. Not for anyone after a fresh reading of the story, since the changes sit in dialogue and detail.