I went to see the new HTTYD live-action remake (HTTYDLAR), and I am going to review it here. I would review it on my old blog, but hopefully this format will work better for it.
Before getting into my review, I want to make my rationale clear. This movie is a remake. It is, in very many ways, a copy-paste of the original. Some people are very happy about that, but it makes me question why this film should even exist. If it is a remake, it doesn't only need to prove itself as a stand-alone film, it needs to convince me that it is worth seeing. Why watch this as opposed to the original? What does it add? Most films, I start them at a neutral 5 score when I walk in. This film doesn't get that grace. It has an uphill battle because it is inherently creatively lazy. It is inherently unnecessary. Unless it manages to pull off something truly stunning, I am going to score it very harshly for being nothing more than a slightly altered lens through which to watch the exact same classic story. HTTYD is phenomenal; if HTTTYDLAR barely manages to be good, then it is a colossal failure, a waste of time, and a detriment to the legacy of the original film.
I went into the movie with a notebook and exited with ten sloppy pages of notes. I would have had more if my mechanical pencil hadn't failed on me.
Categories:
- Impact/Personal History (1): This movie made me actively dislike it. The vast majority of changes were for the worse, and at the bare minimum the film felt unnecessary. Comments made before the film by Dean also did not help. He noted how he saw the first film as a test run, and this film was his shot to get it perfect. This, alongside the general culture of treating animated movies as a sub-par art form, made me feel very hostile to the remake. And the remake itself did very little to win me over. The strength of the original film's score for this category (a 10) played heavily against this score for the LAR.
- Presentation (3): This story was clearly constructed to be told using animation. Many elements do not work well. I will cover a few here, but more will be mentioned further along. One big issue is that Hiccup comes across as fake. When he stumbles and is awkward, or when he acts like he can't hold a weapon, it comes across as an actor faking being a wimp. He is taller and stronger-looking than most of the teens, making him look much more like a coward than a weakling. His acting is also rigid and wooden, which makes him far less endearing. Toothless's design... looks bad. It is an ugly hybrid mix between a super expressive cartoon animal and a realistic texture pack. He is much more stiff, much less expressive, and one major change is that he comes across as heavier, slower, and clumsier. There are multiple scenes in the original where he moves extremely fast and feels very deadly (when he is running to save Hiccup in the Kill Ring and when he is charging Astrid to attack her in the cove). He doesn't feel anywhere near as mythical or scary, and the film clearly leans into more of his dog antics than the original (which I am mostly fine with in the context of the sequels, but it hurts his presence in this film). Stoick, despite Butler's best efforts, looks so much smaller and weaker than he does in animation. The huge visual contrast between him and Hiccup is lost. From a character design standpoint, all three of the main cast come off much worse. The sets do often look nice, and I enjoyed some of the props (Hiccup's helmet has nice designs and actually matches Stoick's this time). Music is good, but some theme placement is inferior. (It also uses sequel music in parts that feel jarring and improper, and this feels like it is shooting the upcoming live-action sequel in the foot.) Many jokes and gags appear to have been removed, as they would not translate well to live action. (Some of the best ones in my opinion: "Excuse me, barmaid," "Trolls exist," and any gags with the sheep.) At the end of the day, the live-action medium in and of itself fails this story. The dragons do not feel more "real." To me, it felt like play actors in front of your typical CGI monster. As such, I saw very little benefit from altering it to live action. I will commend Gerard Butler on clearly giving it his all, and good acting is something that shines in live action, but he felt like a different Stoick, and not a particularly better one.
- World-Building (4): Surprisingly, the world-building is one of the primary changes in the LAR. In this version, Berk is not a long-standing village of Vikings who have been battling the dragons for 300 years; instead, it functions much more like a spearhead for a group of disparate tribes and peoples. This spear is designed to stab into the nest of the dragons and eradicate them for the good of all. The reason for doing this is clearly to allow for Berk to be more diverse. However, it is not an insignificant change as it impacts more elements than you might expect. In trying to patch one world-building issue (a racially and ethnically diverse cast of Vikings), they have brought up several new problems. One is the overweight kids. Why on earth is Fishlegs even here? Why is Ruffnut somewhat chubby? Why are children here in the first place? Granted, the main cast is entering adulthood, but we clearly see small children. Why are the women here? In the original film, it made sense for the fierce Viking women (who looked huge and burly, like the men) to protect their homes. If a Nadder knocked down your house, you'd grab an axe whether you were a man or a woman. But why isn't this new Berk a barracks full of fighting-age men? The first film being a long-standing village put much more emphasis on tradition. The Vikings were stubborn, traditional, unwavering. It was their home, and they would fight for it. However, now the line is no longer "We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues." Now it is more akin to "We are Vikings. We don't run from fights, we start them." It makes Berk's side of the conflict less sympathetic. I distinctly dislike this change, as it makes Hiccup's desire to belong less impactful. Rather than Hiccup wanting to be a Viking, his dad wants him to be a warrior and a hero. That is a much more unrealistic demand... compared to a teenage kid who just wants to be accepted into his culture and society. Now, I will say that there was a small world-building change I liked: the dragons mentioned in the book of dragons can be seen in the dragon nest. This is neat, as both films promise this huge world of unique dragons, but the first film only shows the choice few species that are fought in the arena.
- Aesthetic (5): The aesthetic is not bad in this film. Toothless's design is probably the worst element. Some of the outfit designs are very neat, and overall the village looks cool (if not nearly as whimsical as the first film). The color of this film definitely feels muted and murky. However, to its credit, the film does not lack a consistent aesthetic.
- Protagonists (2): While not all these characters are the "protagonist," this section is where I will break down how many members of the cast are handled. Spoiler warning: I don't like these versions very much.
- Hiccup: Hiccup has lost his mannerisms, his voice, and a lot of his humor. I will discuss some character interactions later on in the consistency section, but man... I do not like this Hiccup. He feels much more flat and typical. Jay did SUCH a good job making Hiccup stand out. He felt like a charming dork with deeply held hurts that he hid behind a healthy layer of self-deprecation and snark. This Hiccup delivers his lines slowly, usually without the fun sarcasm of the original.... It feels like he is trying to play the role very straight. Subtle changes also frustrate me. Hiccup doesn't close his eyes before launching his weapon at Toothless at the start of the film. Hiccup's squeamishness and detestation of violence were communicated in that little act in the first film, but now they are gone. Hiccup also back talks some of the teens more, standing up for himself and coming across as less socially isolated. The reason the teens seem to hate him centers on nepotism in this film... which is much less interesting than the idea that he is a loser who messes up constantly and can't fit in with his fellow Berkians. This detracts from Hiccup wanting to be a Viking. He doesn't shout "I'm a Viking!" while trying to psyche himself up to kill Toothless. He doesn't say "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard" in the end. Hiccup's desire to become a Viking and his journey to prove he is one (just a very special one) is significantly dampened by these changes. Broadly: Hiccup's delivery and writing lessen him as a character in this film, and that is a tremendous loss.
- Toothless: Thor almighty. This is a crime. Toothless has lost several elements of his personality due to cuts, and it frustrates me to no end. First off, Toothless is much more sluggish, less physical (he doesn't choke-slam Hiccup when they first meet), and less frightening in general. He might look "real", but he has lost a tremendous amount of presence. The first time I noted this was when you can see his plasma blast slowly approaching the tower Stoick is on before Stoick leaps away in the opening battle. Ugh. His speed and power were so clear in the original, in part because if you blinked, you'd miss his blast annihilating massive structures. His blasts feel less impactful in multiple scenes.... He does not knock down the Red Death with a single, powerful dive bomb. His eyes never become the extremely thin slits from the first movie, and his roars and shrieks all feel toned down. (For example, when he and Hiccup taunt the Red Death in the end of the original, Toothless looks terrifying and furious. Not so much in this LAR.) Being sluggish also makes him less cute. His antics aren't as animated. His face is less expressive and harder to read. (His reaction to Astrid kissing Hiccup is pretty hard to gauge.) A second terrible loss is Toothless's snark and smug confidence. Toothless's interaction with the Terrible Terrors has been completely cut. The scene is gone. While this hurts the film's establishment of how Toothless will kill the Red Death, it also removes a scene of Toothless being somewhat mean, but mostly being smug. At the start of Test Drive, he no longer rolls his head and glares forward in confidence when Hiccup first sets the tail. It does not look like he tries to toss Hiccup off in the New Tail sequence. He does not angrily urge Hiccup onto him before they soar off to fight the Red Death. These are just a few examples, but broadly, Toothless feels toned down. He displays less personality, and this makes it feel as though his agency has been significantly decreased. He went from being one of the best characters in the film, with an expressive and nuanced personality (impressively lacking any dialogue), to being a pet. He really is just "your pet dragon" in this film....
- Astrid: I will be more brief on Astrid. She is more unlikable. She comes across as ambitious and petty (with a chip on her shoulder). She tells Hiccup she wants his house, she wants to be chief. She is also ruder to the rest of the teens (which takes away the discrepancy between how Hiccup is treated by everyone). She also seems to become very pro-Hiccup more quickly in this film, almost treating him like a "chosen one" at the start of the Kill Ring scene. I think she is probably one of the most assassinated characters, but I am not as attached to her as Hiccup and Toothless, so I will refrain from micro-analyzing her line by line.
- Stoick: Stoick is probably the only good acting performance in the film. The problem is, he feels like a different person. Of course, part of this is his loss of a massive physicality, but the main issue to me feels like he is much more emotionally broken. This doesn't fit his role as chief of a group of elite dragon killers. Some humanizing shots of him from the first film are lost (him smiling and stumbling through weapons as he leaves his talk with Hiccup). He also doesn't harp on heritage and cross-generational tradition as much as he does in the first film. He does not bring up his father. No smashing his head against a rock. That is gone. Instead he talks about how he always knew what he needed to be. It is a small change, but it takes away from his relationship with Hiccup. In the original, he is trying to relate to Hiccup in the same way his father related to him, but it just feels like nothing works. Hiccup goes off chasing after trolls. Speaking of, the trolls joke is missing, and this brings us to...
- Gobber: I feel like I should write this entire section in unenthused lowercase font. That would properly reflect how deadpan and colorless Gobber is in this film. His delivery of his jokes is TERRIBLE. He is criminally unfunny, and in the original film I think he is probably the funniest character. His relationship with Hiccup feels less warm, but the primary crime of this version of Gobber is that he is bland and has lost his extremely charismatic Scottish delivery.
- Antagonists (4): The Red Death is meh. It is less expressive and feels like it thinks less. I think some of its shots feel less impressive, and its wings are pathetically small compared to its mass. It also has a good deal of its intimidation stolen by a prolonged section of Astrid battling against its teeth inside its mouth. It has also lost its sickly blue-green color. It now basically matches Drago's Bewilderbeast. Oh, and it lifts music from that dragon as well. Not good. But compared to what they did to Hiccup, Toothless, Gobber, and Astrid, this is no big deal.
- Themes/Depth (4): I will cover the themes I mentioned when reviewing the original film and briefly note how they are negatively impacted by the remake's handling. Pacifism: Worse. Rushed. No Terrible Terror scene; no "Everything we know about you guys is wrong." Empathy: Nepotism/privilege instead of weakness/helplessness. This hurts the "I looked at him and I saw myself" line. Moral conviction: Delivery. "Yes" to Astrid asking if he would hide the Red Death in order to protect his pet dragon is blander. Hiccup doesn't cast the helmet aside when confronting the Nightmare. Our relationship with the Other: Loss of Terror scene. Generational differences: World-building makes diversity of the kids explained and less notable, whereas the first film draws a clear distinction between the generations using accents. Loss of Stoick's rock head smash line. Belonging: Viking vs Warrior. World-building problem. The father-son relationship: Mostly intact. Hiccup delivery bad. More time devoted to Snotlout's relationship with Spitelout dilutes this theme. Cost of changing the world: Fine. No major change.
- Uplifting (1): This is just subjective, but I do not think I felt a single strong positive feeling in this movie. The touch in Forbidden Friendship has Toothless warble during it, which ruins the sort of sacred silence of the original. The movie feeling like a strange carbon copy made me feel emotionally distant. I am sure someone could feel uplifted, as the plot is almost identical, but it did not work for me. Hiccup and Toothless lacking a lot of chemistry made Toothless feel more like a pet... which definitely worked against many strong emotional moments.
- Tension (2): While you would think live action would make this world feel more grounded, serious, and scary... the film feels oddly floaty and cartoonish. Stoick defeating the Monstrous Nightmare bare-fisted at the start of the film feels incredibly cartoonish. There are also some cutaways that dampen the impact of the danger. (The Gronckle nearly blasting cuts away to where you do not see the blast explode directly above Hiccup's head.) Toothless does not pin Hiccup violently to the ground in their first encounter; instead, he basically just scares him down. Astrid fights inside the mouth of the Red Death. All of this feels jarring, like the film is trying to be serious and intense, but it swings back and forth wildly between that and cartoonish antics and physics. Also, it did not help that I did not feel attached to the characters, so if one were to die... it wouldn't be as impactful. Some scarier scenes were lamely toned down. (The dragon book scene is not in the dark, there are no spooky lightning strikes, and the scene lacks the eerie roars and shrieks that the original has.) The main problem with tension in this film is that it is a bad photocopy of the original. We know exactly how it will end, and this dampens the stakes tremendously.
- Pacing/Length (3): Why is this film 2 hours? Why does it cut scenes and yet still increase the runtime? The reason is, mostly, that delivery and editing are much more poorly timed. They are not as snappy or as clear, and this makes the film feel like much more of a slog. And, again, it really hurts the pacing when you know exactly where the film is going.
- Emotional Resonance (1): I did not care. That is insane to say, but Hiccup and Toothless felt so different, so artificial, so stiff, so flat... it made me not connect with them. And without that connection, it was practically impossible to be moved by this film.
- Destination Clarity (8): Ha. To its credit (or more accurately, to the credit of the original), I knew exactly where this film was going. Although some changes to Hiccup wanting to be accepted as a Viking and Hiccup being expected to be a hero and a warrior make the end goal and the end triumph very slightly more muddy.
- Consistency (3): Character consistency is an issue. Especially for Astrid. Her role is more antagonistic and unlikable than in the original, and this makes her sudden transformation into a hardcore supporter of Hiccup feel rushed. Hiccup also very quickly sides with the dragons.... Before he has even really interacted with Toothless, he is questioning if the dragons are truly the ones at fault. Gobber feels very mean-spirited to Hiccup in several early interactions (in stark contrast with some of his sarcastic warmth from the original), but then when Hiccup isn't looking, Gobber is shown to be tenderhearted and worried about him. Stoick feels different in this film compared to the original... with his voice cracking in sadness much more often (even in his earliest moments in the film). This feels off when you consider his role as leader and the brutality of the world. Obviously, losing Valka would haunt him, but would a Viking chief really be so close to breaking into tears in front of his entire village while telling his son that he doesn't have what it takes to be a dragon killer? Visually, the film does remain pretty consistent throughout. I have already mentioned the odd inconsistencies with a live-action setting and somewhat cartoonish action in the Tension section, but that is also a big issue.
Quality Notes:
There is one tiny change I think is good, and that is that Hiccup no longer brings Toothless to Berk when the saddle gets damaged. This always felt off; why not take the saddle off of Toothless rather than sneaking him into the village at night?
At the end of the day, this film should not exist. The story was created for animation. It was told brilliantly in that format.
Even with the slightly aged visuals of HTTYD, it is still vastly superior to this film. I have covered a lot in my review, and there is more I could say... but I will leave it here. This movie is barely good, and considering you could just watch the original, this film offers nothing of value and detracts from the legacy of the original. This is not a good trend, and being close to a shot-for-shot replica of the original is far from enough to earn my excitement or praise.
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