Exceeds the original by sticking to a little more of “this” (I just gestured at everything).

Welcome to Berk, an inhospitable northern isle where Viking tribes have gathered their best warriors for a single purpose: to rid the world of dragons. They are led by Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler) who lost his wife to such a beast; he hopes his beloved but so far inept son Hiccup (Mason Thames) will miraculously one day take up the charge. Taking after armorer and weapons-maker Gobber (Nick Frost) than his dad, Hiccup believes he can invent a way to take down the beasts at a distance rather than fight hand-to-hand, proving it by felling a legendary Night Fury… which nobody has ever seen before (and nobody saw him do). Finding the beast trapped and alone, he hesitates before the kill, sensing a kinship rooted in fear but also understanding. When the dragon returns the favor by not killing Hiccup anyway, the two bond in ways no Viking and dragon had ever previously done… which will not please his father if the betrayal is discovered.

When Disney completely reimagines their properties — Cruella by way of example and the first Maleficent — they’re often very good, in the spirit of the characters and story without duplicating them. By splitting the rest into half-new, half-old “franken-films” that struggle to resolve their mismatched storylines, movies like Beauty and the Beast and Lilo and Stitch too often feel wanting, even when they’re pretty good. Bringing in one of the co-directors of the original How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois, a conscious choice was made to lean into the original script based on the books by author Cressida Cowel instead of finding “modern ways” (read: changing everything fans loved) to expand the material. Of course there will be the usual crutches in adapting an animated classic to live-action — moving away from wild takes, bounce-and-stretch, and exaggerated expression to boost realism — but the trade off is amping up the risk factor when people fall off of flying reptiles in mid-air. Was it artistically worth remaking an animated DreamWorks classic as a shot-for-shot live version, or was it solely for the money?

By taking the script and seemingly starting over with today’s filmmaking technology — as if the animated version never happened — the end result is surprisingly enjoyable and (dare I say it?) even great. How long did it take to find an actor who looks more like Hiccup than Hiccup? Casting Gerard Butler as the same character he voiced in the animated version gave the actor room to play and scenery to chew, building in nuance with a reminder why we love him in boisterous roles like this. The only noticeable downside is Toothless looking less expressive, restricting his facial movement to prevent too much contrast with the live actors, but the fine detail of him is turned up to eleven, especially during the flying sequences. This is probably going to make a lot of money and possibly do what Disney keeps failing at: creating a live-action franchise from one of their timeless animated properties without gutting what fans love.

Even adding almost half an hour to the original’s runtime, the changes are seamless and welcome. Like Thames as Hiccup, Nico Parker (Joel’s daughter Sarah from HBO’s “The Last of Us”) is a dead ringer for Astrid, feisty and physical as Hiccup’s foil and potential interest. In fact, all the “kids” (Gabriel Howell as Snotlout, Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, Bronwyn James and Harry Trevaldwyn as Ruffnut and Tuffnut) were all a credit to their animated counterparts. The big bad on Dragon Isle was certainly a monster in 2010, but the live-action version has fully graduated to kaiju status. Where the original film looked adventurous even when Vikings were being killed, the infused realism feels dangerous this time around, raising the stakes and cranking up the peril. The extra half hour of running time goes by unnoticed, a testament to understanding everything that made both films work.

With regards to remakes, unless there’s something significantly new brought the the box office to enhance the story, the results and interest are going to be mixed — West Side Story, anyone? How to Train Your Dragon isn’t a musical and has perhaps set a bar as to what a live-action remake could do. Hey Disney: you know that Atlantis: The Lost Empire live-action redo you keep threatening us with? You know what to do.

How to Train Your Dragon is rated PG for sequences of intense action, peril, and thanks for everything, you selfless reptile.

Four skull recommendation out of four