Story

The Viking village of Berk is locked in a war with a seemingly endless horde of dragons. Determined to end the conflict once and for all, the villages decide to find and destroy the dragons’ nest. Hiccup (Mason Thames), the son of village chief Stoick (Gerard Butler), is desperate to help, despite being seen as weaker than the other vikings. He creates a contraption to shoot down the ‘Night Fury’, a dragon no one has ever seen up close. Using his invention, Hiccup succeeds in shooting the dragon out of the sky, but no one sees the shooting and no one believes him.

Hiccup tracks down the Night Fury, but when he realises the dragon is still alive, he can’t bring himself to kill it. Instead, he befriends the dragon, naming it ‘Toothless’. As Hiccup continues his secret friendship with Toothless, he begins to excel in dragon combat training, surprising fellow trainee Astrid (Nico Parker) and the rest of the village. However, when Hiccup gets into trouble during training, Toothless rushes to his defence – only to be captured by the villagers.

The Vikings use Toothless to track down the dragon nest, leaving Hiccup behind and disowning him for befriending ‘the enemy’. When the Vikings arrive at the dragon nest, they are met with a terrifying dragon of unimaginable size, and they are quickly defeated. Now, it’s up to Hiccup and his fellow trainees to save the Vikings from a deadly fate.

Themes

Animal cruelty; death; family breakdown; family death

Violence

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) has some violence. For example:

• Berk is attacked by dragons who burn buildings, spew fire at the Vikings and steal their sheep.
• Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury with a ballista/crossbow-like contraption.
• Hiccup is chased by a ‘Hookfang’ dragon. Stoick saves Hiccup and engages the dragon with his bare hands.
• Hiccup and the other trainees must fight a variety of dragons during their dragon education.
• While searching for the dragon nest, the adult Vikings are attacked in the fog by dragons from the air and sea. Only one ship makes it back to the village.
• An enormous dragon eats 2 other dragons whole.
• After being crowned the ‘top Viking’ in training, Hiccup must fight another Hookfang. Though Hiccup initially subdues it, the dragon begins attacking Hiccup once again after Stoick has an angry verbal outburst. Toothless comes to save Hiccup but is captured and tied up by the Vikings.
• The Vikings break open the dragon nest and are attacked by an enormous dragon who can control the smaller species.
• Toothless almost drowns after the ship he is tied up on sinks, but he is rescued.
• During the fight with the massive dragon, Hiccup and Toothless are hit by its tail and tumble to the ground. Hiccup is assumed to be dead by the other Vikings but is revealed to have survived. However, Hiccup does lose half of one leg from the incident.

Sexual references

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) has some sexual references – for example, Stoick gifts Hiccup a helmet and informs him that it was made from his mother’s breastplate.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no substance use in How to Train Your Dragon (2025).

Nudity and sexual activity

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) has some nudity and sexual activity – for example, Astrid kisses Hiccup’s cheek, and Astrid and Hiccup kiss.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in How to Train Your Dragon (2025).

Coarse language

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) has some coarse language – for example, ‘bloody’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is a live-action remake of the 2010 animated movie, which was itself based on the book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell. While the movie is comedic and heart-warming, it also features many violent, scary scenes as well as themes of death and family conflict. Additionally, although the storyline is very similar to the animated version, the added realism of the live-action might make some scenes more frightening for young viewers. As such, the movie is not recommended for children under 7 years, and parental guidance is advised for children aged 7-10 years.

The main message from How to Train Your Dragon (2025) is to embrace what makes you unique. Though Hiccup desperately wants to become a Viking warrior, he begins to thrive when he stops feeling like he needs to conform. The movie also urges audiences to challenge preconceived societal ideas and stereotypes by showing the divide between perceptions of dragons and their true nature.

Values in How to Train Your Dragon (2025) that you could reinforce with your children are compassion, creativity, uniqueness and personal identity, teamwork and bravery.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the consequences of accepting negative stereotypes of people of different cultures, societies, genders, sexualities, etc.