Fails to catch fire

Dean DeBlois, Oscar-nominated co-director and co-writer of the 2010 animation How To Train Your Dragon, flies solo for a live-action reworking that captures all the charm of the original but begs the question: why remake a film that was almost perfect and confidently passes the test of time?

- with DAMON SMITH

Chieftain's son Hiccup (Mason Thames) yearns to win the approval of his father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler) in the village of Berk. During a night-time skirmish with dragons, Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury using his homemade catapult device. He secretly befriends the crash-landed beast, which he christens Toothless, and an unbreakable bond is forged between the young rebel and his tribe's sworn enemy.