WASHINGTON — The splendid beasts of the arena show “How to Train Your Dragon” roar and growl impressively during performances, but it’s unclear how deeply they think. If I were those dragons, this is what I’d be thinking: “We’d better enjoy our moment in the spotlight while we can. Remember pick-up sticks?”

“How to Train Your Dragon,” which is scheduled to be at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island next week and the Izod Center in New Jersey in September, is a big, brassy live version of the popular 2010 film based on Cressida Cowell’s books. Backed by DreamWorks with what must have been enough money to buy a small country, it features 23 lifelike dragons that stomp around, blow smoke and fly, all quite convincingly.

This is no small achievement, given that the largest dragons weigh at least 1.6 tons and generally require three operators, one in (actually, under) the beast and two working animatronic controls from the upper rows. Not too many years ago children were wowed when a dinosaur in a museum blinked an eyelid. These beasts, developed by the Australian company Global Creatures, make those dinosaurs look positively prehistoric.

I got to meet them backstage last Saturday before an afternoon performance at the Verizon Center here. It’s an eerie sight, all those very lifelike dragons sitting motionless, waiting for the lights to come up and the curtain to open. Somebody could film a pretty cool horror movie there, the menacing creatures threatening to come alive at any moment. I preferred to view the resting beasts as pensive, thoughtful. I imagined they were pondering — just as I was — the implications of what it takes to entertain a 10-year-old these days.