How to Train Your Dragon‘s upcoming live-action remake is going to be largely similar to the original 2010 animated film of the same name, and that’s the right move to make. How to Train Your Dragon will be a new take on the same story about the young viking Hiccup and his unlikely best friend, a dragon he dubs Toothless. The cast of How to Train Your Dragon are the same as in the original, although the remake has embraced diverse casting and tweaked elements of their personal motivations. However, it’s clear from trailers the movies will be very similar.
Director Dean DeBlois (who also co-directed the original animated film and helmed the two subsequent sequels) has been clear about the importance of remaining faithful to How to Train Your Dragon while building upon them in exciting ways. The result is a movie that may build off the original but will indulge in some direct recreations of the animated movie into live-action, including some iconic scenes being recreated almost sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ. This is likely the right decision, as it will keep the fans happy with scenes that still work while the story and characters changes are impacted in more subtle ways.
How To Train Your Dragon Won’t Remix Some Iconic Scenes
How to Train Your Dragon Will Include Some SH๏τ-For-SH๏τ Remakes
How To Train Your Dragon‘s upcoming live-action remake will remain reverential to certain scenes from the original animated films, which is the right call to make given the intent behind the expansion of the source material. During an event attended by Screen Rant, How to Train Your Dragon director Dean DeBlois explained that the upcoming live-action film will expand on the original animated movie, but will largely follow the same story beats. This means some scenes from the original have been recreated sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ, as DeBlois explained. This was done in respect to the fan-base who grew up with those moments.
“I took the stance that there are key moments that people see as iconic to the original trilogy… we very carefully tried, with the live-action crew on our set and our camera set-up, to mimic those scenes almost sH๏τ for sH๏τ.” While some aspects of the film will be built up to accommodate the longer run-time and slight shift in tone, this confirms that scenes like Hiccup and Toothless’ first flight will be highly reflective of the original movie. This makes sense, especially for the scenes that helped elevate the movie among the rest of DreamWorks’ animated output over the last few decades.
How To Train Your Dragon Changing Iconic Moments Wouldn’t Fly With Fans
Changing How to Train Your Dragon Would Have Defeated The Purpose Of The Remake
How to Train Your Dragon has spent the last fifteen years as one of the definitive animated franchises, with countless movie fans growing up with the adventures of Toothless and Hiccup. This is one of the reasons that the live-action film is likely moving forward, as it could be a big chance for DreamWorks and Universal to reᴀssert the franchise years after the trilogy concluded. As a result, it makes sense why the creatives behind the movie wouldn’t want to mess too much with a winning formula. As DeBlois explained, “we knew we were building upon a movie that worked.”
The original How to Train Your Dragon earned $494.9 million against a $165 million budget in 2010 and the full trilogy earned a total $1.6 billion at the global box office.
“So long as we weren’t veering too far away from that narrative, the pieces were sort of just designed to slot in. It’s like making a movie with training wheels.” The central friendship between Hiccup and Toothless is still the emotional core of the film, and as such the beats with them together will still drive the narrative. Many of those scenes were visually distinctive, and that’s part of the appeal of bringing the film to live-action in the first place. Therefore, it would likely annoy fans to see those memorable beats set aside, and some sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ scenes make sense.
How To Train Your Dragon’s Core Story Won’t Change Too Much
Characters And Scenes Might Be Tweaked, But The Story Will Remain The Same
That isn’t to say that the film should be too beholden to the original film, which is a flaw that some other remakes of animated classics have tripped over. The expanded run-time and natural tonal tweaks that come with bringing the show to live-action do leave room to make the film feel different even as it tackles the same characters and story. DeBlois has noted that Astrid and Stoick both get expanded focus in the film. DeBlois acknowledged that he thought Astrid “felt like she was pretty thin” in the original film and that she deserved further depth and exploration.
DeBlois confirmed that Astrid’s motivations will be shifted somewhat in the new film, with aspirations to impress Stoick and become chief someday driving her forward. Likewise, the expanded scope of the live-action movie will provide some new dramatic motivation to Stoick as he struggles to lead his tribe into an uncertain future. However, while Stoick and Astrid’s personality and motivations might have been tweaked, the overall story and their role in it seems to have largely remained the same. This indicates a story that remains largely the same but takes on enough unique elements to feel like a new movie.
Which Scenes Will How To Train Your Dragon Change?
The Flight Scenes Will Be Consistent
Image via Universal Pictures
This expanded focus means there may be some new scenes and tweaks to pre-existing ones, but DeBlois’ comments suggest that there are some scenes that won’t be changed. DeBlois specifically mentioned some of the big moments between Hiccup and Toothless, such as the pair bonding, drawing in the sand, and testing Hiccup’s flight plans as scenes that were almost sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ remade in live-action. Other scenes that appear in the trailer for the film appear to be very similar to the original but with new sH๏τs and tonal tweaks, such as Hiccup’s final test in front of the ᴀssembled other vikings.
The medium shift will have an undeniable effect on the story on some level, even if it’s still very faithful to the original.
Other moments will be expanded, with DeBlois suggesting Stoick’s hunt for the dragons utilizes the additional run-time to ratchet up the tension and danger. This seems to accommodate the slightly darker presentation of the story as opposed to the more openly cartoonish and occasionally goofy original film. The medium shift will have an undeniable effect on the story on some level, even if it’s still very faithful to the original. How to Train Your Dragon will be an interesting experiment in balancing sH๏τ-for-sH๏τ remakes while still making some distinct changes that give the film enough unique flavor to stand alone.
