Of course many of the beloved moments from the original film need to return for the remake. There might have been riots at Disney World’s Hollywood Boulevard if some massive event had been omitted from The Lion King‘s story. Online Disney devotees were indeed vocally displeased when Mulan (2020) elected to remove the musical sequences and Mushu the dragon.
Perhaps for this reason the How To Train Your Dragon remake’s marketing has leaned into familiarity, with John Powell’s sweeping score serving as a backdrop to some of the most revered moments from the animated picture. We again experience Hiccup (now played by Mason Thames) timidly hold out his hand toward Toothless for the first time, feeling the scaly embrace of the once-thought menace of a night fury dragon. Iconography gets butts in seats. However, DreamWorks must avoid playing it too safe, or they’ll run the gambit of having another The Lion King.
It would seem that writer and director Dean DeBlois is acutely aware of this risk too. In addition to having a pivotal hand in all three of the beloved animated How to Train Your Dragon films—he co-wrote and directed all of them—he recently told Den of Geek about how skeptical he is of many live-action remakes of animated movies. At a special presentation for the press about the new film, the director spoke with our senior editor David Crow about what he might see as the rigidity in some live-action continuations. So while he felt an obligation to make sure Toothless looks how audiences remember the beloved night fury, with all the other dragons he adopted a much freer hand, redesigning them into something with more tactile heft and even menace. The one glimpse we get of that in the new trailer comes from a far more sinister and gargantuan “Red Death” monstrosity attacking the film’s central Vikings.
DeBlois’ words are reassuring as is his passion for this world he has so intimately played a part in creating. If he can see his vision through, perhaps he could land closer to Jon Favreau’s first Disney remake, The Jungle Book (2016), which ironically released three years before his less loved The Lion King redo. The Jungle Book is often regarded as one of Disney’s best live-action adaptations. The film hones in on pivotal moments of the 1967 original, such as “The Bare Necessities” and “I Wan’na Be Like You” musical numbers. However, the movie pivots away from the cartoon, establishing an extended backstory, alternative plot threads, and added sequences not found in the 1967 version. It’s a genuine adaptation, borrowing what worked from its source material while injecting energy and urgency that better fits the new medium.
Footage we glimpsed at the presentation promises a similarly more substantial reimagining of Hiccup and Toothless’ island, as well as a grander sense of world-building for this Viking land where dragonriders are recruited from across the globe. Still, the latest trailer for How To Train Your Dragon mostly relies on playing a sizzle reel of highlights from the animated film, this time with realistic CGI graphics. DreamWorks so far has managed to avoid the mistakes of Disney or the infamous “Ugly Sonic,” both featuring overdesigned characters that off-put audiences, but it remains uncertain whether they will likewise avoid sticking too close to the original.
From what we know based on DeBlois’ vision of Astrid (Nico Parker) and Hiccup’s other ragtag group of friends being recruited from faraway lands and sailed to Viking village of Berk, the film will attempt to build out the motivations of supporting characters and expand the lore that was admittedly rather thin in the 98-minute original. But hopefully the creators can take many different avenues to differentiate the 2025 remake from the 2010 original. In other words, hopefully they get closer to The Jungle Book than The Lion King.
