How to Train Your Dragon’s live-action trailer proves the biggest fear about DreamWorks’ adaptation was right all along

With many wondering why DreamWorks chose to adapt How to train your dragon in live action, the studio’s teaser trailer confirms one big fear about the upcoming remake. Announced in February 2023, the new film has been in development for around two years. The project is remembering writer/director Dean DeBloiswho has been one of the creatives most involved with the Dragons film franchise to date. Those familiar with the original will likely have few surprises when watching the live-action version, raising the question of why a live-action version How to train your dragon cast was assembled.

The animated How to train your dragon films and TV shows create a sprawling saga of the shifting dynamics between the franchise’s Vikings and their scaly adversaries-turned-allies. However, the upcoming remake will not fit into the vast continuity that already exists, but appears to be starting from scratch. DreamWorks isn’t the first studio to explore this path with an existing film or franchisebut the adaptation of this particular story resulted in a lot of raised eyebrows for a variety of reasons. With so many exciting stories and fights throughout Dragons franchise already, it’s unclear what a remake could offer.

How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake feels like a scene-for-scene remake of the original

The 2025 Dragons movie was extremely faithful

DreamWorks has finally revealed its first substantial look at its live-action film How to train your dragon filmand it seems like the remake chose to be painfully faithful to the original. Although the teaser is only a minute or so long, it still manages to reveal some recreated scenes from the 2010 film of the same name. While remakes can often be criticized for straying too far from the source material, 2025’s upcoming effort appears to have played it very safe.

There are several moments in the trailer that have a direct counterpart in the original film, including Hiccup’s success in allowing Toothless to put his hand on his face for the first time. While it’s great that iconic moments like these were left largely intact, if every scene mimics the 2010 effort, the decision to remake How to train your dragon falls further under the microscope.

The Purpose of a Live-Action How to Train Your Dragon Movie Is Even Less Clear Now

DreamWorks’ decision to remake its 2010 film doesn’t appear to include anything new

With the first film only released fourteen years ago, it seems too soon to adapt it for live action. This seems especially true when the third and final film, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Worldrecently premiered in 2019. If a live-action Dragons project has to be done, it would certainly make more sense to add something to the existing canon, rather than retreading the same narrative ground, not only so precisely, but also so soon after the cinematic conclusion of the original saga. Briefly, DreamWorks’ big reveal about its next project raised more questions than answers.

Disney is the studio best known for making live-action adaptations of its films. However, Disney’s live-action film remakes often take place decades after the release of the original animated version, and the story often feels fresh and feels very different. For example, 1994 The Lion King didn’t get the live-action treatment until 2019marking a 25-year gap between the original and the remake. Additionally, Disney’s focus on the lions looking as realistic as possible in the 2019 effort creates a major departure from the 1994 version – even if they are still talking animals. Of course, MoanaThe live-action remake is an exception here.

Live-Action How to Train Your Dragon looks great visually, at least

DreamWorks didn’t cheapen the film’s production values

At the moment, There seems to be very little advantage in watching 2025 How to train your dragon about the original. That said, at least DreamWorks seems to be trying really hard to make what is essentially a placeholder look absolutely incredible from a visual standpoint. Not only is Gerard Butler great as Stoick as he returns to reprise his role in live-action, but the film also avoided falling into a common trap that many other remakes of this nature can fall into.

The film’s titular beasts, including Hiccup, have remained largely unchanged from a design standpoint. The dragons have simply been updated to align a little more with the new environment. Things like their scales are more visible and more clearly defined, and the beasts generally look as realistic as they can without losing their signature cartoonish aesthetic. Given how bad the original Sonic the Hedgehog looked in his 2020 film before the animators were pressured into a redesign, it’s a huge relief to see How to train your dragon did not make the same mistaken move.

Sources: Rotten tomatoes, Mojo Box Office