How The Live-Action Toothless Compares To The Original Version In How To Train Your Dragon
DreamWorks has reconstructed Toothless into live-action for the 2025 How to Train Your Dragon remake, but how does he compare to the animated version? Live-action remakes have been all the rage, but things get far more complicated with fantastical beasts like dragons. DreamWorks had to put a lot of work into taking its CGI character from the 2010 animated movie and making it fit in with real-world actors. Live-action How to Train Your Dragon trailers like that from the Super Bowl prove they did surprisingly well.
The trailers for How to Train Your Dragon feature the shot-by-shot remake of Hiccup (Mason Thames) and Toothless meeting for the first time. This scene is essentially the same as the animated version, but the live-action medium adds additional flair to the moment. Of course, this all would have gone wrong if Toothless didn't come out looking perfect. DreamWorks could have completely changed the dragon's design, perhaps making Toothless into a more Game of Thrones-like creature. However, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon took a much more difficult route.
How To Train Your Dragon Live-Action Remake's Toothless Is Surprisingly Accurate
DreamWorks Stuck With The Original Design
The live-action Toothless in the new How to Train Your Dragonmovie looks remarkably similar to the 2010 version audiences are familiar with. He is essentially identical in every way, from his proportions to his expressions. This is a significant relief since it had been difficult to imagine how such an emotive and adorable dragon could be made to look photorealistic. Toothless' character is well-suited to animation, but DreamWorks retained this quality while seamlessly blending the CGI dragon with the live-action actors.
There Are Only Minor Differences Between The Two Versions Of Toothless
How To Train Your Dragon Used Minor Details To Make Toothless Look More Real
DreamWorks couldn't simply stick the CGI-animated Toothless in its live-action How to Train Your Dragon and call it a day. While the dragon's design and proportions were kept the same, some subtle changes were necessary to make Toothless look more like a dragon that could exist in some version of the real world. This came down mainly to adding layers of texture.
Aside from these subtle changes, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie has remained faithful to the original as far as Toothless is concerned.
In 2010's animated How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless's skin is mostly glossy and smooth, but the CGI live-action version is covered in contrasting scales. This adds depth to the character, allowing light and shadows to make the character look a part of the real world. Additionally, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie features a Toothless with striking, realistic cat-like green eyes, while the animated version is cartoon-stylized. Aside from these subtle changes, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie has remained faithful to the original as far as Toothless is concerned.
How to Train Your Dragon
- Release Date
- June 13, 2025
- Runtime
- 125 minutes
- Director
- Dean DeBlois
- Writers
- Dean DeBlois
- Producers
- Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
Cast
Mason ThamesHiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Astrid Hofferson
- Franchise(s)
- How to Train Your Dragon
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