When writer-director Dean DeBlois agreed to return and helm a live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake for Universal, one unique “Toothless” challenge rose above the rest. Of course, having the creator of the original DreamWorks animated trilogy tell this story again established a certain level of trust for diehard fans. However, many things were still uncertain, such as how these characters would translate in the live-action medium. Disney’s live-action remakes over the last decade have both succeeded and failed, depending on this aspect. Just this year, the Snow White remake was criticized for its unappealing visuals while Lilo & Stitch soared, thanks to staying faithful to the titular alien’s original cute design.
Based on the famed children’s book series by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon follows the young Viking Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Mason Thames) as he tries to live up to the expectations of his father, Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), on the Isle of Berk. Vikings and dragons have been sworn enemies for generations here, but Hiccup is no killer. It’s not until he forms an unlikely bond with a Night Fury, the rarest and deadliest of all dragon breeds according to legend, that he finds a path to peace. With the help of his powerful new companion, Toothless, Hiccup sets out to build a better future for his fellow Vikings as Berk’s first-ever dragon rider.
Dean DeBlois Received Advice From a Legendary VFX Artist on Remaking How to Train Your Dragon
Toothless is arguably one of the most beloved animated characters of all time, ranking alongside Disney’s Stitch in terms of popularity. Funny enough, the two icons share the same parents: creative partners Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot) and Dean DeBlois, who co-directed both Lilo & Stitch (2002) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010). Jumping into a live-action adaptation, DeBlois faced the ultimate task of making Toothless’ adorable salamander-like face and black panther-like body features look convincing in photorealism without feeling too uncanny. The worst-case scenario? Fans reject the live-action design with disgust, just as they did with the controversial, ugly Sonic the Hedgehog look in 2019.
Thankfully, Toothless feels like a large, physically imposing beast while still keeping his expressive eyes and charming facial qualities in the live-action remake. However, in sitting down with Dean DeBlois for an exclusive interview, we discovered that this design almost “went too far” with photorealism, compromising the character’s magnetic screen presence.
Dean DeBlois: “We went too far a couple of times in exploring where Toothless could have come from. We received some advice from John Dykstra. He’s a legendary visual effects person from ILM, and he was consulting with Universal at the time. He said to think backwards, like if the animated movie is a stylized and exaggerated version of these creatures, then what did they look like in real life? It was a great philosophy to adopt as the designers at Framestore started to explore the other dragons.”
Toothless Almost Looked Very Different in Live-Action
As we learned from filmmaker Dean DeBlois himself, many of the movie’s other mythic dragons — such as the Gronckle, Hideous Zippleback, Deadly Nadder, and Monstrous Nightmare — proved much easier to adapt. In How to Train Your Dragon (2025), these photorealistic creatures look like they were pulled right out of Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings. But the aforementioned advice from Industrial Light & Magic’s John Dykstra (who worked on the original Star Wars trilogy) couldn’t apply to Toothless. He simply began to look way too different and off-putting in live-action. Ironically, the eventual solution was similar to what Disney recently did with Stitch: keep the instantly recognizable proportions of the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Dean DeBlois: “We could depart from some of the cartoonish designs with the other dragons. But with Toothless, in particular, he’s so iconic and so expressive. He’s already quite specific that as we tried to change his face and maybe make his mouth or eyes smaller, or shift proportions around, he stopped feeling like the character very quickly. So, we decided to retain the Stitch-like proportions of the eyes to the nose to the mouth, but then work on his body and make it feel convincing and realistic in terms of his skeleton, musculature, and iridescent scales. We really wanted to lean into his black panther animal reference.”
Raising the Bar for Live-Action Remakes
The live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon has set a new bar, proving that it is possible to create a worthy cinematic adventure that complements the original animated source material. Although Disney has achieved this before with remakes of their classic animated films, the studio has undeniably lost its vision with a slew of misfires in recent years. Universal and DreamWorks have now offered an alternative, which would not have been as successful without the return of Dean DeBlois. Based on the magnificent visuals and adaptational choices of Hiccup and Toothless’ first movie, there’s no telling how DeBlois will shape the fan-favorite sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2024), in live-action next.
How to Train Your Dragon hits theaters on June 13!
Release Date: June 13, 2025.
Directed by Dean DeBlois.
Screenplay by Dean DeBlois.
Based on How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell.
Produced by Marc Platt & Adam Siegel.
Executive Producers: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, David Cain, Michael A. Connolly, & Roy Lee.
Main Cast: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Ruth Codd, Peter Serafinowicz, & Murray McArthur.
Cinematographer: Bill Pope.
Composer: John Powell.
Production Companies: DreamWorks Animation & Marc Platt Productions.
Distributor: Universal Pictures.
Runtime: 125 minutes.
Rated PG.
