Toothless was born to shine and soar through animation. In live action? It crash landed before takeoff. How To Train Your Dragon, a movie where, when mentioned, the person’s mind would presumably go to the animated movie with the cute dragon. So to say that a live-action remake of the popular series is a good idea would be a wrong statement.
The original had no need for a remake; it was already beloved and recently resurging with popularity. The original movie wasn’t about realism, it was about fun. It kept viewers laughing and guessing, all while holding their breath. It was entertainment, realistic, but a good watch nonetheless. When Hiccup was running from fire, surrounded by danger, the scene is still funny in the might of all the chaos. The animation brings it all together. Contradicting from how silly the movie was before this scene.
Compare that same scene in the live-action. Should be epic, right? Wrong. The scene is bland with little action besides some awkward running. The entire movie tried too hard to be realistic; there weren’t any scenes that made audiences chuckle or laugh like the original. Considering the HTTYD movies were intended to be serious, yet incorporate a comedic element, this isn’t the best look for a remake.
And don’t get me started on character design. Ruffnut? Completely unrecognizable Astrid mostly looked like herself, but she is still off. In many ways than one, to list: hair color, braids, and eye color. Only her outfit is right. To be fair, they did accurately portray Gobber and Stoick; their designs were the only ones I would say stayed closest to the original animated version. Despite all the bad designs in the movie, the costume designers somehow managed to give Gothi a great design that portrayed details from the show’s spin-off.
The dragons had the same problem. Most of them were trying to be hyper-realistic: scales, wings, eyes – the whole mythical creature vibe. Then there was Toothless. Don’t get me wrong, he looked a lot like his animated version, but that was the problem. His big cartoony eyes and soft features made his appearance clash with the other dragons. He looked like he wandered in from a Saturday morning cartoon while the rest had just escaped Jurassic Park.
Finally, the plot. You would think that a remake would add something new to draw in viewers, but it was basically a copy and paste, without the humor. The remake tried to be serious, like the scene when Astrid and Hiccup are flying for the first time together. The scene is meant to be funny but the live-action just makes it too serious. Instead of the movie drawing people in, it made fans wish it never existed in the first place. (I will personally never again watch that movie willingly).
