How to Train Your Dragon director Dean DeBlois has revealed that he used the 2010 animated movie as a "test screening" for the new live-action remake in order to improve on its mistakes.
"That first movie was made in a rush, and I’m super proud of it, but there are things that we could have done even better. My attitude was, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater," DeBlois, who co-directed the animated version and is back at the helm for the new remake, told The Wrap, adding that the team decided to treat the animated movie as "our latest test screening."
Fans of the animated movie didn't take too kindly to the comments, however. "Jesus Christ what a bleak way of looking at one of the best animated features of the 21st century that a crew poured so much care and effort into," wrote one Twitter user.
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"Sounds a whole lot like you're trying to discredit the impact the original animated movie had to prop up something that's trying to fix what ain't broke," said another.
"Maybe I’m being dramatic or biased but it really is disheartening to see someone talk about their art in this way, especially when the art in question as good as the first how to train your dragon was," tweeted someone else.
"Animation deserves more respect than this. It's always talked about as if it's lesser," added another user.
"We still had time and money to go a little deeper with characters, to enrich the experience, to make the action scenes, the flying, more visceral, more immersive, but also make the character relationships a little richer and deeper," DeBlois continued.
"Hopefully, the experience would be something that echoes to the familiarity and the nostalgia of the first movie, but with depth. There are many ways we could have gone, but that’s the way that felt most comfortable to me, because I am really proud of that animated movie.”
Set in a world where Vikings and dragons have been enemies for generations, How to Train Your Dragon follows the unlikely bond between Hiccup, a young, awkward Viking, and his new companion Toothless the dragon. The animated movie was released back in 2010 and Jay Baruchel voiced Hiccup. The live-action remake sees The Black Phone's Mason Thames take over the role, while Gerard Butler reprises his role from the animated movie as Hiccup's father Stoick the Vast.
How to Train Your Dragon arrives in theaters on June 13. For more on this year's upcoming movies, check out our guide to the biggest 2025 movie release dates.
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