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Seven months after hitting theaters and scoring one of the biggest box office hauls of the year, DreamWorks’ live-action How to Train Your Dragon is scheduled to fly into Netflix’s streaming library on February 10th (according to Whats-on-Netflix). Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and directed the original 2010 animated film, the movie stars Mason Thames as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the awkward 16-year-old Viking on the rugged isle of Berk who defies centuries of tradition when he befriends a toothless dragon aptly named Toothless.
The Live-Action How to Train Your Dragon Was a Big Win for DreamWorks
Transforming animation into live-action is a significant creative and technical endeavor, and animated movies often struggle as live-action films, but How to Train Your Dragon managed to beat the odds. The movie was overwhelmingly well-received and earned a “Certified Fresh” 77% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a near-perfect and “Verified Hot” audience score of 97%. The movie proved that live-action remakes can resonate by staying faithful to the beloved animated original, the film playing out as a near shot-for-shot carbon copy with only a few subtle changes that ground the fantasy in the real world. ComicBook’s Nicole Drum described it as being “exactly what a live-action remake of an animated film should be. It honors the original and enhances it by seeking not to change it.”
