Disney has had a run of failures with their live-action adaptations for a while now, and everyone is pretty much over them. The theatrical releases of these films have been largely criticized by fans who are tired of seeing inferior versions of Disney classics. When DreamWorks first announced their plans for the “How to Train Your Dragon” adaptation, I thought the reaction would be the same. However, the movie has garnered a lot of good reviews and has become a box office success for the company. What is the difference about this movie that puts it above Disney’s attempts?
The key to this success is the adaptation’s loyalty to the source material. Many of the things that made the original film beloved by audiences have been incorporated into the film. The characters, iconic scenes, and major plot points have been portrayed identically, aside from some new lines and visuals. It may seem like a no-brainer, but many Disney adaptations have made the mistake of changing the story or characters in a way that actively makes the experience worse. The live-action “Mulan” movie is the worst example of this I can think of. “How to Train Your Dragon” remains a fantastic trilogy with next to nothing to improve upon, so changing anything would do a disservice to the animated films.
Despite everything that I just said, it’s difficult to fully justify the praise this movie has gotten. It is the same movie in live-action form, which is hardly creative and is still not as good as the animated version. However, as far as adaptation goes, this one does a great job of recapturing the soul of the original and makes for a good excuse to go to the theatres to see the story unfold once more. If DreamWorks is keen on doing more of these, they need to learn from Disney and make sure to keep what made their movies special in the first place.
