How The Live-Action Toothless Compares To The Original Version In How To Train Your Dragon

By Angel Shaw

Published Feb 10, 2025

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Custom image by Yeider Chacon

DreamWorks has reconstructed Toothless into live-action for the 2025 Super Bowl prove they did surprisingly well.

Thelive-action How to Train Your Dragon took a much more difficult route.

How To Train Your Dragon Live-Action Remake's Toothless Is Surprisingly Accurate

DreamWorks Stuck With The Original Design

Toothless watching as Hiccup draws something in the sand in How to Train Your Dragon

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie looks remarkably similar to the 2010 version audiences are familiar with. He is essentially identical in every way, from his proportions to his expressions. This is a significant relief since it had been difficult to imagine how such an emotive and adorable dragon could be made to look photorealistic. Toothless' character is well-suited to animation, but DreamWorks retained this quality while seamlessly blending the CGI dragon with the live-action actors.

There Are Only Minor Differences Between The Two Versions Of Toothless

How To Train Your Dragon Used Minor Details To Make Toothless Look More Real

Close-up of Toothless from the new live action How to Train Your Dragon

DreamWorks couldn't simply stick the CGI-animated Toothless in its live-action How to Train Your Dragon and call it a day. While the dragon's design and proportions were kept the same, some subtle changes were necessary to make Toothless look more like a dragon that could exist in some version of the real world. This came down mainly to adding layers of texture.

Aside from these subtle changes, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie has remained faithful to the original as far as Toothless is concerned.

In 2010's animated How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless's skin is mostly glossy and smooth, but the CGI live-action version is covered in contrasting scales. This adds depth to the character, allowing light and shadows to make the character look a part of the real world. Additionally, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie features a Toothless with striking, realistic cat-like green eyes, while the animated version is cartoon-stylized. Aside from these subtle changes, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie has remained faithful to the original as far as Toothless is concerned.