How To Train Your Dragon does a lot of work to honor the spirit of the 2010 animated movie, while still creating some new updates and a look and feel of its own. In its initial draft, the new live action film would have included another popular scene from the original. In fact, there was one scene director Dean DeBlois told me he absolutely thought would make it into the theatrical version.
The live action How To Train Your Dragon hit homes to rent or own on July 15th. If you previously had a chance to see the flick in theaters, you may remember one scene missing with Toothless and the Terrible Terrors, a slew of tiny dragons that are cute but mischievous.
Actually, that scene made it very far into the movie process before the director and creative team decided it had to go. Speaking to Dean, the director really hardcore believed the audience needed to know dragons aren’t “fireproof on the inside” and thought the scene was key to that understanding.
I think that, when you look at the beach break scene, it seemed very fundamental in the animated movie that we needed to drill in the idea that dragons aren’t fireproof on the inside. So, this little scene of Terrible Terrors fighting over fish and Toothless just sort of lighting up a little dragon’s belly with his own gas, it felt like it was the setup to a payoff.
However, the film was already running over 2 hours – significantly longer than the 98 minute animated version that hit theaters 15 years ago. Something had to go.
So, What Happened To The Terrible Terrors Scene?
Ultimately, while the director was quite partial to the adorable scene, which is a fun moment for both Toothless and the tiny winged dragons, it had to go. I asked him what happened, and he noted:
When the story started lagging in the middle, we thought, ‘Well maybe we can just snip that out and use the storytelling of the third act to make that really evident and clear.’ I found we didn’t miss it… after a while. It’s an entertaining scene and it worked in sort of the younger-skewing animated version of How To Train Your Dragon but not quite as necessary in this live action version.
If you are quite partial to the Terrible Terrors, there is good news. As How To Train Your Dragon live action hits Digital and later Blu-ray and DVD, a slew of special features will also be available. Amidst those – you guessed it – we’ll be able to catch a glimpse of Toothless and the Terrible Terrors and see the scene that almost was. It’s one of two big deleted scenes with the release, the other being a scene called "Beach Break," which was only partially realized before the film was fully fleshed out.
Following it's Digital release into homes on July 15th, How To Train Your Dragon will also be hitting Blu-ray and DVD to own on August 12th. A slew of other bonus features will also be including, totally over 75 minutes of extra content. If you love the Isle of Berk as much as idea, they're worth perusing.
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