Dean DeBlois
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For older viewers, Elio feels like it samples freely from films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, and even How to Train Your Dragon.
…a young boy, feeling unloved despite his Aunt Olga's concern, looking to the stars for companionship (hello "Lilo & Stitch!").
“Elio” feels like a focus group wanted to make the next “Lilo and Stitch” (2002)…
Elio’s sci-fi trappings should help sell the film for family audiences who have presumably already taken in the live-action remakes Lilo & Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon.
At times, he feels a lot like Lilo from Lilo & Stitch (the original of course), who is largely misunderstood.
…the human child meets otherworldly companion formula (Lilo & Stitch, Ron’s Gone Wrong)…
The Sea Beast (2022)
Directed by Chris Williams
influenced by How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Themes Plot Visuals
Williams and company have borrowed heavily from the likes of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon to classics like Moby Dick, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mutiny on the Bounty, Master & Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean to even Williams’ own Moana.
Sure, hardened cynics could argue that the premise of “The Sea Beast” borrows heavily from “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) with another brave youngster teaching Medieval adults not to fear the unknown, this time replacing Toothless with a sea monster named Red and an adorable sidekick named Blue that acts a lot like “Lilo & Stitch” (2002).
It helps that the beast's design evokes memories of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon , and it's just as adorable and characterful.
His nemesis isn’t a great white whale but the mighty Red Bluster, a humongous beast with a manatee-ish shape, a rhino-reminiscent horn, a wide mouth of incisors that recalls the animal faces in How to Train Your Dragon , and expressive yellow feline eyes.
The story however may recall How to Train Your Dragon : humanity is forced to reconsider how they see fabled monsters when a young girl befriends the titular Moby Dick.
The similarities to DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise will be lost on no one.
Shrek (2001)
Directed by Andrew Adamson
influenced How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
…is the third best opening ever for Dreamworks Animation behind a pair of Shrek movies.
Despite the outlandish success of the “Shrek” movies, there’s often a sad, also-ran vibe to DreamWorks’ animated movies.
The company’s animation output has hitherto been of the Shrek model: packed with tiresomely knowing pop cultural references that jar you out of the story every five minutes like an elbow to the ribs.
But it is an especially nice touch in the dragon tale itself, which is both heartwarming and heartfelt, a significant departure from the pop culture saturated sarcasm that had become something of a DreamWorks Animation staple à la “Shrek.”
But even if Dragon leads with its visuals, be glad that Dreamworks has largely moved away from the inane pop-culture referencing and wiseass temperament that marked the Shrek films.
There's no compulsion to break into impromptu karaoke or drop jokey pop-culture references, the way DreamWorks' "Shrek" franchise and its many imitators have done.
As both a gentle ecological parable and the first Disney cartoon showcase for a Polynesian cast since “Lilo & Stitch” (2002), it could scarcely be otherwise.
The Hawaiian tropics that Disney painted several years back in the cute but slight “Lilo & Stitch” can’t compare.
There’s the welcome cultural aspect of the female explorer, of course, plus the fact that the film gives its heroine a healthy, more realistically proportioned physique (reminiscent of the Hawaiian characters in “Lilo & Stitch”), rather than forcing Moana into the mold of past princesses.
On the plus side, the filmmakers have drawn inspiration from a new cultural setting — indigenous Polynesian culture and mythology — a move crucial to the success of Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog , which also featured brown-skinned heroines.
In contrast to the sylph-like figures of Frozen , Moana has a sturdiness that recalls the Hawaiian heroines of 2002’s Lilo & Stitch .
It’s been a slow road to self-realization for Disney heroines, but the old tropes have steadily been strengthened through films like Mulan , Lilo & Stitch , The Princess a nd t he Frog , Tangled , Zootopia , and Frozen .
Abominable (2019)
Directed by Jill Culton
influenced by How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Plot Visuals
I bring this up only because the studio’s two 2019 films, March’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and the recent Abominable, both seem to be driven by the same basic artistic impulses and inclinations.
That it also makes obvious nods to the studio's first How To Train Your Dragon, as well as the classics King Kong and E.T., doesn’t take away from its inherent charm.
Writer-director Jill Culton’s Abominable is, by and large, a gene splice of How to Train Your Dragon and Ice Age, with its nefarious corporate-military villain drawing comparison to Incredibles 2 and its quirky background animal characters recalling the Madagascar series.
For every memorable franchise like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How To Train Your Dragon, there’s a Boss Baby or The Croods that effectively weakens the brand.
It recycles a key element from DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon series: a nonhuman, nonverbal character who forms a touching bond with the human protagonist.
It’s tough to dislike any of these characters, but it’s tough to be particularly invested in them, either, and Abominable doesn’t have the visual grandeur of similar DreamWorks franchise How to Train Your Dragon to make up for the flat characters and dull narrative.
Lilo & Stitch (2025)
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp
influenced How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Themes
It’s stange to have two beloved animated films in theaters once again, but to have them presented in a way that so much of what made them loved is missing. Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon have something in common aside from their live-action remakes sharing theater space.
…followed it with a more recent, but adored, property, LILO & STITCH…
The new How to Train Your Dragon is somewhat easier to rationalize than Lilo & Stitch: while the latter’s animation style has ensured a timeless aesthetic, the former has begun to show its age, if only slightly.
The film is a big hit, even if it’s not going to do Lilo & Stitch or A Minecraft Movie numbers in the family-friendly space.
…as the latest Lilo & Stitch movie will soon enter the billion-dollar club.
This results in a less interesting film than, say, the new Lilo & Stitch (another recent live-action remake of a DeBlois and Sanders team-up, coincidentally), albeit one that still works as a touching spin on the story we already know.
Game of Thrones (2011)
influenced How to Train Your Dragon (2025), How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Themes Visuals Characters
This is no longer a kids’ adventure from Dreamworks—this is adolescent Game of Thrones.
Imagine “Game of Thrones” for kids — the aerial sequences alone, paired with a thunderous score, elevate the experience beyond what the animation could achieve.
Here, they’re every bit as believable as the beasts that Daenerys Targaryen rode on Game of Thrones.
…as Dany and Jon ride her winged children, How to Train Your Dragon-style, into the North’s snowy wilderness and make out by a waterfall.
…you’re certainly not letting your kids watch Game of Thrones, right…
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Directed by Irvin Kershner
influenced How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Visuals Plot
This may as well be his Fortress of Solitude, or to borrow an analogy from that greatest of fantasy-movie sequels, “The Empire Strikes Back” (whose influence on DeBlois cannot be underestimated), it’s the spiritual equivalent of Dagobah, where Yoda trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force.
The influence of The Empire Strikes Back is readily apparent between the often icy environments and steeper stakes (DeBlois has admitted as much in interviews), and although the original’s entire voice cast has reprised its roles, Baruchel and America Ferrera (as Hiccup’s now-girlfriend, Astrid) contribute subtly mature work bringing their lead characters forth from their teens into something resembling adulthood.
This sequel has been pitched by director Dean DeBlois as The Empire Strikes Back to How to Train Your Dragon's A New Hope, picking up five years after the events of the original with Vikings and dragons living in harmony on the island of Berk.
The follow-up has both the solemnity and big story turns that made The Empire Strikes Back a superior sequel, as well as the cartoonish, kid-oriented set pieces that made Return of the Jedi more of a family-friendly adventure.
Like The Empire Strikes Back (which is a terrific qualitative allusion here), How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a marvelous middle act.
The animated sequel takes cues from "The Empire Strikes Back" the same way "Skyfall" took cues from "The Dark Knight."
Avatar (2009)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced How to Train Your Dragon (2025), How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Visuals Themes
…perhaps capturing some of the magic of on-camera flight from other such timeless sequences in films like 1978’s Superman, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Avatar…
It hit theaters just a few months after James Cameron’s epochal blockbuster Avatar, and it tapped into a similar yearning to disappear into a universe where one could tame and ride fearsome, colorful mythical beasts. The two films had been produced concurrently and independently, and both adventures hit familiar sweeping, rousing beats.
It's a joy to behold, a freewheeling exploration of impossible vistas that recalls, and arguably betters, the similar moments in Avatar .
It’s a combination of the wonder of flight in Avatar mixed with the speedy dogfights in Top Gun.
I have no emotional investment in the books, so I was nothing but totally thrilled with what ended up on the screen: a rousing tale beautifully animated to take full advantage of the current technology to create an invented world that is as touchably real as anything James Cameron showed us in Avatar.
How to Train Your Dragon blends the mythic-culture awesome of DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda, the geek chic of Sony’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the dragon-riding euphoria of Avatar into an uneven but rollicking adventure that manages to be touching, funny, exhilarating and ultimately about as thrilling as a climactic battle with Vikings and dragons can possibly be.
The Black Stallion (1979)
Directed by Carroll Ballard
influenced How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Themes
The human/dragon scenario is reminiscent of both the delicate human/animal alliance in such films as The Black Stallion (1979) and the illicit romance of Romeo & Juliet (although here it is definitely a bromance).
Antz (1998)
Directed by Eric Darnell
influenced How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Plot
In its early days, the studio directly copycatted Pixar, with movies like Antz and Shark Tale attempting to ride the coattails of A Bug’s Life and Finding Nemo .
When Dreamworks Animation first made its mark with Antz back in 1998, hopes were high that this would be the competition needed to take on the mighty Pixar.
For the first time in about 60 years, watercolors are used for the background animation, giving the movie a throwback feel of classic Disney films like "Dumbo" and "Snow White."
It is written and directed by relative newcomers Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders (Sanders himself essays the voice of Stitch), who have notably chosen to use watercolor background paintings, a medium not used in a Disney feature since Dumbo (1941), adding, for better or worse, an old-fashioned touch to the film's overall look.
Instead, the use of watercolor scenery, a style that hasn't been used in the 60 years since "Dumbo," "Pinocchio," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Bambi," gives "Lilo & Stitch" a more folksy feel for its futuristic story line.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Directed by Carlos López Estrada
influenced by How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Themes Characters Plot
I suppose it’s not fair to compare CGI animated movies about a boy — or girl — and their dragon, but if I must, let me just say this right off the top: I really prefer DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon and both of its sequels to the latest entry from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Raya and the Last Dragon.
Awkwafina’s dragon isn’t menacing like “Game of Thrones” (2011); it’s more adorable like Toothless in “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010).
“Raya and the Last Dragon” needed a truly memorable magical creature — like Toothless in DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon” — to set it apart, whereas Sisu looks weird, like someone stuck a plastic “My Little Pony” head on a floppy feather-boa body.
If one reads Disney’s press notes synopsis their latest sounds a lot like “Mulan” crossed with “How to Train Your Dragon.”
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Lilo & Stitch (2002), How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Themes Plot
The filmmakers have clearly digested their "Potter" and their "E.T.," but they've digested it rather well.
The development of their relationship gives the film its sweetness and heart, which develops into real pathos; by the time we get to the end of the second act, the picture is treading into E.T. territory.
Sophisticated, expert animation, attractive pastel colors, and the relentless Disney hype machine can’t disguise the fact that this shameless animated ripoff of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the worst-ever Disney animated feature (yes, even worse than The Black Cauldron).
Directors Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders (who also wrote the script and supplies the voice of Stitch) combine elements of Frankenstein, Home Alone, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in this story of a lonely child and her extraterrestrial friend yearning for a nuclear family.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Directed by Lee Unkrich
influenced How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Themes Plot
Written and directed by franchise veteran Dean DeBlois, The Hidden World is aesthetically as beautiful as ever, with melancholy themes reminiscent of Toy Story 3 .
The gold standard has always been Toy Story 3, which (at the time) wrapped up Pixar’s marvellous franchise in spectacular fashion.
The Hidden World does eventually build to an emotional Hail Mary, its very own Toy Story 3 tearjerker of a trilogy conclusion.
Even so, the film is filled with a number of other surprises, including a finale that conjures fond memories of the mesmerizing conclusion to Toy Story 3.
From its space politics, where Grand Councilwoman (Zoe Caldwell, "The Purple Rose of Cairo") sentences based on an individual's worth to society, to its themes of broken homes forming wide-reaching families, "Lilo & Stitch" has something for everyone.
Kevin McDonald ("The Ladies Man," "Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy"), Zoe Caldwell ("The Purple Rose of Cairo") and Jason Scott Lee ("Soldier," "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story") round out the other major characters and all do fine work.
Star Wars (1977)
Directed by George Lucas
influenced How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Visuals Themes
Taking its cues as much from Star Wars and Game of Thrones as from its own storybook narrative, How to Train Your Dragon 2 breathes fire into a franchise sequel.
It's clear that he took inspiration from the first Star Wars trilogy — not a bad model for breathing new life, and yes, a bit of fire, into one of Hollywood's more nuanced animated franchises.
Like the original "Star Wars" trilogy and "Toy Story" series, the makers of this franchise are allowing the films to grow up alongside loyal young viewers.
Predator (1987)
Directed by John McTiernan
influenced How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Visuals
(The effect reminded me of the cloaking device in 1987’s Predator .)
Toy Story (1995)
Directed by John Lasseter
influenced How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Characters Visuals
Think of the relationship between Buzz Lightyear and Woody in the "Toy Story" movies, Carl and Russell in "Up," Marlin and Dory in "Finding Nemo."
Despite the first two well-made Shrek films, DreamWorks has mostly played second fiddle to CG animation giant Pixar: From Antz to Kung Fu Panda , these illustrated marvels are clearly wondrous to look at, but the narrative arcs and characters never quite resonate with the same emotional complexity and punch as, say, Toy Story or even 2009’s Up .
Whatever its intentions, "Lilo & Stitch" may end up as one of the many missed opportunities for Disney standing on the sidelines as a third stringer while its contemporaries like "Shrek", "Monsters, Inc.", "Toy Story" or "The Lion King" will continue to capture the hearts of the millions of moviegoers long after their departure from the big screen.
Lilo & Stitch is the latest "conventionally animated" effort from Walt Disney Pictures (that is to say, not associated with the Pixar digital animation company, with whom Disney has collaborated on such spectacular films as Toy Story [1 and 2 ], A Bug's Life , and Monsters, Inc. ).
Watching How to Train Your Dragon 2, you’re reminded of the thrill you felt when you saw your first computer-animated movie, be it Toy Story or A Bug’s Life or even the forgettable Antz.
Not since Toy Story has an animated movie managed to feel so fresh and vibrant with its second helping.
Spirited Away (2001)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
influenced How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Visuals
It should remind one of the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Oscar winner for “Spirited Away”), whose lyrical work in movies has allegedly ended after last year’s amazing “The Wind Rises.”
How to Train Your Dragon 2 can hope to be as good as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, but hoping’s as close as it’s gonna get.
This time the voices are less recognizable, by Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis and Daveigh Chase, the voice of the little Hawaiian girl in "Lilo & Stitch."
"Spirited Away" features traditional animation combined with computer-generated effects, which is not particularly unusual; "Treasure Planet," "Lilo & Stitch" and "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" also mixed mediums.
Disney executives, knowing a good animated thing even when they don't make it, bought the worldwide rights to "Spirited Away" and refitted it with an English script and a new voice cast that includes such American actors as Suzanne Pleshette, David Ogden Stiers and Daveigh Chase, last heard as Lilo in Disney's "Lilo & Stitch.
River gods, dragons, radish spirits, flying oragami birds, rolling, muttering decapitated heads, twin witches, and spirits of all imaginable shapes and sizes roam the countryside of a mystical landscape into which a young modern-day girl named Chihiro (Daveigh Chase, Lilo & Stitch ) stumbles when her cloddish parents take a wrong turn on their way to their new house.