I'm blown away by these similarities between How To Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch (& I was today years old when I noticed them)

On the surface, the two 2025 releases, How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, seem like completely different animated adventures, one’s about Vikings and dragons, the other’s set in Hawaii with a chaotic alien. But once you look closer, the emotional DNA is almost identical. Both center on lonely kids who bond with misunderstood creatures, challenge everything their world fears, and accidentally teach everyone around them how to love better.

Grief, found family, identity, redemption — it’s all there, wrapped in wildly different animation styles but hitting the same emotional core. So here are ten things that totally blew my mind about how similar these two beloved films really are.

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How Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon redefined monsters

Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon don’t just tell stories; they dismantle the idea of what a “monster” really is. Stitch crash-lands as a ball of chaos, and Toothless lurks in the skies like a living myth.

Both are seen as threats, built up as beasts to be feared. But Lilo and Hiccup meet two oddball kids who don’t flinch. They reach out instead of running. And suddenly, what is found is a treasure-trove of lifelong friendship and companionship. Both Toothless and Stitch remind us that monsters aren’t born; they’re misunderstood.

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Both films revolve around two misfits and two "monsters"

Hiccup and Lilo aren’t your typical heroes. They’re awkward, overlooked, a little too soft for the worlds they live in. However, while others felt scared, they showed courage and kindness. They saw something no one else did: that behind sharp teeth and growls were souls just as lost and longing as theirs.

Toothless and Stitch weren’t tamed with power or control, but with peanut butter sandwiches, drawings, gentle hands, and trust. These lonely kids didn’t only befriend monsters, they built bridges where others built walls. And in doing so, they reminded us that love, especially from the odd ones, changes everything.

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How Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon made magic with iconic first meets

Every great story has a spark, and for How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, it’s the moment the “monster” meets the misfit. When Hiccup chooses to help an injured Toothless instead of killing him, and when Lilo adopts Stitch, thinking he’s just an ugly dog, everything changes.

These aren’t just plot points, they’re acts of radical kindness. That first contact, rooted in empathy, flips the narrative. Two feared creatures and two lonely kids come together, not in battle, but in connection. And in that exact moment, their worlds quietly begin to rewrite themselves.

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The quiet grief in Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon

Beneath the laughs, wild chases, and animated wonder, Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon are really stories about kids quietly carrying grief. Lilo clings to Elvis records and photos of her parents, aching for a kind of love that doesn’t leave. Hiccup, missing his mother and never quite enough for his father, hides his sadness behind invention and awkward bravery.

These films don’t shout about their losses; they let the feeling whisper through the lonely moments. And when Stitch or Toothless crash-land, they provide companionship for the human protagonists to find solace in. And suddenly, healing doesn’t seem so impossible.

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The same team worked on creating Toothless and Stitch

Yep, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois stitched their hearts into both. Stitch was Sanders’ quirky brainchild, and years later, Toothless became his spiritual cousin. They both worked on both Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. The similarities aren’t just visual, catlike wiggles, doglike loyalty, wide, expressive eyes, but also emotional.

These “monsters” are soft souls misjudged by the world. Music drives both stories, letting feelings speak louder than words. And at the core of these two films are two lonely kids who choose love and courage over hatred and fear. From Hawaiian beaches to dragon-filled skies, these films aren’t just connected, they’re cut from the same magical cloth.

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Crash-lands and cosmic fates tie both duos together

In Lilo & Stitch, Stitch's entrance is preceded by Lilo's wishes on the "shooting star," begging the universe for the nicest angel it has. Cue Stitch, cackling like chaos incarnate.

In How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless’ entrance coincides with the moment in which Hiccup, aiming skyward during a dragon raid, downs a mysterious shadow: the Night Fury. Both arrivals are fiery, fated, and disguised as disasters. But these crashes don’t bring doom; they bring creatures who will quietly change everything for the better.

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Both duos use sketching to bond

Sometimes, the first step to understanding isn’t a grand gesture; it’s a doodle. In Lilo & Stitch, Lilo maps out Stitch’s behavior in a scribbly sketch, tracking his chaotic behavior like a scientist of the soul. That same emotional blueprint echoes in How to Train Your Dragon when Hiccup sketches Toothless in the dirt, and Hiccup, unsure how to reach the wounded Night Fury, sketches Toothless in the dirt.

Surprisingly, Toothless responds, adding his own markings. It’s a breakthrough, not just out of trust, but out of curiosity. Both scenes use drawing as a bridge, where lines on paper (or soil) become the first real language between boy and beast. And that’s where everything begins to shift.

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Both the creatures get less scary as the film develops

Stitch was built for destruction, literally. The result of rogue genetic engineering, he crashes to Earth with all his teeth and tantrums. But when Lilo brings him into her messy, love-filled world, something wild happens. He begins to change. Not because he’s forced to, but because someone finally teaches him about Ohana, the kind of love that stays.

Toothless starts off no different, a feared Night Fury, silent and snarling, wounded and wary. But when Hiccup shows him kindness instead of fear, the snarls fade. Bit by bit, both creatures shift. Not just from bad to good, but from alone to home.

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Both films reinforce that the supposed 'enemies' aren't really enemies

Both Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon open with chaos. Stitch crash-lands on Earth, pursued by alien forces trying to contain him, while dragons terrorize the Viking village of Berk with fire and fury. But as their stories unfold, something beautiful happens.

Lilo, with her open heart, helps Stitch find belonging. Hiccup, with his empathy, sees through centuries of fear and discovers trust in his bond with Toothless. The supposed enemies, an alien and a dragon, aren’t threats at all. By the end, both worlds shift: creatures once feared become family. And it’s not war that gets them there, it’s love.

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Saved by each other: How Lilo, Stitch, Hiccup, and Toothless found healing in connection

We often say Lilo saved Stitch, or Hiccup saved Toothless, but the truth is, the rescue went both ways. Lilo, lost in her grief and isolation, found purpose and companionship in Stitch’s chaos. Stitch, made for destruction, found softness in her love. Toothless didn’t just become tame; he gave Hiccup the space to grow into someone brave and kind.

These weren’t stories of heroes fixing broken creatures. These were stories of broken souls finding each other, holding up mirrors, and quietly saying, “you’re not alone anymore.” Each character gave the other what they didn’t know they were missing. And that’s what made it magic.

Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon (the live-action remake of the 2010 animated original) are both available in theaters now.