Dreamworks has released the first trailer for Abominable, the latest in a string of animated films about the icebound Bigfoot. It might sound recognisable because of all the yeti films we’ve gotten in the past, including the one where Zendaya was Meechee—but it’s also similar for another reason. Does this yeti look…familiar to you?
The first trailer for Abominable introduces Chloe Bennet as Yi, a young girl living in modern-day Shanghai who has big dreams and wants to measure up to her father’s legacy. But everything changes when she comes across a strange creature, one which seems wild and uncontrollable…until Yi discovers it has special magical abilities, and the two of them form an inseparable bond.
Looking, I’m not saying Dreamworks has followed the final film in the How to Train Your Dragon saga with a copycat movie about a girl and her yeti that looks and acts exactly like Toothless…but come on! Did you look at the yeti’s face? The shape of the eyes, the wide and toothy grin, right down to the slits in its short, wide nose.
This is Snow Toothless. They even go flying together. They have to conjure up some cloud space whales in order to do it. But if How to Train Your Dragon had epic flying scenes, goddammit, so should Abominable.
Of course, there are some differences. This one is about Yi and her friends taking the yeti, that she’s named Everest, back to his family in the mountains. They’re being chased by an animal collector (Eddie Izzard) and a zoologist’s assistant (Sarah Paulson), who want to kidnap the yeti—very similar to previous HTTYD storylines, but also a common trope so it’s easy to ignore. And I’ll admit, the movie looks really pretty. Dreamworks’ animation continues to improve, and I love how the studio is willing to experiment with fantastic and otherworldly imagery, something Disney tends to keep more grounded with films like this.
But come on. It’s Snow Toothless. Abominable comes out September 19.