How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

photo courtesy of heyuguys.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Everyone’s favorite Viking/dragon bromance comes to an end this weekend with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It’s the third main entry in the critically and commercially successful How to Train Your Dragon series, which follows kind-hearted chief Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his lovable dragon Toothless. This time, with dragon hunter Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) setting his sights on Toothless, Hiccup searches for the “hidden world,” the mysterious home of all dragons. Along the way, he’ll encounter a new, female Fury—the only other member of Toothless’ rare breed of dragon. 

     As any human being with a functioning soul can tell you, the previous two Train Your Dragon movies are absolute treasures. They’ve got humor, heart, great animation, and they can do blockbuster battle sequences with the best of them. Put simply, there’s something magical and inviting about this world, and that same something is at work again in The Hidden World.

photo courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com

     The core of the series has been the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless, so naturally The Hidden World prioritizes bringing that plot thread to a meaningful resolution. Like its predecessors, The Hidden World uses their friendship to 1) raise some fairly emotionally complex ideas about family, 2) propel the action (both the external antagonist and Hiccup’s internal character arc), 3) provide the series’ best humor, and 4) make the audience sob uncontrollably at the end. 

     Unlike its predecessors, which balance that central relationship with a broader plot and action-driven beats, The Hidden World leans conspicuously one way; it favors the emotional resolution of their relationship over a simple, minimal plotline. And, apart from one flat subplot that sticks out like a sore thumb, it works. The movie’s modest plot allows it to invest more time in meaningful, still moments—the kind of moments you rarely experience in the conclusion to a trilogy.

photo courtesy of b-updated.com

     When The Hidden World does get around to action, the filmmakers still make it worth your while. They manage to make several sequences feel utterly fresh—another rarity in trilogy conclusions. One short sequence, occurring around the two-thirds mark, is particularly excellent and more than a little nerve-wracking. And of course, it goes without saying that The Hidden World’s animation dazzles. We’ve seen the likes of it before (Coco comes to mind), but that doesn’t make it any less glorious when we see it through the eyes of Hiccup and Toothless.

     FINAL VERDICT: Emotional and enchanting, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World brings the series to a fitting end.  

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is rated PG for adventure action and some mild rude humor.

TRAILER