“There were dragons when I was boy…”
(Cue entire audience of adults bawling their eyes out)
Summary:
It’s about one year after the second film (How to Train Your Dragon 2). Hiccup and his motley crew make it their mission to free trapped dragons and bring them back to Berk. In the process, Berk has become overcrowded. Hiccup’s solution to this is to find “The Hidden World”, an old sailor’s tale that Stoic once told Hiccup about back when he was a wee lad. Hiccup’s hope is this new world is the place for Berk and their dragons where they can live in peace.
Meanwhile, the trappers have enlisted the help of Grimmel, a famed dragon killer that killed all the Night Furies except for Toothless. After finding out about Toothless’ existence, Grimmel is determined to find and finish Toothless off.
The Bad:
I have a lot of positive things to say about this film, which is why I want to start with some of the negatives just to get them out of the way. Forewarning, there are POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS ahead so read at your own risk.
To start, this film centered more on Hiccup and his personal growth than on Toothless. In the first film Hiccup and Toothless’ relationship helped bridge the gap between humans and dragons. Then in the second one Hiccup and Toothless’ bond is frequently tested. Both Hiccup’s and Toothless’ arcs usually were interwoven into each other and helped to compliment the themes of the movies. In this film, Toothless isn’t as much of a focus. Most of the movie is him lovestruck with the Light Fury.
He even disappears for a short time, only re-appearing around the climax. His contributions to the plot are rather minimum until the final battle.
The themes of the movie do emphasize Hiccup growing to accept losing a loved one and learn his worth beyond what he has accomplished with dragons. So while it does make sense for Toothless to be less prominent in order for Hiccup’s arc to be fully realized, it also, unfortunately, hurts Toothless’ own story. Given that this may be the last film in this series, it is a shame that Toothless didn’t get more screen time.
Further, it isn’t made very clear whether the Light Furies are the same species as the Night Furies or just closely related. I would say it’s likely more the latter. The film makes a point of highlighting that all Night Furies are extinct except for Toothless. Then later in the film, you can see a couple of other Light Furies in The Hidden World.
I wouldn’t say this plot detail was super important, it was more just confusing.
Those are all more minor issues though that I didn’t feel like had a significant impact on the enjoyment of the film. Now onto the rest of the review.
The Animation:
The CGI was stellar and made the film definitely worth seeing in 3D. It was beautiful watching the dragons flying in from the bottom of the screen as their tails swept through the audience. The CGI clouds seemed to materialize right next to your head and watching them swirl as dragon wings moved through them was breathtaking.
Each individual character reacted to dialogue and events separately, rather than standing static in the background. There were entertaining details happening all around, like Astrid glancing at Hiccup very quickly as another character addressed him, and small, adorable dragons making funny faces during dialogue. These tiny details helped breathe more life into the film.
The Characters:
Astrid was a badass as usual and was often kicking Hiccup’s butt when he started waffling or was in need of a pep talk. I appreciate that their relationship throughout the movies never experienced contrived misunderstandings. They always talk with each other and discuss their issues.
A good example of this from the film: some of the other characters are pushing Astrid and Hiccup to marry. Instead of this blowing up and becoming a point of contention between them, Astrid and Hiccup talked and mutually agreed that they weren’t ready. That kept them from putting a strain on their relationship
The rest of the characters were a bit of a mixed bag. Some of their arcs were stronger than others. Usually, the more cohesive characters were used as sight gags. Hiccup’s mom especially felt like her role was lacking. She made one significant contribution to the plot and then passed most of her role as Hiccup’s advisor to Astrid.
The Villain:
Villains have not been the strongest aspects of these films. The first movie had a large dragon controlling all the other dragons and the second… had a large dragon controlled by a human controlling the other dragons.
This movie’s villain, Grimmel, while not very layered or deep, was set up to be a bit more nuanced. Both his motivations and his own backstory made him the perfect foil to Hiccup. As such, it was far more entertaining to me to watch him and Hiccup interact. They shared enough similarities for there to be interesting common ground, but the morals and motives were complete opposites. This made Grimmel far more compelling than the villains of the last two films.
Overall:
I loved this film. It was the perfect ending to a fun and engaging trilogy. The story was satisfying and felt like what the series needed to cap it off. If you get a chance you should try watching it in 3D while the movie is still in theaters. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Did you see How To Train Your Dragon 3? If so, be sure to leave a spoiler-free comment.
Image Source odysseypictures.co.uk
