How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Review

How to Train Your Dragon has been one of the Dreamworks most successful franchises – a fantasy series that strikes the right balance between action-adventure, comedy, and genuine heart. The studio has concluded their trilogy with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Set a year after the events of How to Train Your Dragon 2 Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) have been fighting other Viking tribes who have been capturing dragons. However, the other Vikings have become more organised and they hire the notorious dragon hunter Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) to find and capture Hiccup’s dragon Toothless. Knowing his tribe is no longer safe Hiccup seeks out to find the fabled Hidden World.

The original How to Train Your Dragon was a huge surprise when it came out in 2010. It quickly became one of Dreamworks’ most beloved films. The Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon movie trilogies offers some of Dreamworks’ most mature content. Both have approach subject matter like death, grief, war, and animal abuse. Kung Fu Panda 2 and How to Train Your Dragon 2 both had tragic moments and a triumph finale – their respective sequels had a lot to live up to.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World raises the stakes even higher – both the village and the dragons are under threat. The villain is incredibly cunning who’s every move plays a part of a wider strategy and he relished the hunt. Grimmel had two terrifying dragons under his command, one that has the ability to vomit acid, the other having a scorpion tail and powerful venom. There is a dark explanation of how Grimmel controls those dragons.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was not all about animal poaching and slavery, there was also a romantic subplot for Toothless. The marketing has heavily promoted the character of the Light Fury, a female dragon that Toothless is enamoured by. The subplot provides a bit of physical and visual humour as Toothless tries to count the female – she’s grateful whilst Toothless is more awkward. The courting is a great example of visual storytelling where no dialogue is needed to show what’s happened.

The film comes off a bit like the Pokémon episode “Bye Bye Butterfree.” That episode was about Ash’s Butterfree trying to woo a female during the mating season and Ash and his travelling companions help the creature. Team Rockets were up to their usual tricks trying to capture Pokémon. The relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is a bit like Ash and Pikachu because their bond is so strong and Hiccup has to make – so tough choices like Ash had to face. The Light Fury looked a little like Lugia, the Pokémon on the cover of Pokémon Silver.

Hiccup also has a romantic subplot with his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera). Now that Hiccup has become the chief there are expectations that they should get married. Hiccup is challenged because he has the weight of his tribe on his shoulders and he is riddled with self-doubt because of the skill of his foe. Astrid is the person who can reassure him.

One of the big features of How to Train Your Dragon 2 was the conversation message. Hiccup’s mother had been hiding and protecting various dragons, including injured and wounded animals. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World sadly doesn’t have anything of that depth.

As expected from a Dreamworks film the animation is fantastic and like the previous How to Train Your Dragon films the action is sublime. There is a striking constant between Toothless and the Light Fury due to their skin colours and the film has fantastic scenery and set-pieces.

Compared to their Dreamworks companion, the Kung Fu Panda series, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy has been the more consistent series. Both franchises started with light-hearted films, the second was the darker entry, and whilst the third film in their respective series are not as good it was still a strong film. Yet How to Train Your Dragon always had a certain level of emotional weight, even in the first film. The original Kung Fu Panda stands out to it sequels because of its slapstick-heavy nature.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is comparable to Toy Story 3. Both films touched on similar themes where characters have to grow up and let go. Both films were perfect conclusions to their respective series and hopefully, Dreamworks will keep it that way instead of making a fourth film like Pixar are doing with their franchise.