Without a doubt one of DreamWorks most beloved and acclaimed series, “How To Train Your Dragon” ended its story this past week with the release of the final film in the trilogy, subtitled “The Hidden World.” After two acclaimed films prior, can this finale cement its place as one of the crown jewels of the DreamWorks canon?
Those going in expecting a scope as broad and expansive as the previous film might be disappointed. This is not an epic, earth shattering conclusion like other series typically have as their finales. On the contrary, this last chapter for Hiccup and his band of dragons and friends is much more introspective than before.
It focuses on why its takes others to show people the potential they have inside them, and how that can both help and hinder a leader. It’s not as heavy as the emotional moments from the previous film, but it’s still unique for a film billed as a family adventure to have such an introspective theme.
Hiccup is a flawed character, often times stubborn and over relying on his bond with the Night Fury dragon Toothless. Writer and director Dean DeBlois (“Lilo and Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) knows that the bonds that seem the simplest often have the most complex connections bubbling underneath, and he continues to employ that here.
It helps that he continues to have such a great cast at his disposal. Jay Baruchel (“Man Seeking Woman,” “Tropic Thunder”) continues to deliver career excellent work as Hiccup. America Ferrara (“Superstore,” “End of Watch”) and Cate Blanchett (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Carol”) play off each other wonderfully as Astrid and Valka, respectively.
F. Murray Abraham (“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Amadeus”) gives a growling and well-done performance as the villainous Grimmel the Grisly. However, despite giving an excellent performance, his villain highlights a problem inherent in some of the film’s aspects.
Grimmel simply isn’t as intriguing or well developed of a villain than the previous film’s antagonist Drago. He isn’t poorly performed, or uninteresting, he’s just not as strong as those who came before. The same goes for the film’s third act; it isn’t bad, not by a long shot, but it isn’t as powerful as the second film’s.
As this is DreamWorks, its expected that some of their brand of kid-friendly humor will sneak its way into even its more serious films. The same is true here, where most of the more serious moments have at least a light chuckle peppered into them, to prevent scenes from becoming too dire. A few running gags just seem bizarrely out of place though, like one of Hiccup’s friends hitting on his mother.
It does leave a bit of a cloud hanging about this film: since the previous entry was so great, can this possibly match up? In some ways, like the villain and third act conflict, it can’t, reaching a spot just below the excellence previously achieved. However, it still manages to hit the incredibly high bar the previous film set visually.
Every frame of “The Hidden World” crackles with color and life. This is a world that feels absolutely fantastical, with endless oceans and piercing blue skies. The seemingly endless dragon designs are a joy to look at and identify. Even the character designs, just like the second film, go against the typical animated Hollywood tradition, by aging them appropriately. It’s a visually stunning film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible.
This being the final film in the “Dragon” series, there is a sense of bittersweet that goes along with it. It also leads to mediations on the nature of this finale; could it ever live up to expectations? Are the nitpicks and comparisons to the previous films worth picking at in what is, clearly, a smaller scoped film? Yes and no. While none of these are reason enough to harm the film, their worth mentioning, especially as this is a series film. Even if “The Hidden World” is still leaps and bounds above most typical Hollywood animation, and even most DreamWorks films, it’s still worth mentioning.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter much though, because the emotional core of the movie is so incredibly rock solid. While it may not be as heart-wrenching as the previous film, its more bittersweet and somber. DeBlois doesn’t pull any punches when it comes time to wrap things up, and the movie’s closing monologue is not only something special, but something tear inducing as well.
“The Hidden World” is a worthy conclusion to one of DreamWorks best series. It continues the previous films trend of providing gorgeous animation as the backdrops for thought provoking mediations on friendship and leadership. Even if it can’t quite live up to the previous film, that doesn’t mean it isn’t excellently voice, wonderfully scripted, and emotionally poignant. It’s hard to see a better way this series could have flown off into the sunset. 4/5
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