How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Made Me Hide My Man-Tears

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the third and hopefully final installment of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. The Hidden World rounded out a beautiful story of a true friendship between man and beast, this time by focusing more on Toothless, as opposed to the previous two which built up Hiccup’s character. Toothless’ growth and development was reminiscent of Wall-E, a lovable character showing true emotions, especially love, without dialogue. His growth from an injured, lost dragon in the first film to a true king in the second to finding love in the Hidden World was very satisfying and touching. Toothless’ mannerisms made him relatable as a character and as a pet owner. He shifted between behaviors of cats, birds, and dogs for adorable exchanges with Hiccup and other dragons. His emoting was a marvel of technical prowess for the animation team. Without speaking, everyone could understand what Toothless meant and how he felt. The animation team was marvelous in every other aspect as well. The scenery was more photorealistic than some live action movies, especially those reliant on green screens. The animation made the movie come alive. Beyond the visuals, there was a basic story as well. There was obviously a villain, but he was more of a plot device to force change. He was menacing and clever, but he was never realistically a threat. He was my biggest problem with the movie. Adding ten minutes to the runtime could have allowed his character a chance to play a more meaningful role, but he is just there to be evil and threaten the main characters. Beyond the lackluster villain, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World relies on the fact that the audience is already familiar with the characters and story. You and your children will get bored and confused if you have not seen the previous two films, which are definitely worth your time. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World fails as a stand-alone film, but is a superb finale to a great trilogy. As long as DreamWorks does not make a cash grab and make a fourth, the How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy will join other amazing trilogies that did not overextend themselves, like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Toy Story. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was a delightful story about beloved characters and I give it 3 out of the 3 movies that How to Train Your Dragon should stop at.