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

[Athena]

The final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy. Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, the film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, and F. Murray Abraham.

[Browncoat]

I was about to be mad at the end, when we (first) only saw Hiccup and his son riding Toothless, but then Astrid and the daughter showed up on Astrid's dragon which made it better.  Then they switched kids which made it even better!

It was an okay movie.  I mostly hope they stick to their plans that this will be the last one.  Oh, and I did enjoy the interactions between Toothless and the Light Fury, especially when Hiccup was trying to coach Toothless with the mating dance.

[Ravenya003]

I was surprised that this opened so late in America, as here in New Zealand it's been out since the first week of January! We're usually waiting for weeks or even months to get stuff from overseas (thank God for streaming services) so it was a pleasant surprise to see it so soon.

It's a good movie, even a great one at times, but towards the end I felt a little manipulated. Here's the thing: when you spend two movies, two television series and a handful of short films based on one single, hopeful premise: that Vikings and dragons can live together in harmony, it's more than a little bit jarring for said Vikings to suddenly go: "nope, this can't work, we gotta send our dragons away for their own safety." 

It was such a U-turn from everything the franchise has told us thus far, and I suspect it was because Dean DeBlois knew this was the final movie and so wanted to get an emotional reaction from the audience by separating Hiccup and Toothless. It COULD have been pulled off, but they simply didn't lay the narrative groundwork. The villain was defeated, they had found an isolated island from which to form their defenses, and (like I said earlier) Berk had already spent YEARS working towards the goal of inter-species harmony with pretty impressive results. 

It was forcing characters and storylines towards a specific goal without justifying it properly - at least that's my opinion, obviously others may differ. 

The stuff I loved was the visuals (especially the Hidden World), the relationship between Astrid/Hiccup, and the underlying theme of growing up that runs throughout all three movies: specifically how the most important people in our lives change as we grow up, from parents (Stoick) to friends (Toothless) to spouses/children (Astrid). You can see the way Hiccup grows through his relationships with others, and the scene in which he and Astrid introduce their children to Toothless was a slam-dunk. Beautifully done (though again, this would have been just as poignant and joyful and "full circle" without a contrived ten year separation).   

Edited February 28, 2019 by Ravenya003

[Wynterwolf]

On 2/28/2019 at 2:51 PM, Ravenya003 said:

It was forcing characters and storylines towards a specific goal without justifying it properly... 

Exactly.  They mentioned going for an E.T. like ending, which as you say, wasn't at all supported by anything leading up to this movie.  It's been a great series, but this ending was just... disappointing, even with the 'happy' epilogue.  

[snickers]

I thought this was a nice wrap up, sad, but good final ending scene.  I have never read the books but I am assuming the ending is similar????

I hear they are quite good, I'm sure they will be on my "to do" read list someday LOL

Toothless's babies though...OMG the cuteness!!!!!!!

[Cranberry]

I don't usually like 3D, but I saw this in 3D and it was gorgeous. I didn't find it distracting or blurry at all like I do with live-action movies; they just really made it work. The movie in general was beautiful. That scene on the boats in the fog, the fire, the grass waving in the breeze, the different dragon scale textures, the glowing dragon world... Dreamworks has really stepped up its game.

And oh yeah, the story was good, too. I figured that's where they were going when I heard this movie was wrapping up the series and that Toothless would reconnect with his wild side. I'm glad we got that little epilogue because I would have been too sad otherwise!

[Meushell]

On 2/28/2019 at 2:51 PM, Ravenya003 said:

It's a good movie, even a great one at times, but towards the end I felt a little manipulated. Here's the thing: when you spend two movies, two television series and a handful of short films based on one single, hopeful premise: that Vikings and dragons can live together in harmony, it's more than a little bit jarring for said Vikings to suddenly go: "nope, this can't work, we gotta send our dragons away for their own safety." 

I just watched the movie, and I agree 100%. The ending also completely doesn’t fit with the tv series. I know most who see the movies will not have seen the Netflix series, but it should at least be kept in mind.

It also does not help that the Big Bag of this movie was far less impressive than...well, I think about every other Big Bag in the series and the previous movie. 

Finally, and this is probably nitpicking, but that dragon paradise looked horrible for dragons to actually live in. It looked cramped and mostly dark, and given it’s location, probably damp.