By: James Southworth
Rating: 4/5 Stars
One of the things that I always love the most about film is when there can be made a series of films where all of them can be called at least "great". It can be tough particularly to make a series of films where the conclusion is satisfying for those who are the fans of the films. I've always seen this as the case for Dreamwork's attempts at movie trilogies. Shrek started off well with its first two movies, but quickly got worse with its third and fourth films, leaving a bad taste in people's mouths. While I can't say that I entirely dislike "Kung Fu Panda 3", it also just can't be denied that it is markedly weaker than the previous two films. However, even before going in to the final "How To Train Your Dragon", I had no doubts about the film being bad. I could just tell with the previous two that there was such a degree of care put into this series that isn't always seen for animated films. While "The Hidden World" doesn't quite match up to the first two films as a whole, its highest points are good enough to leave even the hardest to please fans satisfied.
What I've appreciated most about this series is that it has been a consistent coming-of-age story, for both Hiccup and Toothless. In this one, we see them both having to deal with some pretty momentous choices that will effect how both of their lives play out forever. Hiccup has some particularly difficult things to deal with, which makes watching his character in this film more interesting than ever. If anything, this film is more about the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless than ever before. You could debate that the first "How To Train Your Dragon" was actually more about the relationship between Hiccup and his father, and the second emphasized on his relationship with his mother. Having the final one be laser focused on him and Toothless feels like giving the fans exactly what they want, and it works. Hiccup and Toothless's friendship has always been the backbone of the series, and making it even more prominent in the final movie feels like the appropriate closure that everyone needs. That doesn't mean that other characters are left in the dust: far from it. I was happy to see Astrid getting a bit more to do in this movie, as she has always been my favorite of the human characters in the HTTYD world. We also get to see some incredibly touching flashback moments here between Hiccup and his father. Those moments are some of the best scenes that come out of any of the movies, and they are legitimately emotional and powerful. Most of Hiccup's friends are comedic relief rather than actual characters, but that doesn't make them awful by any means. I still find Gobber to be incessantly funny, and Fishlegs and Ruffnut actually had some good moments here, too. They weren't exactly the characters I would've expected the final movie to flesh out more, but it was a pleasant surprise nevertheless. The biggest character highlight here is, of course, Toothless himself. This cute dragon has come to be loved by all, and this movie only made me love him more.
It would be a crime to not talk about the animation of this movie. I was amazed looking back at the first movie and seeing how much the animation improved with this one. And don't get me wrong, the first movie's animation is still STELLAR. But this one is, at least in my opinion, on par with the quality of animation of any Pixar movie. The biggest animated highlight is definitely the Light Fury, who is simply a beautiful creature to look at. You can tell that the animators put a lot of work and detail into her. Because of that, she stands out as an instantly interesting character. The abilities that she has are shown in incredibly detailed and stylistic ways. Toothless also gets some cool new abilities that I won't spoil, and they are also awesomely animated. There are so many stand-out visual moments in the movie, and it would be impossible to name them all. The Hidden World was deserving of being the title of this film, as the world itself is awesome to look at. The visuals of this world made my jaw drop.
Where this movie really succeeds is in its climax right up to the ending moments. The other parts of the movie are good (and have a couple issues that are pretty minor, I'll get to that in a moment). But I would debate that the climax up until the end of the movie has some of the best material any of the three movies has to offer. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I like that the movie makes you expect one thing but then upends those expectations. My brother and I both went into this movie expecting one thing to happen, but it didn't. I was quite pleased by this not happening, as what actually ended up occurring is far more satisfying to ending off this trilogy. It hasn't been beyond HTTYD to be dark- just look at the incredibly dark places the second movie went to; it was Toothless who literally murdered Hiccup's father. "The Hidden World" doesn't ever get quite as dark as that, but that doesn't mean this movie isn't without its heavy moments. The heavy moments come, and the way they appear in this film is a little unexpected. What really made me tear up at this film, though, was the way it parallels the first one and ends up connecting everything together. We have seen Hiccup and Toothless grow up, and we have grown up along with them. So, of course, it is an emotional thing to see where they end up at. There is one particular shot from the first movie that this film parallels two times, and both times it is so effectively done. It's powerful, it's touching, and I think you'd have to be heartless to not feel emotionally hit by it. This film ends about as perfectly as it could end. Hiccup's story is given a beautiful conclusion, as is Toothless's. This movie gives the definition of an earned happy ending. It's earned because you've come to care about these characters, because of how well-developed and fully realized they are. They've gone through all the right changes, and are now both exactly where they deserve to be at.
There are not many major problems with this movie, save for the villain. That is probably the biggest issue I have with this film, as the villain here is very uninteresting. In fact, you could've almost not had a villain here, and the movie would've worked all the better for it. The best moments here were seeing our heroes interacting with one another, and I would've liked the whole movie to emphasize on it. Whenever the villain comes in or the characters have to deal with the villain, the story gets a little less interesting to me. This is mainly because the antagonist (who is admittedly well-voiced by F. Murray Abraham) is pretty much a replica of the antagonist from the second film. He's a trapper who has his own dragons that he is able to manipulate through his own devices. There really isn't anything too different about him, and he ultimately doesn't feel that intimidating. Thankfully, he is not in the movie too much, and the rest of the film is so good that it's easy to forgive this slight falter. I also feel that there are some small areas in the movie where the plot comes to a halt. This is especially apparent at some points in the middle half of the movie. However, like the villain, this isn't enough for me to dismiss these points in the movie.
I still consider the first "How To Train Your Dragon" to be one of the best modern animated films to date. It perfectly combined a child-like sense of wonder with some pretty serious and dark themes. It knew how to appeal to people both young and old, without ever pandering to either age group. Hiccup was relatable in a variety of ways, and Toothless was more than just a cute dragon. The fact that the two following movies were able to come close to it, and both have moments that were just as good, is an undeniably impressive achievement. "How To Train Your Dragon 2" blew me away with how much it went for the dark tone, which can be a risky thing to do in a series partially aiming for a younger audience. But it worked, because the movie knew how to present to children the very real presence of death. "The Hidden World" has its own serious theme: the idea of moving on and letting go. This movie was clearly made to appeal to this same young audience at older ages. The series grew up with the audience it was aiming for, showing how much the creators care. Go see this movie if you haven't. It's excellent, and provides as poignant of a conclusion as I could hope for.
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