The end of a franchise is always sad and with this trilogy proving its quality over three films, its safe to say people will be pleased after watching The Hidden World. It starts off slow, perhaps a little boring but as it goes on it finds its wings.
Over the course of many years we have seen Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) grow from just a little boy to the man he is today accompanied by the fiercest of dragons, Toothless. Through their journeys we have been witness to the ups and downs, all ending up in creating a civilisation where dragons and people can live in harmony.
The film follows Chief Hiccup and his friends (humans and dragons alike) as they venture to the misty depths of the world, saving and discovering dragons to bring back to Berk. Everything is too great, as the ever-expanding Berk flourishes like never before, but danger looms as Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) a Night Fury killer sets his targets on Toothless and his new friend.
We lay witness to a bitter-sweet story that proves to be warm, funny and caring with its true strength lying with Hiccup and Toothless. The centre of the film is expanded out by familiar characters, who themselves can be sometimes tedious but sometimes funny. The magical land created once more shines with glorious colours sleek animation, backed by a rather magical score that rips through the scenery.
The new introduction in the story is the best part of the film, a “Light Fury” which develops a strong relationship with Toothless, over the course of the film we see a game of cat and mouse which was actually pretty hysterical. Seeing two dragons mating on a beach, the teasing is great fun.
However with the good elements comes the bad, the villain is entirely cliche and his ending is highly unsatisfying. The writing occasionally picks up but for the most part reduces his character to a looming figure to fear, nothing less or more. Additionally, the title “The Hidden World” is based on an idea, but little is actually explored of this so called hidden world it seems like a shoe in to the grander story of cat and mouse between the dragon killers and the citizens of Berk.
It is a nicely-feasible film, a satisfying ending to the trilogy. If you are a fan of How To Train Your Dragon it will please, also children will have a blast on this easy going journey that pulls you along via the core that we are so used to. It took it’s time to get going, but when the “Light Fury” turns up things take a turn for the better and the ending was rather magical.
3/5 Stars
Ben Rolph
