As we are in the middle of winter and with that, the middle of one of the dead zones of the year, we are offered an animated film in the form of "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" which is unusual considering the brunt of animated films that are released either in the summer season or around the end of the year during the Christmas season. A financial boost for DreamWorks and Universal Pictures? Not sure, but families will love this flick.
What began as an unlikely friendship between an adolescent Viking and a fearsome Night Fury dragon has become an epic trilogy spanning their lives. In this third and final chapter, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless will finally discover their true destinies: the village chief as ruler of Berk alongside Astrid (America Ferrera), and the dragon as leader of his own kind. As both ascend, the darkest threat they've yet faced--in the form of Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), as well as the appearance of a female Night Fury--will test the bands of their relationship like never before.
Others to round out the cast are Cate Blanchett as Valka, Gerard Butler as Stoick, Craig Ferguson as Gobber, Jonah Hill as Snotlout, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs, Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut, Kit Harington as Eret, Justin Rupple as Tuffnut, Robin Atkin Downes as Ack and Kieron Elliott as Hoark.
This was staged and paced well by director Dean DeBlois ("Lilo & Stitch" '02, Sigur Ros: Heima" (documentary) '07, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" '14) plus a video. As with the first two installments of this franchise, this was paced incredibly well. The fluidity of the actors in their respective roles was consistently amazing, but considering DeBlois directed all three, it's no surprise that if one of them was crafted well, they all would be. The makers of this says that this is the last of the franchise, however, who knows? If it makes a good profit, anything could happen. It was also written well by DeBlois ("Lilo & Stitch" '02, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" '14) plus TV and video games, based on the "How to Train Your Dragon" book series by Cressida Cowell. By his very resume, this writer gravitates toward animated films, and with his writing talent, it would be interesting to see what he could do with, let's say, a light live comedy. This franchise is definitely written in a tight, cohesive, and well thought out way. Other than a couple of small places of slowness, this script simply soared. This has been quite the ride for DreamWorks Animation and this being the exit installation, this was certainly a great story and message to go out with.
If you like this franchise, this probably is the best of the series. It has action, adventure, explosions and a great message we can all learn from. This is the quintessential family film that the kids will enjoy. Grab the popcorn and enjoy this ride.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: PG 104mins.
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