How to Train Your Dragon:
The Hidden World
[Devin Dayley]
Year Released: 2019
Director: Dean DeBlois
Stars:
Jay Baruchel
America Ferrera
F. Murray Abraham
General Summary:
Hiccup (Baruchel) and Toothless (his dragon) discover that Toothless is not the only Night Fury in the world. Toothless and the new night fury, who happens to be a girl, begin to forge a relationship. Meanwhile, a hired mercenary named Grimmel (Abraham), who wants to find and kill all dragons, is searching for the hidden utopian world that Hiccup and Toothless have found whilst finding the new Night Fury. They must not let Grimmel discover and destroy it.
Review:
This movie, yes I will refer to it as a movie rather than a film, has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89% audience rating. That is really high! I don’t know if you’ve looked at movie scores a whole lot, but that is a really good ranking. I did not love this movie as much as critics or, even, the audience. I did really enjoy it, though. It was a good time at the theater.
Let’s talk about how this movie falls in line with the previous two “How to Train Your Dragon” movies. I love the first one, where Hiccup first discovers and befriends Toothless. I think it is such a wonderful use of animation and paints dragons in a light that makes them seem more like puppies than ferocious beasts. The second one, where Hiccup finds his mother and where his father dies was good, I thought, but not ultra memorable. I remember seeing it, pretty much liking it, and nothing else.
This third movie was better than the second one, but not as good as the first movie, in my opinion. Animations, in my mind, are becoming advanced enough to where they almost look like live-action movies but don’t, because they’re animation and are not supposed to look exactly like live-action movies. Woo, that could be a rant! So most of the reason that I did not like this movie as much other people was because of that.
I did LOVE some things, though. I loved how this movie had a love story but not a stereotypical love story. Instead of a big, passionate kiss between Hiccup and Astrid, there was a scene of Astrid sexily opening a flask of poisonous gas with her mouth and hiccup heroically lighting the gas on fire with a flaming sword. I love that! I feel, and have felt for a while, that traditional love stories are kind of played out. I believe that movies still require some kind of love story, though. There is part of us, humans, that yearn to see love stories played out in front of us. It satisfies something in us, I don’t know what, and I think we would be disappointed if a fantasy movie did not have any love story.
I also loved how this was kind of a coming of age story for Toothless, the dragon. There was something sweet and sentimental about watching a dragon fall in love and seeing Hiccup watching him knowing that he had to let him go but not wanting to. It caused me to feel things that I imagine parents feel when their children grow up and move out of their childhood homes. I’m sure it’s a lot harder when it’s real life and not a movie that is giving you those feelings. Regardless, they were feelings all the same.
This movie was kind of a slow burn for me. Much like “The Favourite” was a slow burn. I am not comparing this movie to “The Favourite” at all, because they were vastly different movies, except to say that they were both slow burns. The more I think about this movie, the more I like it.
I would rate this movie an 8.3/10.
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