Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

By Ryan Grow | February 25, 2019

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Delivers a Satisfying Conclusion

Dreamworks Animation brings its epic dragon-riding trilogy to an emotional close with How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, now playing in theaters.

When the sudden appearance of female Light Fury coincides with the darkest threat their village has ever faced, Hiccup and Toothless must leave the only home they’ve known and journey to a hidden world thought only to exist in myth. As their true destinies are revealed, dragon and rider will fight together—to the very ends of the Earth—to protect everything they’ve grown to treasure.

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) started out the series as an awkward teenager and has finally come into his own. He has grown to become a confident Viking leader for the island of Berk and resembles a strong, beardless John Krasinski. The one factor that has kept this series going is his friendship with Toothless, his sleek, bat winging Night Fury who has a combination of dog-and-cat-like qualities mixed into its fantasy-pet personality, and is believed to be the last of his kind.

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World packs a lot of emotional punches, considering it took so long to get to this point, going from the loss of a parent, the discovery of another, and many lessons about loyalty and bravery. The Hidden World may be the third and final film, but it could also be the start of a new set of stories to be told down the road. With all that being said, Hidden World brings a new sparkling white female dragon, properly named a Light Fury, to test Hiccup’s connection with Toothless.

What I liked most about this new film is that instead of introducing a whole bunch of new characters, they expand the geographical scope of their universe, which is great because that adds a lot to Hiccup’s knack for exploring beyond Berk’s map. That’s how he found Toothless in the first place. This also leaves room for writer/director Dean DeBlois to develop the other characters, creating a parallel romance for Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) – who have a slow-building, slightly competitive flirtation since the first film – coinciding with Toothless’ infatuation with the Light Fury. Hidden World does a great job at leaning on Hiccup’s friends for comic relief. You have Snotlout (Jonah Hill) showing off to impress Hiccup’s mother Valka (Cate Blanchett), the lovable dummies Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (Justin Rupple) constantly endanger everyone’s safety.

Overall, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is an emotional rollercoaster that stays true to its core principles and delivers a powerful ending that wraps up the story in a very satisfying way.

Critic Rating 5/5 stars