How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, mini movie review

Rating: A

I've seen How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the third and final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon series, twice now.  Loved it equally both times.  The second time I went with my nieces and nephew, and they loved it.  They sat still the whole movie, watching with great interest!  My toddler niece, who I worried would get scared, didn't, and when we got back to the house she found a dinosaur toy that was suddenly flying everywhere, eating things, so I think she got what was going on.

Our heroes from the first movie are growing up, no longer kids in training.  They're dragon masters, understanding the intricacies of behavior and nuance of personality in these majestic creatures.  Hiccup and his friends are leaders in a society that no longer fears dragons, but embraces, their home remarkably different from what we saw nearly a decade ago.  (The first movie came out in 2010).  But there are still dragon hunters, and Toothless, plus the now dragon haven, are worth destroying.  A new home must be found for the dragons and those who love them.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is such a wonderful way to end a series.  I'm sad to see its closure, but loved the way plots and situations ended, but I'm getting ahead of myself!

The Hidden World is a feast of sight and sound.  The visuals in the movie, especially a moment I don't want to spoil, is simply beautiful.  And the music!  It's been such a long time since I've seen a movie where the music stood out and made me listen, not in a distracting way, but in a way that invited me into the scenes, complimenting the action and movement.  The song "Third Date" is a wonderful track, hearkening to the first movie where Toothless and Hiccup meet, only this time Toothless is going all bird of paradise courtship on us with a potential lady love.  It's a good scene.

At the heart of Hidden World, and the whole trilogy as a whole, is a really beautiful story of friendship.

If you haven't seen How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, then you really need to see it.  Do you need to see the first two movies?  Maybe not, but seeing them, no, you do.  Seeing all the movies is worth it.  These movies have a nice arc, growth, and story.

MPAA: Rated PG for adventure action and some mild rude humor.

How to Train Your Dragon 2: Movie Review

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Stars.

It's crazy to think that only four years ago we met the brave dragon trainer Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and the loveable toothless, amidst beautiful viking scenery and Scottish influenced music.  It was a surprise hit, and one of my favorite animations to date.

And in these 4 years Hiccup has been up to quite a lot.  There's been at least two seasons of Dreamworks Dragons: Defenders of Berk on Cartoon Network, which I honestly haven't seen.  (I have seen several episodes of the Kung Fu Panda series on the same network, and it's FANTASTIC.  So Dreamworks Dragons is probably pretty good, too.)

In How to Train Your Dragon 2 we see Hiccup, Astrid (America Ferrera), and the gang looking older.  They're not the same age as before, which we see a lot in animation (are those Simpson kids Ever going to grow up?).  I love the change and maturity.  I love the fact that the gap between both films are noted, and that we're ready to see the next adventure village Berk is about to embark.

The village is fully embracing dragons now, no longer deathly terrified.  They're everywhere!  And the dragons are loyal friends to everyone.  This change is fun to see.

Yet Hiccup is restless, wanting more, curious to see what is beyond the horizon.  Curiosity killed the cat, and though there's no cats in Berkland, curiosity has it's consequences, which Hiccup will learn in a huge way.  Hiccup's journey also leads him to the mystery of his Mother and personal self discovery.  (Love how vague I made that?  The trailer gives away too much!)

The music is just as stunning as before, with new themes and elaborated old motifs.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a fun ride, and in my humble opinion better then the first. (Though my brothers do prefer its predecessor.)

MPAA: Rated PG for adventure action and some mild rude humor.