How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Review

"Its you and me bud, always!"



How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the latest and last entry into the highly popular and successful How to Train Your Dragon franchise. The film was directed by Dean DeBlois and stars the likes of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Kit Harrington, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig. The film follows Hiccup and Toothless as they discover that Toothless isn't the last Night fury, and must travel to discover the mystical hidden world before a hired tyrant finds it first.

The How to Train Your Dragon franchise has certainly been a highly successful franchise over the years with the animation and story line getting stronger and stronger as the films have progressed, but most importantly the relationship between Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless the Night Fury has captivated audiences over the years. Well is How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World a worthy finale to the franchise or is it a letdown compared to previous films.... well I can proudly say that How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a worthy finale to the franchise and one that audiences will love.

One of the strongest elements of all the films is the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless and the third film in the franchise certainly continues this trend with Hiccup dealing with his best friend falling in love with another Night Fury (thought to be previously extinct in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise). A special mention has to be made between the relationship between the two Night Fury's, the moments between them are truly magical and the slight non verbal communication (such as a blink or slight head movement) really helps tell how each dragon is feeling and really allows you as the audience to invest in their relationship. The film really creates some beautiful moments between these characters and has a really nice final ending for these characters that will leave audience crying tears of joy. The animation is also incredible in this film. Throughout the entire franchise the animation has got stronger and stronger (it was already strong and beautiful to begin with) but the visual style for the Hidden World has to be up there with some of the strongest visuals in the entire franchise and is truly stunning on the big screen.

Whilst I highly enjoyed the film there are a couple of small elements that let the film down in a small way, firstly the film did seem a little rushed in places, this might just because I really enjoyed the film so it flew by when watching it, but I did notice that some of the sequences seemed a little rushed and the story rushed by at times, as if the filmmakers were trying to fit too much in so they had to rush certain moments in the film to cram everything into the film, whilst this is not a major issue it is certainly something worth mentioning. My biggest issue with the film would be the villain, whilst certainly an interesting idea of a dragon bounty hunter style villain who certainly had some interesting moments, but for me the villain was not developed nearly half as much as he should of been, and whilst the character was certainly smart and pulled of some nice tricks here and there, there wasn't really a moment where I thought that Hiccup and Toothless and the Viking gang really had something difficult to content with throughout the film.

Overall How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is an exceptional film and a worthy finale to the franchise, delivering strong emotional moments and great character endings that will satisfy not just hardcore fans but general audiences alike. If you are a fan of the franchise then I highly recommend this film, you will love it!

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars