The dragon that looks like a big, black cat, Toothless, and his best human friend Hiccup return to our screens for their third – and apparently final – adventure in the critically beloved, box-office smashing series.
Over the course of the franchise, DreamWorks Animation has regaled us with a moving tale about growing up, finding the courage to face the unknown – and how nothing can ever train you to let go.
What began as an unlikely friendship between an adolescent Viking and a fearsome Night Fury dragon has become an epic adventure spanning their lives. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World brings to a conclusion the trilogy that began in 2010 with How to Train Your Dragon and continued with 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is now chief and ruler of the island of Berk alongside Astrid (America Ferrera). They have created a gloriously chaotic dragon utopia, where humans and dragons live together in perfect harmony.
When the sudden appearance of a female Light Fury dragon 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.
The Hidden World promises more of what made the first two instalments so popular. A rather fantastical premise – that of humans and dragons living together – with some great storytelling and richly-drawn characters coming together for a series of movies that have something for people of all ages.
A rather fantastical premise, together with some great storytelling and richly-drawn characters, comes together
Baruchel returns to provide the voice for Hiccup. The 36-year-old actor has provided the character with a lovely personality. Hiccup is a young man whose reedy-like build and rather philosophical nature belies the fact he is the descendant of a physically well-endowed, rough and tumbling, raucous tribe of Vikings.
Baruchel brings to Hiccup a sweet combination of humour, lots of teen angst and surprising emotional depth, as over the course of the first two films he won over his family and peers who initially thought his fierce dragon-protecting activism a tad odd; while dealing all the while with serious issues regarding his parentage.
And what about Toothless, the unusual-looking dragon, with his beautiful sleek black skin, powerful wings, expressively large green eyes, graceful demeanour and just astonishing personality? This is a character that has effortlessly found his way in to audiences’ hearts… and now he gets a girlfriend!
The story in part three hints at more emotion (it is the end, after all…), yet this was always more than a heart-warming coming-of-age story (for both man and beast).
Via the assorted characters, the filmmakers have always given us a healthy dose of laugh-out-loud humour and superb action; with many perfectly executed scenes involving the creatively colourful menagerie of dragons that populate the story, whether in play or in combat set against a gorgeous backdrop.
Berk is indeed a utopia with its imposing green cliffs dropping into a gorgeous azure ocean; bright blue skies reflecting golden sunlight, and a town of imposing buildings and viking ships.
It is a fantasy world that audiences worldwide have become affectionately familiar with; one that will be sadly missed.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World also stars Cate Blanchett as Valka, Hiccup’s mother; Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch; Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson; Kit Harington as Eret; Justin Rupple and Kristen Wiig as Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston; Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman; F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel; and Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, Hiccup’s father.
It is written and directed by Dean De Blois and is based on the books by Cressida Cowell.