Review of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) by Smilesong — 21 Mar 2019

I would just like to start this review stating my favorite things about the movie.

For starters, Toothless and the Light Fury, in the way that they are developed. Toothless doesn't just meet the Light Fury and immediately win her over. It's a gradual process in which Toothless encounters her many times, because she connects him with humans and she is afraid of that. In fact, it's only when Toothless leaves behind any trace of humanity and joins her in flight in the wild (in a beautifully choreographed scene, by the way) that she finally accepts him as a mate. I really appreciate the effort Dean went through to make this relationship feel believable. Secondly, the animation. I absolutely loved the animation in this movie. It has come a long way from how it was in 2010 in the first film, and the attention to detail and hyperrealism in this movie really shows the love that went into its making. Anything from the way light bleeds through the trees onto the characters, to the aurora borealis during the Light Fury and Toothless's romantic flight, is just simply breathtaking. Lastly, the ending. Everything about it was just... a rollercoaster. Toothless and Hiccup separate, Toothless and the Light Fury go to the Hidden World to live in peace. Nothing we didn't see coming, right? Well, they also had kids. Nightlights, to be exact. Hiccup and Astrid even had two little gems of their own - Nuffink, the boy, and Zephyr, the girl. We even get the most beautifully constructed reunion scene before the credits roll, with Hiccup finally seeing his old friend again after two years, and even getting to ride him like in old times. The ending is treated with so much respect that it makes me emotional thinking about it. All I can say to the developers at this point is: thank you. Thank you for being so careful with this ending. Now, my complaints. The villain. Grimmel was typically nothing we hadn't seen before. He hated the dragons and wanted to eradicate him. The thing that did set him apart, though, was his accomplishments; he was a Night Fury hunter, and the sole reason for the near-extinction of the species. However, this does not mean he wasn't shallow. He was. He was horribly shallow, terribly developed, and felt more like a character shoed in. I felt like I was just supposed to accept that Grimmel was a "bad guy", and didn't really get any explanation as to why he was so. Secondly, the pacing. In truth, the Hidden World feels more like a bunch of short clips randomly stitched together. The awkward jumps between present tense and past tense is what really hurts this movie. At times, it feels like a rollercoaster - a rocky, out of control roller coaster at an amusement park, the ones that aren't all that fun, nor amusing. In short, the Hidden World soars just short of its original destination. It is horribly weighed down by bad pacing and an underdeveloped villain. However, should you be a long time fan of the Dragon series,you may find yourself calling it a fitting end to the trilogy. It has enough redeeming qualities to keep it from being terrible, and enough bad qualities to keep it from being spectacular. I'd choose the previous two movies over this one in a heartbeat, but I will call it a fitting end to the trilogy until the end of time.