How to end a movie trilogy on a high
Review
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (PG, 104 mins) Directed by Dean DeBlois Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★
Rivalled only by the Wetainfused Apes as the best trilogy of the current decade, How to Train Your Dragon completes its triptych with a fitting final flourish.
An animated series that has benefited from its ever-present writer-director Dean DeBlois and his resulting singular vision, Dragon ends with a surprisingly sombre tale that sometimes threatens to be simply a series of set pieces before coalescing into a satisfying send-off to characters we’ve grown to know and love.
As The Hidden World opens, Hiccup’s (Jay Baruchel) dream of a dragon-human utopia has become a nightmarish reality for some of Berk’s longer-in-the-tooth residents.
So effective have the dragon rescue squads been that their island home is now bursting at the seams with Bewilderbeasts and Baby Nadders.
‘‘One day you’re going to pick a fight you can’t win,’’ Gobber the Belch (Craig Ferguson) warns his young leader, who also urges him to marry Astrid (America Ferrera) and settle down.
But Hiccup has other plans. Remembering a story his father once told him, he believes they need to leave their home of seven generations to search for the hidden dragon world where they could live together in harmony and safety.
However, they’ll first have to avoid the attentions of the villainous dragonslayer Grimmel the Grizzly (Amadeus’ F Murray Abraham).
The conniving and ruthless Grimmel has an unexpected ace up his sleeve – a female ‘‘light-wing’’ who threatens to divert the attention of Berk’s alpha dragon and Hiccup’s beloved companion Toothless.
While somewhat lighter than The Empire Strikes Back-esque second instalment, there’s still plenty of perilous and potentially painful moments on display here.
There are also echoes of franchises past, with Hiccup’s prosthetic limb and flaming sabre, a journey to World’s End and the idea that home is wherever you are (seemingly borrowed from another Norse-themed recent fantasy).
But although you could argue it also follows a path similar to the third entry in another Dreamworks fantasy series (and a Fox one involving the ancient past), there’s also enough crowd-pleasing moments and twists to make this fresh and fun.
Toothless’ comedic attempts at wooing his potential paramour are a silent delight, while a motormouthed monologue from Kristen Wiig’s hardcase Ruffnut will have you in stitches.
However, what really impresses and makes this worthy of a school holidays trip to the cinema are the visuals, which have been ramped up another notch, particularly in the evocation of the dragon’s world.
It’s a breathtaking, colourful landscape that will make James Cameron green with envy.
As he attempts to resurrect Avatar, he would also do well to learn from the Dragon creators in how to craft a successful series of movies, each a rollicking standalone story, but also forming a vital chapter in a coherent whole.
There’s enough crowd-pleasing moments and twists to make this fresh and fun.