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Thursday, April 04, 2019

'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World' Wraps Up the Second Greatest Animated Film Trilogy of All Time

What’s the greatest animated film trilogy of all time?  The correct answer is the Toy Story trilogy (soon to be tetralogy), of course.

Now, what’s the second greatest animated film trilogy of all time?  Aladdin?  (The sequels – satisfying they might have been – were just direct-to-video fares, basically serving as glorified pilot and finale for the fantastic animated series.)  Despicable Me?  (The first one was fresh. However, even though I also had fun with the next two, they weren’t nearly as remarkable as the first one.)  Hotel Transylvania?  (Also an okay series, but not really something you would consider classic material.)  Shrek?  (The first two were awesome.  I also remember liking the third, but it was probably mostly due to the goodwill of its predecessors.  The fourth one doesn’t matter here since we’re talking trilogies, but for the record, I forgot what happened in it.)  Cars?  (LOL.) Ice Age?  (Double LOL.)  Kung Fu Panda?  (A good contender.  It was actually a solid trilogy.)

Well, for me, the runner-up to Toy Story for greatest animated film trilogy ever is How to Train Your DragonThe Hidden World has made sure of that.
The third – and presumably last – installment of this terrific DreamWorks Animation series is set just a year after the previous film (which came out five years ago).  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless are constantly leading Berk’s dragonriders in raids against dragon trappers and freeing the dragons they capture.  With the continuous inflow of rescued dragons, the village of Berk is starting to get overcrowded.  And with all the dragons becoming concentrated on one place, it makes them vulnerable to be attacked by their enemies – especially the notorious dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham), who is responsible for pushing the Night Furies into near extinction.  Thus, Hiccup decides to lead the Berkians and their dragons to find a new, safe home – specifically, a mythical “hidden world” found at the edge of the world.  Meanwhile, Toothless meets a white, female Fury – a “Light Fury” – and becomes enamored with her.

Honestly, I think the first two HTYD installments are much stronger movies.  There are directions that The Hidden Dragon’s story took that I don’t agree with, and there are a few character decisions that I want to question.  Nevertheless, what’s produced as a whole is quite resonating – an animated film that is both joyful and poignant.

Visually, it’s outstanding.  It has dynamic action, compelling animation, and excellent shot compositions.  And, as usual, the variety of dragon types is a consistent source of eye candy.
In the end, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is not quite a perfect finale.  But only because there are some things in the narrative that I wish turned out differently.  All in all, it’s a powerful close to an immensely delightful and heartwarming saga.

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