The Epilogue of the Third Movie Kinda Gets in the Way of Making 'How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming' Meaningful

How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming is a 22-minute special that has been released in DVD and aired on TV in time for the holiday season.  Based on what I gather from the plot, I presume that it’s set after the main events of The Hidden World (when the Berkians set their dragons free) and before the epilogue (when Hiccup and his family visited Toothless and his family at the mouth into the Hidden World).

It has been ten years since the dragons went to live in the Hidden World.  It’s Snoggletog (the Christmas-esque of the Berkians, which had already been previously featured in the prior HTTYD holiday special Gift of the Night Fury) once again in New Berk, and Hiccup is excited to carry on the traditions that he used to share with his best friend Toothless.  However, it seems like the Vikings of New Berk – especially the new generation – have begun to forget the deep bond their people used to have with dragons.  Hiccup and Astrid’s children, particularly, have come to believe that dragons are dangerous monsters after finding Stoick’s old notes after dragons (when they were still considered enemies by the Berkians).  To address this matter, Hiccup, Astrid, and Gobber decide to produce a Songgletog pageant about the great friendship between Berkians and dragons.

Meanwhile, Toothless’ three curious Night Light children decide to pay New Berk a visit behind their parents’ back.

I love the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.  I believe it’s the second best animated film trilogy of all time (after Toy Story, which is now a tetratology).  However, although I find this special to be fun and heartwarming, I also think it’s needless.  It’s simply a setup for that stirring epilogue in The Hidden World.  And since we’ve already seen that, there’s not much lasting emotional payoff in this special.  It would have been better if the story of this special is something set after that epilogue.

Actually, if the third movie hadn’t had that epilogue, Hiccup’s children becoming fearful of dragons and wanting to kill them actually makes for an intriguing concept to be explored in a special.  An entire storyline centered on a reunion would then have been more meaningful.

In the end, Homecoming is fine.  It’s nice to revisit the world and characters of How to Train Your Dragon even in this way.