The end of an era happens on February 22, 2019. How to Train
Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the final film in that franchise. All twelve
books of Cressida Cowell’s series have been condensed and changed into just
three films. Well, there were also four short films and an eight season
television series. If that comes as a shock, that’s okay because the film doesn’t
address them.
Dean DeBlois once again writes and directs as he’s done for
all three films. The love for the characters he’s spent 11 years with is
evident in how they’re portrayed. It would have been so easy in different hands
for the filmmakers to have forgotten that six years have passed for the
characters since that first film. Instead, DeBlois allows them to be young
adults struggling with being too old to act like teenagers but not feeling
ready enough to take on the adult roles expected of them. It’s the worst for
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel); still mourning his father’s death after a year yet still
expected to lead his people as Chief. He’s expected to have all the answers. He’s
expected to marry Astrid (America Ferrera) and have the next heir to the Chiefdom.
He’s expected to be an expert in all things Viking. The pressure is too much,
causing him to depend more and more on his dragon, Toothless, instead of Astrid
or others around him. Maybe in a way he hasn't let Toothless live up to his true potential either. It’s a realistic portrayal in a film many would dismiss
as a children’s film and it’s refreshing to have this realism without
depressing the audience. Emotional downbeats are tempered by humor from the
dragons or various characters. The only misstep would be Snotlout (Jonah Hill) pursuing
Valka (Cate Blanchett) as a M.I.L.F. Valka only had eyes for Hiccup’s father
but Snotlout still spends the whole film pursuing her and making overtures that
felt uncomfortable to watch. It also would have been nice to pass the
Bechdel-Wallace Test especially with such strong female characters like Astrid
and Valka.
As with most sequels, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden
World ups the ante on everything. With a whole previously unseen utopia of the
creatures, there are far more dragons than the last two films combined. Dragons
of all shapes and sizes and abilities fill the screen; making the most out of
that 3D Imax screen. The newest dragon, dubbed the Light Fury, is capable of bamfing
and teaches Toothless to do the same complete with lightning powers that
require a new tail and features just in time for Build-a-Bear to have new
plushies. Still, it’s amazing to be able to see the iridescent sheen on each
individual scale of Light Fury’s body. The backgrounds are so real that it’s
impossible to tell whether they were painstakingly crafted or actual footage
from up north.
When it’s the end of something, there is always trepidation
about how it will go. Will the characters leave you with a smile or an ugly
cry? For those familiar with the How to Train Your Dragon book series. It’s
hard to get past Hiccup’s haunting line, “There were dragons when I was a boy…”
Would it be ignored by the film? Would Hiccup leave
Toothless behind just as Christopher Robin once did to Winnie the Pooh?
Happily, the answer lies in between. The very last scene is exactly how Hiccup
and Toothless should be remembered. It’s a rare feat when a trilogy has the
perfect ending to everything that has come before it. How to Train Your Dragon:
The Hidden World deserves the praise and is well worth your time.
9.5 out of 10
GIF Created By: https://hotccup.tumblr.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment