How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Review

On Saturday, I went to see How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World for the second time. Here is my review of it.

Right off the bat, DreamWorks made a commitment to a homogenous, stylised yet-somehow-realistic design for its dragons and well-developed, three-dimensional human characters. And The Hidden World did not disappoint (spoilers below).

First off, the Hidden World of the title is more a deus ex machina than the focus of the plot (and is jaw-dropping when we see it); the film is really about the maturation and coming of age of the human characters. The creature design is outstanding, as always, with new favourites being the moose-like Crimson Goregutter. the frog/piranha/French bulldog-esque Hobgobbler and the tusked mantis/scorpion-inspired Deathgrippers, and the emotional and physical maturation of its human characters is beautifully handled. Hiccup has turned Berk into a dragon/Viking utopia; and the consequences of that become evident early on in the movie, so it's clear that something has to give in the end... cue our main baddie.

Before I talk about him, something I must mention is that I really liked the deliberate connections this made to its predecessors - it was nice seeing Stoick again, even if it was only in flashback form. Whilst the return of Drago was, ultimately, abandoned, there are several references to him by the villains. You get rewarded a million observation points if you know the bonkers-as-ever Gobber is gay and notice his various comments and expressions. There are also a LOT of cameos (human, dragon and sheep alike), which eagle-eyed audience members will quickly notice. There are also echoes of the previous films in some of the scenes.

Now, on to the film's baddie... We have F. Murray Abraham as the villain, Grimmel the Grisly, a dragon-hating poacher, who is the reason why Toothless is the last of his species... pity that doesn't seem to affect the film much. I'll go into length about his character here because he was good in some ways, poor in others.

Why does Grimmel hate dragons? The film doesn't really say why; and his motivations don't really go beyond "Must. Kill. All. Dragons." Even in his motive rants, his statements come off as weird and contradictory. Until Hiccup met and bonded with Toothless, pretty much everybody thought dragons were simply large, dangerous animals. So Grimmel's personal loathing of them comes off as rather unusual and nobody calls him out for it.

Don't get me wrong, Grimmel is scary; Abraham is legitimately intimidating with the material he's been given and he has quite a few good scenes. Whilst he doesn't have the guerrilla swagger of Drago Bludvist or the eldritch terror of the Red Death, there is something inherently terrifying about a villain who views killing as a game; Grimmel doesn't hunt dragons for money or power, but simply because he enjoys killing. He's more predator than man; a killer who will turn on anyone, even his own ostensible allies, to satisfy his bloodlust.

However, there is quite a lot of stuff that could have been trimmed or reworked about his character. Wouldn't it have been more compelling, say, if Toothless recognised him, giving his statements about nearly wiping out the Night Furies more depth, a history with one of our protagonists and making him a personal foe rather than an ideological one? As it stands, however, his presence and menace more than make up for his lack of substance.

I have to say that I was a bit iffy on the 'meet the team' intro at the start -- maybe it was necessary to remind us of the main characters and show Hiccup and co. operating as a unit, but it felt a little forced. I must say I was also a little miffed that Grimmel's Deathgrippers, who had been drugged into doing his bidding, were not freed given the theme that dragons are not killing machines but responsive and easily trainable animals. They're the embodiment of everything ugly about humankind's treatment of dragons; surely that would count for something.

The film also has too many subplots that, overall, detract from the film's story. Whilst I understand DeBlois' desire to keep the integrity of the films, this is the (rare) film series that would have been improved from being a four or five-film series. The one-sided Snotlout/Eret rivalry was something I felt would have particularly benefitted from being expanded upon.

And the ending... Good Lord, the ending. 

Whilst it was handled excellently and hit the right emotional beats, the dragons leaving just doesn't make sense.  The reason given is that they're not safe in the outside world, which is fine. However... Grimmel's dead and the only people who knew where New Berk was (the warlords and their armada) aren't really a threat anymore. Dialogue from Grimmel and the warlords also implies that Hiccup's philosophy is spreading. Basically, they're safer than they've ever been.

No matter how well it was handled, it was always going to be iffy, given how the last two movies and multiple seasons of the show (plus comics) have all sent the message that peaceful coexistence with dragons  was not only possible, but the best option. To suddenly backtrack and say, "oh noes, it isn't" comes off as a little facetious.

However, maybe that's the point; without the dragons, the Berkians are now somewhat landlocked on their new, off-the-map island. The dragons opened up the entirety of the Northern Hemisphere to them, allowing them to become explorers of distant and unknown lands. Now, however, the explorers have to stop all that; the adventurers stopped adventuring and went back to their normal lives. The dreamers stopped dreaming and settled down.

However, there's the epilogue. The wildest dreamers' wildest dream.

The film's proper end comes at a point in the future; where Hiccup and Astrid have children and take them on a journey to reunite with their old friends. Maybe, just maybe, this is the magic coming back.  The old crew with the whole world stretched in front of them forever, an endless dream. The old posse reuniting for a ride off into the sunset, teasing the possibility of further adventures. How To Train Your Dragon: The Next Generation, anybody?

However, even if this isn't followed up on (and it looks like it won't be), it does what it's intended to; a real, honest to God Happily Ever After. And that’s it. The end. The real end. Roll credits and play “The Rainbow Connection” for the lovers and the dreamers on Berk.

Well done, Dean DeBlois, you stuck the landing.