Given the movie industry’s obsession and infatuation with sequels and reboots, it’s hard to trust it any time you hear about a movie being the end of a series, or the final installment, or the close to an adventure, or however else it might be worded. It was no different with How To Train Your Dragon 3. All signs pointed to it being the third entry of a trilogy. Trilogy, by definition, means a group of three, so the hope was (and is) that The Hidden World will indeed be the last we see of this beloved series.
And I can say that because it is the perfect ending to the series. Without going into spoiler territory, I can say it is a heartfelt, emotional final chapter. It’s fun along the way, as you would expect, but in the end the movie puts its focus on friendship, one of the core themes of all three movies.
So they nailed the ending, but what about the rest of the movie? Well, everything else is pretty darn good, too. The animation is excellent, right up there with Incredibles 2 and maybe only behind Into the Spider-Verse in terms of quality of recent animated films. The voice cast has been a strength of the series from the start, and everyone there returns, with the exception of T.J. Miller. The new Tuffnut, Justin Rupple, is one of the highlights of the movie.
And what about that score, though? Oh my goodness, it’s good, especially the main theme. Just incredible. The first movie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score and, while it’s still (very) early, it wouldn’t surprise me to see The Hidden World receive one as well.
With all the good things to praise, however, there are a couple negative parts to point out. They are problems many movies struggle to overcome: a fairly predictable plot and a generic, run-of-the-mill villain. As touching as the ending was, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. Now don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe the ending they chose was the correct one, and was still quite emotionally impactful. But it could have been even better if the writers and director could have guarded just a little bit more.
As for the villain, he’s a bad guy who does bad things because he’s bad. We get a very quick and small back story, but nothing that elevates him to a three-dimensional character. You could argue he’s not even a two-dimensional character. For the kids in the audience, they’re not going to notice anything. But there are plenty of adults who are just as big of fans of this series, so it was a little disappointing to see such an underdeveloped villain to close the trilogy.
But that’s really it for the negatives. Everything else is fantastic; the whole movie is simply a joy to watch. It’s fun, it’s beautifully made, it might even make you cry. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of the first How to Train Your Dragon, but it approaches that level and is a worthy conclusion to the beloved series.
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