How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

by Hans A. Carpenter

Release Date: February 22

MPAA: PG

Director: Dean DeBlois

Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and Cate Blanchett

Mister Marquee Says: A Fitting End

Number: 4/5

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) decided he must move his viking community and their dragon allies out of their ancestral home land as a dragon hunter (F. Murray Abraham) pursues them. Hiccup is searching for the mystical hidden world where dragons come from and plans to relocate his people to this land. Meanwhile, Toothless, Hiccup’s Night Fury dragon, finds out he isn’t the last of his kind.

This is a fitting end to the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy that ends on an emotional, satisfying, and apropos note. It’s a fun movie that will entertain parents and kids alike, and builds on the previous movies in a way that feels cohesive. These movies have built up a surprising amount of emotion as they’ve gone and evolved from animated spectacle to something with a real heart. Hiccup’s coming-of-age story and his community’s relationship to the dragons, once their mortal enemies and now their beloved companions, has been a fun ride. My main gripe is that the comic relief doesn’t land, at all. Don’t sit here and tell me that a kids’ movie can’t have good comedy, I’ve seen Pixar movies. DreamWorks tends to struggle resisting the urge for low-hanging comedy fruit, and this one is no exception. It’s not that big of a deal though, because this isn’t a comedy, it’s an adventure, but still. Comic relief missteps aren’t enough to derail this fun run. Parents and kids alike can enjoy How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It’s a satisfying end to a fun fantasy adventure and not a bad way to spend an hour and forty-five minutes.