Critique: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Film)

Grimauld is set on killing all dragons. So Hiccup looks for the Hidden World, a place where dragons can live in safety from humans.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Plot Problems

 

Astrid is involved in two situations that make no sense.

Astrid is surprised that Hiccup is embracing change. Yet he’s the one who convinced Berc to love dragons instead of killing them. Hiccup’s the reason why Berc’s society has changed so much. So clearly Hiccup isn’t averse to change, so Astrid being surprised by Hiccup embracing change is faulty.

Astrid says to Hiccup, “We’re going to find him,” the ‘him’ being Toothless. Straight after this, Hiccup tells his friends that they’re going to free Ruffnut. Um, what? Then after this, they follow Toothless’ scent: they knew Ruffnut and Toothless weren’t in the same place, so which, so they clearly aren’t going to free Ruffnut. It’s just a mess.

 

Grimauld, the antagonist of this film, is also involved with two bits of nonsense.

The other warlords seemed surprised that Grimauld won’t give them Toothless. Considering the only way they convinced Grimauld to join them was telling him about Toothless, I don’t see why they would be surprised.

Grimauld captured Ruffnut and is surprised when she talks about New Berc. But Grimauld’s been following the Vikings of Berc and so was already heading for New Berc. How can he be surprised about New Berc existing when he’s on his way there anyway? Grimauld coming for New Berc was the reason Hiccup and his friends went to find Grimauld. If he didn’t know about New Berc, Hiccup and co wouldn’t have gone, so Ruffnut wouldn’t have been captured, meaning he couldn’t hear her talk about New Berc. So how could he be surprised?

 

 

Humour

 

Again, this film ramps up the seriousness of the plot and the frequency of humour is hence appropriately reduced.

However, there is still whimsy. For example, when Gobber throws the bouquet in the air at the wedding, his fake hand goes flying along with it.

The sheep are dressed as dragons, hiding their sheep behaviours, so that the dragons don’t bother them. At one point, a sheep baas, making the dragons look at it, so it does its best to be as unsheeplike as possible after this.

The way Hiccup talks about the lightfury is the same way a dad would talk about their teenage daughter’s boyfriend. Hiccup taking the role of father is funny, as is Hiccup being protective over one of the most fearsome dragon breeds out there.

Grimauld says Hiccup’s name, the only character to address how stupid the name is. He says says Hiccup’s name whilst doing pretend hiccoughs. Brilliant.

Tuffnut ties his long hair under his chin to give himself a beard. The fact he thinks he’s fooling everyone is fun. Tuffnut says, “You have my word, until I break it, that I’ll help.”

Everyone fireproofed their outfits, but Snotlout forgot to fireproof his bum. Then Snotlout tells Hiccup, “I’m the son your mum always wanted.” So funny. (But also gross because you’re flirting with her.)

They play fetch with Hiccup’s peg leg like it’s an entirely normal thing to do. Later, Grimauld is holding on to Hiccup via his pegleg so Hiccup detaches it, letting his peg leg and thus Grimauld fall.

Toothless performs dances for the lightfury. He looks to Hiccup, mimicking his arm movements with his wings. But when Hiccup does a chicken, Toothless rears up on his hindlegs and, instead of flapping his wings, he flaps his forelegs instead. Toothless annoys the lightfury so she bats at Toothless’ head repeatedly with a foot, much like a cat does with a paw when annoyed.

 

 

Problems

 

There were a few things that struck me as odd.

Why did they number the second film but give the third a subtitle? This is a lack of consistency. Calling this one ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World’ would have removed this issue entirely.

Valka tells Astrid to convince Hiccup that he isn’t nothing without Toothless. So why would Astrid hear this then tell Hiccup they’d find Toothless? If someone thinks they’re nothing without something, don’t confirm it by taking them to that something! Of course they want to find Toothless so maybe Astrid could convince Hiccup he’s talented enough to rescue Toothless?

Fishlegs couldn’t find a sitter for his baby dragon. But Berc has plenty of humans and is infested with dragons. So him not finding a sitter is ludicrous.

 

There were also animation issues.

The animation of the lightfury is weird at time. When she stretches her neck up, it’s wildly out of her proportion with the rest of her body compared to Toothless’ neck:body ratio. Plus, when her neck is down, her head isn’t far enough from her body to account for this extra neck length. So that’s a lack of consistency. Also, when the lightfury is invisible, she’s pixilated. There are loads of ways to show an invisible character in animation that work. Showing pixilation in a natural, pre-modern setting just doesn’t work.

Stormfly, Astrid’s dragon, gains florescent colours in the darkness of the Hidden World. Yet when she returns to daylight, she retains those colours. That doesn’t make sense.

When Toothless dances for the lightfury, at one point he does a bird of paradise dance (wingtips touching in front of him). He holds his tail above his head. The fakefin that Hiccup fixed on Toothless’ tail isn’t visible. However, it is visible before and after this dance position. This is an inconsistency.

 

 

Good

 

There were many things that the film did well.

Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout have a bigger role in this film than in the other films. Considering they were basically sidelined in the second film, it was good to see them revitalised.

The lightfury is bright white instead of black like Toothless. It has blue eyes instead of green. Its tail fins were rounded instead of pointed like those of Toothless. The animators demonstrated the sexual dimorphism between the nightfury sexes but both were still clearly of the same species.

Hiccup and Astrid get married. Their wedding clothes were absolutely beautiful. After three films of warm, utilitarian clothing, seeing the gorgeous outfits was even more impressive.

Grimauld thinks dragons with humans means the end of civilisation. This conclusion doesn’t make sense. However, as Grimauld is always complaining about dragons, his conclusion make sense for him when put with his thought and behaviours.

The film ends in the future, where Hiccup has a beard and his shoulders have filled out. He, Astrid and their two kids visit their dragons in the Hidden World. We see Toothless has babies of his own: their eyes are teal, a mixture of Toothless’ green and the lightfury’s blue. Most have bodies that are both black and white, suggesting that the colours of their parents weren’t due to sexual dimorphism as was implied. So even as the film is ending, another dragon mystery is revealed.

 

 

 

This film was of quality, nicely finishing off a fun series. The characters have aged with the audience which is a nice touch. Also, each film is made to be appropriate for the age of the characters but still having enough fun in it to be relevant to a younger age group (the age the characters were in the first film). The second and third films weren’t disappointments like many sequels are, meaning the creators held onto the magic. Talent deserves to be recognised.