How to Train Your Dragon 3 review: Does the sequel fly high?

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World completes the story of Hiccup and his dragon companion Toothless. But is it a satisfying conclusion?

Finding a solid family-friendly film these days seems to get easier all the time. Every once in a blue moon we get a complete disaster, like The Emoji Movie or whatever Minions was supposed to be. But overall, animation has taken a bright turn to make entertainment for kids as well as adults. Such is the case with the How to Train Your Dragon films. The series has so much charm and depth that it gives something that can speak universally to all age groups. And lucky for fans of this property, this might be the best one yet.

The new entry, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the third and final chapter in the saga. This time Hiccup and his pet dragon Toothless are all grown up, living a utopia where mankind and dragons coexist. When the film begins, Hiccup and his crew are going around saving dragons from imprisonment. Problem is, Hiccup oversteps his boundaries and steals dragons from an old acquaintance of his father named Grimmel. This provokes Grimmel to attack Hiccup’s utopia and steal all his dragons.

That said, Hiccup remembers his father speaking of a “Hidden World” where dragons live in peace, so he embarks on finding this place to save his people, and to maybe settle in the “Hidden World” to never be bothered again by threats like Grimmel.

From a storytelling standpoint, this film more than satisfies. It’s arguably better than Toy Story 3 and that film had a very emotional send-off for its characters. The reason this final chapter is so compelling is that the universe lives on in our minds after the credits roll. It even makes it feel like it’s a real-life fairy tale that can make children believe in dragons.

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On top of this, it leaves Hiccup and Toothless’s journey in a place that feels extremely organic from where the story began. Outside of the Toy Story franchise, it’s rare to see animated films show the characters mature and evolve so well. Here, Dreamworks really did a masterful job and delivered such a heartfelt conclusion for them both. It’s truly outstanding writing for an animated feature.

One thing that I personally love about this franchise is how it treats characters with disabilities. Both Hiccup and Toothless are disabled in their own way– Hiccup having a prosthetic foot and Toothless having a missing part of his tail that hinders his flight. Despite the traits of being disabled, the characters are never treated as victims and are victorious despite their setbacks.

This is very important for not just disabled children to see but even able-bodied kids that are still learning about differences in physical abilities. The world needs to be reminded that anyone can be a hero regardless of challenges mentally or physically.

If there were any issues to be had with the film, it would probably be how predictable most of the film is, and bear-in-mind this is a nitpick more than anything. We never think the heroes are not going to make it out alive or that they will not somehow defeat the villain. But again, this is a children’s movie so predictability isn’t a huge issue as long as the film entertains–which this one does in spades.

The other nitpick is the villain Grinmmel, who as charismatic as he is on the page is not exactly the strongest villain in the franchise. He’s mostly a catalyst for the characters to find their way to the hidden world but again, this is mostly just small nitpicks. This is not a film that requires a strong villain, just a satisfying conclusion to characters we have grown to love.

Overall Thoughts

Nitpicks aside, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the best possible conclusion one could ask for from this franchise. In a cinematic world where third entries require tragic endings or somber finales, this is a heartfelt and uplifting close for characters we love. It’s also one of the rare examples of showing the full spectrum of a character journey in such a smart and organic way. If this is a franchise you have loved since 2010 then it will certainly not disappoint. It’s one of the best conclusions for an animated property in recent memory and will surely impress audiences of all ages.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is now in theaters.