Praise4Media #65 - How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The adventures of Hiccup and his crew come to an end, it’s time to explore the Hidden World.

I have enjoyed both of the first two How to Train Your Dragon Films, and I’m continuing to offer my retrospective on the Race to the Edge series, which exemplifies both the best and the worst of the film’s writing. But will the final film stick the landing? Let’s take a look.

We open on a dragon tracker ship, the fog effects are pretty impressive. Hiccup makes his dramatic entrance, lighting his flaming sword and disarming one of the guards of his torch, this lights a fire which Hiccup walks through, the terrified guard panics and loudly calls him a demon. He’s actually wearing armour made of shed dragon scales. It’s not helped when Snotlout appears riding Hookfang, he forgot to fireproof his butt, given his Dragon has the ability to set itself on fire, it’s amazing this hasn’t been a problem before. Ruffnut and Tuffnut make their entrance just to further humiliate him. Tuffnut has a new voice actor, as TJ Miller became a controversial figure as this went into production. He does a decent job

Fishlegs has brought a baby to the battle because he couldn’t find a sitter? In Berk? That adds up… Anyway, as the guard is about to sound the alarm, Astrid knocks him out. But the other guards have been alerted and begin to gather as the riders rescue the dragons. An action scene occurs and it’s portrayed as if done in one take, an interesting visual aesthetic but a little busy, especially with all the fog. It’s amazing it’s as easy to follow as it is.

Valka and her Dragon are watching from above, doing nothing, having faith in the children to do the job, an interesting perspective but not one unearned. As the group move out, Toothless briefly stops, but moves on before he spots anything. Turns out there was a dragon, invisible in the fog.

We get actual context to Hiccup’s usual Berk introduction. They’ve made some quite vast improvements, building higher structures to house the literally hundreds of dragons in the sky. Wow does it look pretty, the animation is really a step up. But of course, the characters are still them so we’ve got some issues to deal with. Tuffnut’s beard made from his hair is stupid and perfectly fitting with his character. Snotlout trying to muscle in with Valka is something I never want to think about ever.

Astrid remarks that the mission went pretty sloppily, and Valka points out they rely a lot on their dragons and not enough on one-another. I mean, out of the 6 of them, only 2 of them have real battle prowess, so it’s hard not to see why. Some dragon hijinks ensue, causing havoc, a lot of damage and likely a few deaths. Toothless uses his command of dragons to end it.

Gobber recognises one of the dragons as a Hobgobbler, a bad luck omen. We cut to the great hall where Gobber warns about bringing all the dragons back to Berk. It’s a very packed place, he has a point. He tells Hiccup to start considering the needs of Berk as opposed to everywhere else, starting with getting married to Astrid. Astrid is made to feel uncomfortable and heads off. Tuffnut tries to give relationship advice and it’s as painful as that sounds.

Eret son of Eret shows up, goody, we needed another character. He reports there’s 2 more trapper barges in their waters and as Hiccup prepares to go after them, Gobber warns he’s soon gonna pick a fight he can’t win. Cut to our main villain, arriving in a dragon powered flying vehicle. He’s greeted by a bunch of warlords named… you know what, I don’t care. They’re vehicles to get the main villain involved and say stupid sh*t so he can be better than them by comparison. It’s how they handled Lex Luthor in the old Superman films, also how they handled Dr Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

It’s been a year since the end of the last film, and the warlords are attempting to create Dragon army, and failing miserably thanks to Hiccup’s efforts. Grimmel is our main villain, a dragon hunter of legendary accord and a carbon copy of Viggo from the show. Well, I say carbon copy, he does have a speciality of hunting Nightfuries. They want Grimmel to capture Toothless, and bring the rest of Berk’s dragons to them. They even provide a female to use as bait. Grimmel does not think much of Hiccup, which is generally everyone’s weakness, let’s see how that pans out.

Time for a flashback of Hiccup being shown Berk by his father. I don’t mind this scene but his attitude here towards Dragons is off. He hated dragons until the end of the first film, so him talking in metaphor about bringing peace to the land is off, it also makes Hiccup more of a chosen one and that is generally not a thing you should do in this day and age. Still, this is set up to the idea of a hidden dragon paradise at the edge of the world.

Hiccup has to play fetch with Toothless, ok… He’s studying the map he was creating back in the second film, Astrid comes to talk, believing Gobber may have a point about how many dragons they have making them a big target. Hiccup believes finding the Hidden world might be the solution to all their problems, but Astrid tells him they need a solution not based in old wives’ tales. It’s a sweet tender moment between them.

Toothless hears something in the distance and heads off to investigate. He sniffs around and eventually sees the female, which Hiccup and Astrid will name the Lightfury. I would say it’s not the most well-designed dragon of them, she doesn’t look like she has scales but glitter. She’s designed to look cute and toyetic above being practical. That said, she attacks and flies off when Hiccup and Astrid show themselves, so she’s not entirely cute. Toothless tries to pursue but his lack of being able to fly means he doesn’t make it far.

Toothless is acting all lovey-duvey prompting Hiccup to go with him back into the woods, unfortunately he’s accompanied by Tuffnut who makes this scene irritating to watch. Hiccup comes across a drugged dart, and realises there’s a trap in the woods, he triggers it rendering it harmless but soon reports to Gobber. Eret recognises the dart as Grimmel’s and tells them he specialises in mind games with his opponent, just like some other Viggo, I mean villain we know.

That night at Hiccup’s house, he’s continuing work on the map as something lands on the roof. Toothless is asleep on the floor and Grimmel has entered the house undetected, he uses a drug dart to knock out Toothless and does a rambling spiel about his evil motivations. But Hiccup was counting on this, he’d set a trap. It wasn’t Toothless, just Fishlegs in a mask, Hiccup disarms him and it’s revealed Astrid, Valka and Gobber were in waiting to ambush him.

What Hiccup didn’t count on was Grimmel’s dragons basically laying waste to the village outside whilst they were having their chat. Everyone’s summoned into the great hall where Hiccup advises that with them both overcrowded and exposed, short of a full-blown war, they can’t stay any longer. This is met with some discussion but Astrid, in spite of chastising the idea earlier, supports him now.

And the dialogue to further justify this is in fact the exact same as in Thor Ragnarok, Berk is not a place, it’s the people. It’s enough to convince Tuffnut if no-one else. And so, the voyage begins and oh my god, there are so many dragons in the air, this can’t have been cheap to animate. Grimmel explains to the warlords that thanks to his attack they’ve now abandoned their only defensible position and since Night Fury’s mate for life, must be a lonely existence if their mate dies, Toothless is distracted, and we see that first hand as the Light Fury has followed them.

It doesn’t take to Hiccup very well, picking him up and chucking him off, Toothless rescues him though why he doesn’t use his glider is anyone’s guess. They soon find a stop on a tall island and begin to make camp, though some are looking at building a new Berk here. Snotlout and Eret come to blows, if you can even call it that because Eret clearly doesn’t give a sh*t. Gobber begins to set up his shop, and finds 5 Hobgobblers waiting for him.

Hiccup agrees that they can set up a base here, as it’s reasonably defensible and given the forest cover, well hidden. Hiccup vows to scout ahead to find the hidden world, whilst Valka heads back to ensure they weren’t followed. That night, Toothless follows the Lightfury away from the village, he wakes Hiccup up who eventually heads after them. This scene has very little dialogue but it does a decent job of telling the story visually.

She wants Toothless to go flying with her but of course he can’t, and she’s scared off when she sees Hiccup. But if you remember back to Gift of Night Fury, a Christmas special I haven't covered, Hiccup was able to construct a tail Toothless could use independently, Toothless gave it up but things have changed and it’s time to try again.

Back with Valka and oh my god, they must really love the mist effect. Her and Cloudjumper discover a massive fleet of ships and are ambushed by Grimmel’s dragons. Toothless and the Lightfury have their second date, where it’s revealed that Toothless can channel lightning to turn himself invisible. It’s got more great visual storytelling, with some beautiful visuals as they approach and enter the hidden world, with more mist effects, someone really must love it.

Valka returns to warn Hiccup of the impending danger, he decides that to save their dragons, they need to take Grimmel out of the mix. This is not a solution everyone necessarily agrees with, especially without Toothless backing them up, but they agree to come anyway. Hiccup remembers he can glide this time as they infiltrate the dark fortress, unfortunately, Grimmel was ready and the fortress was a setup, a cage drops around them.

Grimmel’s dragons have 2 major attacks, they spit flammable acid and they have a mind control venom Grimmel has been extracting and using to drug them into servitude. Valka makes it to the ceiling, and calls Cloudjumper to lift the cage high enough for them to escape. Grimmel examines their victory but sees that because of reasons they’ve left Ruffnut behind.

Hiccup is reeling from that near-catastrophe and isn’t happy to hear one of the Berkians suggest that Toothless isn’t coming back. Valka calls upon Astrid to help him realise he’s not nothing without Toothless. Astrid decides to take Hiccup to find him, not sure that’s exactly what she meant but it does strengthen Hiccup’s resolve.

Ruffnut is driving Grimmel to distraction with her constant talking. But when she mentions the new island, Grimmel decides to let her go and lead them to it. Ruffnut handled a similar situation to this back in Race to the Edge better than this, pity. Hiccup, Astrid and Stormfly arrive at the Hidden World and it’s another stunning looking location. They get a view of Toothless and Hiccup decides to leave but they’re soon spotted Toothless has to save them.

On the trek home we’re treated to another flashback, with Stoick explaining that loss is an inevitable part of loving, and sometimes loving someone means letting them go. Toothless isn’t happy with Hiccup, but he’s not outwardly hostile toward him, especially as Hiccup gives his blessing for him to go back. As it turns out, the Lightfury followed them, but before we can get to taming the Lightfury, Ruffnut returns and Hiccup quickly deduces that he followed them back and soon both the Lightfury and Toothless are drugged unconscious. They’re both chained up to Grimmel’s dragon fortress. The other dragons come to their aid, but as Grimmel threatens the Light Fury, Toothless calls them off, eventually they’re forced to follow him back to the fleet.

Now it’s time for yet another motivational speech from Astrid and it gives Hiccup an idea to get them back, and I guess now’s as good a time as any to forget about Tuffnut’s marriage advise. Good, now that’s forgotten, onto the climax. The warlords begin capturing all the dragons in cages. As team Hiccup suit up, now all wearing glider suits. He claims that ‘you guys are the best I’ve got’ and I can’t help but think that’s not encouraging, only 2/6 of you are competent in battle.

Of course, Grimmel doesn’t really care about the warlords, and always planned to kill Toothless, well duh! But Hiccup and his team begin their assault, knocking Grimmel out of position, allowing Toothless to send the dragons back to the island for reinforcements. Toothless begins destroying the fortress, sending it crashing into the water, and after a badass moment with Astrid, he ends up on the fortress. Grimmel injects mind control venom into the Light fury, leaving Toothless tied up on a fortress crashing into the sea. Hiccup manages to free him in time as it seems my estimations of Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins’ battle prowess might’ve been unfair. Nah!

Valka, Gobber and Eret arrive to confront the warlords as Hiccup and Toothless head after Grimmel and the Light fury. They head into the storm. Gobber gets aided by the hobgobblers as Astrid sends the ships crashing into eachother, detaining the warlords in doing so. Toothless summons the lightning and uses his invisibility trick to give hiccup an opening. Hiccup takes it, but Grimmel throws a drugged dart that hits Toothless. Grimmel is knocked off the Lightfury but grabs onto Hiccup’s legs. Hiccup releases her from the drug collar, and lets go to allow her to save Toothless. With his glider broken, it could be the end.

Just kidding, the Light Fury comes back to save him and with Grimmel holding onto Hiccup’s prosthetic leg, he detaches it and sends him falling into the ocean, presumably dead but not confirmed. Toothless and the Light Fury continue to flirt, Valka applauds Snotlout’s brains for some reason, seriously he did nothing brainy or of consequence in this and Hiccup finally decides that it’s the time for the dragons to be allowed to go home to the Hidden world. Hiccup and Toothless share a touching goodbye as the Dragons all head off.

Time moves on, Berk is built anew, with tributes to the dragons and of course to Stoick the vast. Astrid and Hiccup finally say their vows, Ruffnut decides to love Fishlegs, Fishlegs, you can do better than her, Heather’s still about, just saying.

The final narration is a bit different. It’s Astrid and Hiccup and their two children, heading off to see the Hidden World. They see Toothless and the Light fury with children (they’re called Night Lights, was that the only reason Lightfury was seen as better than Brightfury) and the children make friends with Toothless. One final flight, with Hiccup throwing his child in the air, because he’s a bad parent. Astrid rides on Stormfly and they switch children mid-air.

So that was How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, an emotionally satisfying payoff to the films, but not without its problems.

It probably could’ve done with the axe being given to a couple of characters. I don’t feel bringing Stoick back added anything at all to proceedings and Eret is just kinda there, and happens to know about Grimmel because of course he does. Like the films before it, the focus is on Hiccup and Astrid, with the adults serving as mentor characters, with comedic quirks to them. The problem is with Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who are there purely for the comic relief, and the comedy from all of them is pretty poor.

Grimmel as a villain is actually pretty underwhelming. Viggo was a better chess-master than this, and it feels less he was planning far ahead but being more reactive. His main encounters with Hiccup end at best in stalemate. Hiccup springs a trap on him at the village, they escape his trap at the fleet, and he only manages to capture Toothless because Ruffnut was unbelievably stupid. The warlords and their massive fleet ultimate go down like they’re nothing so hardly impressive there.

Still, the animation is pretty impressive, as is not unusual with Dreamworks’ more serious films. The Hidden World looks amazing and there are some pretty great looking shots throughout. The environments are detailed and there are so many characters on screen, it must’ve been difficult to render it all. The water effects weren’t Disney quality but they served purpose.   

It is perhaps a little dissatisfying that a protagonist bent on creating a peaceful world for humans and dragons ends up giving up on that goal, that said, that’s always been secondary to Hiccup, with his primary motivation being his relationship of Toothless and letting him go and accepting himself as a strong leader here makes a deal of sense.

Praise Rating 67%