How to Train Your Dragon is the most unlikely of animated success stories. From the mind of Dean DeBlois and starring the eternally awkward Jay Baruchel, the pairing of the dragon Toothless with the lead actor’s Hiccup has proved priceless and endearing long beyond the medium of film. Now that the trilogy has concluded—what with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital download format—perspective is key. What better time to assess the latest film and intertwine a look at the whole series.
Back in 2010, DeBlois was a filmmaker with a dream and he did exactly what people do who are explosively passionate about their aspirations. Nothing else is acceptable. The dream is unrelenting and will not let you go, so thank goodness for that because DeBlois never listened to those inner doubting voices and hesitated. In fact, the filmmaker forged straight ahead and not only has the box office successes of the three-film series to remind him to always push what dreams may come, but his earning of the title of Oscar nominee in the process.
Picking up after the events of 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 things get interesting immediately when Hiccup and Toothless discover that our favorite animated fire-breathing creature is not alone. That’s right, there’s another Night Fury and the white beauty is a girl. Wink wink, nudge, nudge there Toothless!
Before anyone can get serious about flirting at the most and at the least learning about where she came from and if there are others, a fellow by the name of Grimmel (Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham) shows up with his sights set on finding a so-called Dragon Utopia before our white Night Fury leads Toothless and Hiccup there. Odds are that Grimmel seeks to destroy the haven and every single soul in it.
Why How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World works so well is the most interesting of observations. The affectionate nature of man and dragon that was introduced to us in the first film is so endearing that over a second film and now as viewers dive into the third adventure with these two, a thick emotive string exists between viewer and characters. What is so fascinating and a testament to the storytelling skills of all involved, is that one does not have to have seen the first two Dragon films in order to 1) understand what is going on and 2) be emotionally tethered to our heroes and their friends.
Casting is also a huge plus in terms of trying to explain the success of these films. Sure, Baruchel and his awe-shucks manner was born to be Hiccup and it worked brilliantly with the nature of this story’s beginnings. Then, what better way to show a bond and growth of a character’s strengths than to have both dragon and man—much like a wild stallion and a cowboy in a western—grow together in every sense of that over three films to where we are now and … no spoilers! Still awesome (when is she not?) is Cate Blanchett as Valka, America Ferrera as Astrid, Gerard Butler as Stoick, Craig Ferguson as Gobber, Jonah Hill as Snotlout, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs, Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut and Kit Harington as Eret.
The animation is glorious. The Hidden World, once it is found and revealed, is everything one would dream it would be an exponentially more. It is films such as How to Train Your Dragon and its two sequels, and what is being produced over at Sony Pictures Animation, of course Disney Animation and Pixar, as well as Blue Sky at Fox that firmly has us believing that appreciators of this medium are enjoying something that can possess no other name other than “the golden age of animation.”
There are a few moments that are tough to watch in that you might want to bring tissues. Not naming names, but there was quite a bit of ugly crying going on at the theater when I witnessed the joyous journey on the big screen a few months back. It is a rich environment that DeBlois has taken a beloved book series, penned by Cressida Cowell, and produced a modern animated classic.
The bonus features on How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World are rich, extensive, and extraordinary. The Evolving Character Design of Dragons goes back to the beginning and walks us through the absolutely perfect animation design as our characters age and are altered by this journey. A too-quick How to Voice Your Viking is an interesting look at the recording studio and how voice actors work their magic to make an animated flick. How I Learned from Dragons gets further insight from the voice actors as they share their collective experience working in the sound booth and making movie magic.
Creating an Epic Dragon Tale finds the film’s creators waxing poetic about how they so effortlessly and smartly expanded the world of these characters (and dragons!) and how things were impactfully different in this third chapter and why. Brave Wilderness Presents: Nature + Dragons = Awesome is exactly as it sounds! Brave Wilderness’ Coyote Peterson serves as the host with the most in a pair of featurettes that bring in some real world examples to illustrate how the animated world worked its movie magic. It’s too hard to choose a favorite, given that both subject matters are interests of mine. I promise you will enjoy Birds and Bats Are Awesome (because they ARE!) and Animal + Animal = Dragon.
Don’t miss a duo of divine DreamWorks short films with Bilby and Bird Karma. Each gives us a sneak peek into the future of DreamWorks Animation as many of their short movie crafters are tomorrow’s feature film directors.
The Dragon Sheep Chronicles finds Hiccup narrating his thoughts on sheep and how they can be a danger due to their tastiness for dragons. Meanwhile, The Secret Sheep Society is a nice piece about the sheep attempting any means necessary to escape from those fire breathing bullies.
For fans of this entire series, there have been some pretty awesome dragons created throughout. For the new ones in this third film, don’t miss A Deck of Dragons which introduces the fresh fliers in this world while Drawing Dragons looks at the varied dragon designs throughout the franchise in all its glory.
A great featurette that spans the entire series is Growing Up with Dragons and focuses on Hiccup and his evolution. It’s been a huge transformation—the character has had the most fascinating arc. The antagonist to Hiccup’s protagonist, Grimmel, gets the spotlight in Epic Villain. A fantastically self-aware featurette arrives with Astrid’s Whole Dragon Trilogy in 60 Seconds. It’s unreal. Watch it!
There’s a three-minute alternative opening that is pretty cool, I recommend it. The deleted scenes are also a great way to get inside the head of DeBlois when it comes to his narrative choices. In that vein, with a subsequent watch, don’t miss the audio commentary track. DeBlois’ insight is incredible, so too is producer Bradford Lewis and Head of Character Animation Simon Otto provide incredible perspective to the entire film.
Film Grade: A
Bonus Features: A