How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
It’s every parent’s mantra instilled in children, told in various permutations of take courage, be brave, believe in yourself
Director:
Dean DeBlois
Lead Cast:
Voices of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham
Screenwriter:
Dean DeBlois
Producers:
Bonnie Arnold, Brad Lewis
Editor:
John K. Carr
Musical Director:
John Powell
Cinematographer:
Gil Zimmerman
Genre:
Adventure, Fantasy, Animation
Distributor:
Paramount Pictures
Location: USA
Running Time: 1 hr 44 min
Technical assessment: 4.5 ★★★★✬
Moral assessment: 5 ★★★★★
CINEMA rating: V13
MTRCB rating: PG13
Grimmel the dragon slayer (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) sees no point in having man and dragon co-exist on earth. With mad obsession, he seeks to exterminate the dragon species Night Fury, whose last of its kind, alas, is Toothless, the dragons’ alpha male. His master and trainor Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), now chief of the Vikings, remembers his late father talk about some faraway place — the Hidden World — where dragons can be safe. So he leads the dragons and his people to that sanctuary. But first, they must ward off Grimmel and his army of drugged dragons that are programmed to kill. Plus, Toothless needs to focus, because he’s smitten with Light Fury, and he doesn’t have the courtship skills that can win the heart of his beloved. He gets some coaching from Hiccup who is himself awkward and tentative but obviously in love but can’t quite propose yet to his best friend Astrid (America Herrera). Thanks to strong woman Astrid, his anchor, who believes in his capacity to lead with or without Toothless, even when he doubts himself.
This is our third How to Train Your Dragon, and we do think the franchise has squeezed out every which way to train a dragon in this last instalment. Judging by the reaction of the horde of children in the jampacked theater, the interval between conflict and the next surprise is too long. What earns a thumbs up from CINEMA is the editing and cinematography aided by CGI that can rival giant sci-fis such as Star Wars. Someone called it a screensaver cinema: a swirly succession of pretty pictures and colors. Although the scenes are not exceptional and, in fact, much too similar to Avatar, they nevertheless are undeniably breathtaking. The movie does elicit laughter from both kids and adults at instances like the courtship dance between Toothless and Light Fury, for example, with Hiccup coaching his best friend from behind a rock.
Toothless, the alpha male is, well, toothless, with his now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t teeth which by worldly standards diminish his macho image. Like his master Hiccup who is head of the pack, Toothless has a prosthetic tailfin. While themes of letting go can trigger separation anxiety in young audiences, here it’s handled well because it’s told in the context of mentor Hiccup allowing his friend Toothless whom he tamed and trained to fly away and start a new life with Light Fury. You want lessons about teamwork, it’s also here. Hiccup and his friends go to battle, always a team, never leaving each other, and although they grumble, decision making is actually very democratic among the Vikings. And finally, it’s every parent’s mantra instilled in children, told in various permutations of take courage, be brave, believe in yourself. Finally, it will please adults to know how the recurring theme of marriage — the traditional kind, not the quick fix kind — is presented here with Toothless courting Light Fury, each looking out for the other, and Hiccup and Astrid who are BFFs since childhood not rushing to get married. Despite all these good messages, we’d still recommend parental guidance for children below 13 because the fighting and visuals may be too assaulting for very young audiences — MOE
