How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Berk is now a thriving community where humans and dragons co-exist peacefully. Hiccup and his friends regularly go out to rescue dragons caught by people who would enslave or harm them but this means that Berk is beginning to be overpopulated. When Grimmel the Grisly, a famed dragon killer, takes an interest in Toothless, Hiccup and the clan set out to find ‘the hidden world’, a place they believe to be a safe haven for dragons and humans to live together.

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) – Director: Dean DeBlois

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57557978

Rating: PG

Running Length: 104 minutes

Starring: Jay Baruchel, F. Murray Abraham, America Ferrera

Genre: Animated, Drama, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD’

The popularity of the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ shows no sign of abating and with the quality continuing to remain high, the third movie, ‘How To train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ is likely to be just as loved as the other two. What makes these movies stand out is how they don’t shy away from having a more mature outlook. The core revolves entirely around the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless so their enduring love for one another drives everything around them. Toothless’ cat-and-dog-like behaviour makes him totally loveable and Hiccup’s reaction to him ever being in danger makes their bond all the more believable.

After the events of ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’, Hiccup is now the chief of Berk and his relationship with Astrid is as strong as ever so his responsibilities extend further than it has before. When Toothless discovers an enchanting female (dubbed a ‘Light Fury’ by Astrid), he is more than ready to seek her out as a mate. The surrounding plot with yet another baddie wanting to take Toothless away from Hiccup doesn’t break any new ground but this doesn’t matter as he is dangerous enough to be a real threat to our heroes so his parts make for plenty of exciting moments. The animation is glorious, particularly when plenty of time is spent in the stunningly beautiful ‘Hidden World’ but each moment is a work of art and is a true joy to see.

‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ may be somewhat of a rehash of previous storylines but it is no means stale. We fell in love with Hiccup and Toothless from the very beginning and this final movie makes us love them even more.

CONTENT: IS ‘HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

There are numerous scenes where characters are seen to drink from tankards when celebrating. Some are seen to be drunk. A young woman looks at her tankard and slowly says ‘gorgeous!’

A dragon is chained to the floor of a ship and others nearby are kept in cages. They seem either distressed or resigned, some are prodded at with sharp sticks. One dragon escapes and lurches towards Grimmel, who produces a crossbow and nonchalantly shoots it, the dragon immediately drops to the floor; Grimmel has previously said ‘I’m in the business of killing dragons’ so this dragon has likely been killed from the shot.

Grimmel attacks Hiccup and his clan with two dragons who have been ‘drugged into obedience’ with their own venom. This causes them to be extremely aggressive towards anyone but Grimmel. This fight results in a large fire breaking out, this is an exciting scene which could be scary for some younger kids.

Hiccup remembers being a young child and seeing his father crying in front of a fire. When his father realises he’s there, he wipes his tears away and Hiccup asks him if he’s going to get him a new mother.

Toothless gets captured by Grimmel and hoisted up onto apparatus that prevents him from moving. Other dragons approach in order to free him but as his mate, the Light Fury, is in danger if he escapes, he stops them and allows himself to be taken away. All of these dragons follow them and are captured,

Hiccup sees an unconscious Toothless fall from the sky and in order to save him, he chooses to sacrifice himself, which allows another dragon to rescue Toothless.

Some characters choose to say goodbye to their loved ones indefinitely in order to protect them and, although they all understand why this has to happen, they are all very sad to let them go. Two of them, who have developed a very close bond, embrace and it is clear that both are very upset.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD’ FOR KIDS?

‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ may be a second sequel but it keeps our love of Hiccup and Toothless as fresh as ever. Due to some mild cursing and some exciting scenes which may be scary for younger children, we feel this movie is appropriate for kids aged 5 and over.

• Violence: 2/5 (the scenes where Grimmel and his two dragons attack Hiccup and the others are very exciting and could be a little scary for young kids)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5
• Fear Factor: 1/5
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (a few women are seen to wear clothing that shows some cleavage and legs)
• Bad Language: 1/5 (some infrequent mild cursing. As Hiccup’s clan seem to follow a polytheistic religion, they occasionally say things like ‘Oh my gods!’)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (Grimmel’s dialogue shows how much he delights in killing dragons and says things like ‘I killed it where it slept’)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of friendship, relationships, belief in oneself and others, protecting those you care about, letting go of loved ones for their own good and sacrifice.

Words by Laura Record

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