Own the final chapter in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise today, as it brings a beautiful conclusion to a highly entertaining saga of Hiccup and Toothless.
“From Dreamworks Animation comes a surprising tale about growing up, finding the courage to face the unknown…and how nothing can ever train you to let go. What began as an unlikely friendship between an adolescent Viking and a fearsome Night Fury dragon has become an epic trilogy spanning their lives. When the sudden appearance of a female Light Fury coincides with the darkest threat their village has ever faced, Hiccup and Toothless must journey to a hidden world thought only to exist in myth. In this last chapter, Hiccup and Toothless will finally discover their true destinies, and dragon and rider will fight together to protect everything they’ve grown to treasure.”
The How to Train Your Dragon series has easily been my favorite of Dreamworks Animation releases, providing some great themes for kids and adults alike, along with solid entertainment and plenty of heart. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World provides all of the same in abundance. As the characters have aged the themes begin to become a little more adult: love, learning to let go, and believing in yourself. For those of us that have watched since the first film, it’s a wonderful evolution of the characters, Hiccup especially, growing up, losing his father, becoming a leader, and now needing to believe in himself in order to save two worlds from coming to an end.
Hiccup and Toothless’ journey together has been one of friendship and love, but also dependence. As Hiccup believes he needs Toothless in order to protect his people, and Toothless needs Hiccup in order to fly. As How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World sadly brings the series to a close, both Hiccup and Toothless learn that in order to grow, they have to find their independence, a difficult thing to achieve and a great theme to explore for children entering their older years, or even most of us that don’t like change.
It was great to see that everyone returned to lend their voices to the characters despite many of them going on to bigger things. One person absent is T.J. Miller, thanks to his recent conduct he was replaced with Justin Rupple voicing Tuffnut. The change is a bit noticeable, as the character apparently was already animated to fit Miller’s voice and couldn’t be changed, but Rupple is a good substitute and I for one had no problem with the replacement whatsoever.
One thing I was a bit disappointed by was the lack of The Hidden World. As it’s teased in the trailers as a wonderous place that is the salvation for both man and dragon, it’s mostly used as a metaphor rather than a cool place to explore, which I’m entirely fine with, but seems misleading. Additionally, for the last chapter in the series, the antagonist wasn’t all that threatening for me. The entire thing seemed to lack solid conflict and it never seemed as any of the characters were in true harms way. For a final sequence, I was expecting something a bit more grandiose I suppose, but although I didn’t get that in the end, the final and heartfelt sequence between man and dragon is wonderful and definitely tugs at the heart strings.
Video
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.35:1. This transfer is exceptional, with a wide array of deep and bright colors, especially in the Hidden World sequence where everything looks absolutely stunning. One thing that has improved drastically since the first film is the animation, which has some very life-like instances, and thanks to the crisp and detailed picture, they are very impressive.
Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos and is one of the highlights of the disc. Levels are well balanced, providing some powerful sound through the surrounds and clear dialogue from the center channel. There are ample moments of sequences that utilize the Atmos speakers as you can imagine, with dragons flying overhead. The score is one of my favorite parts of the franchise, with the beautiful melodic symphony as the theme song that is still a staple of the film. There’s a touching mix of it at the end of the film that sends your emotions into overdrive.
Special Features
This disc is packed with extras, allowing us a glimpse into the making of the franchise as well as tons of other interesting information. These include:
- Dreamworks Shorts
- Alternate Opening
- Deleted Scenes
- How to Voice Your Viking
- Creating an Epic Dragon Tale
- How I Learned From Dragons
- Brave Wilderness Presents: Nature + Dragons = Awesome
- The Dragon Sheep Chronicles
- A Deck of Dragons
- Growing Up With Dragons
- The Evolving Character Design of Dragons
- Drawing Dragons
- Epic Villain
- Astrid’s Whole Dragon Trilogy in 60 Seconds
- Welcome to New Berk
- Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Dean Deblois, Producer Bradford Lewis and Head of Character Animation Simon Otto
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a heartfelt conclusion to a franchise spanning television and film, an entertaining journey for all ages. Although it may be ending, thanks to the plethora of material out there from this universe, there is always more to discover.