This is the 3rd movie of the How to Train Your Dragon series and it was kind of surprising when I checked the second movie was back in year 2014. As I tried to recall the second movie, I realized that I never saw it (which was very odd). So the night before this movie premiered, I took the chance to see that movie first through online streaming. And it was a good thing as I could easily understand this movie better. OK, let's get on with the film now, shall we?
Brief Story Line
Set a year after the events of the second movie, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel - The Sorcerer's Apprentice, She's Out of My League etc) and his Night Fury dragon Toothless have been coordinating attacks on the dragon trappers to free dragons. Together with his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera - Ugly Betty TV series etc), his mother Valka (Cate Blanchett - The House with a Clock in Its Wall etc) and his band of misfits friends, Snotlout (Jonah Hill - True Story etc), the twins Tuffnutt (Justin Ripple) & Ruffnutt (Kristen Wiig - Ghostbusters remake etc) and former dragon trapper Eret (Kit Harrington - Game of Thrones TV series), they had brought back a lot of dragons to their home at Berk.
Because of their actions, the dragon trappers groups have engaged a notorious dragon killer callled Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus, Homeland TV series etc) to capture Toothless and defeat Hiccup. Grimmel made it his personal mission to kill the last night fury. Meanwhile at Berk, the place had been too crowded with so many dragons. And things were not easy for Hiccup as well, with the pressure from his father's best friend Gobber (Craig Ferguson) to marry Astrid. Not to mention the appearance of a female night fury who would captivate and distract Toothless.
So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this beautifully animated movie.
End of Brief Story Line
This was a movie that to my opinion was a good third movie of a trilogy. It gave us a sense of closure and it had one of the most lovely conclusion to a series of films which had been very good in the first place. When I first saw the original movie many years ago (back in the year 2010), I felt that movie was a good drama and it had wonderful amazing animation. We got to experience a sense of flying together with the dragon and the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless was truly great. The story was delightful and we would easily fell in love with Toothless the last night fury. Then when I watched the second movie, I felt the story developed into a darker and a bit heavier with a surprising twist for a family drama. But it had one of the most intense and suspenseful finale for an animated movie to my opinion.
And now this third movie. After watching it for a while, there was a sense of how this movie would end. Personally I thought that it was done the way it should be. A really satisfying finale with some truly emotional feel brought out by the movie makers. My wife also said that the series was very good as each movie had a different set of stories and it was not the kind of sequels made just for the sake of making more money, but a really good trilogy.
The film itself was real fun, especially those scenes of Toothless interaction with the female night fury. We got to laugh all around as they were really fun to see. Plus obviously the crazy characters of Hiccup friends. My personal favorite would definitely be Ruffnutt who was voiced so perfectly by Kristen Wiig and I am sure most audience also enjoyed her appearance. The rest were also funny like Tuffnutt and Snotlout. But it also had quite significant amount of drama, from the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless or with his girlfriend Astrid. One character that did not get too much appearance in here was Valka who was the lead in second movie. Plus there was the brief appearance of Gerard Butler as Hiccup's father Stoick in flashbacks. Ooh, the villain Grimmel here was also wonderfully portrayed by F. Abraham Murray.
I already mentioned that the animation of this trilogy was really wonderful. So I was a bit confused when I saw this movie last night, the pictures did not seem too bright. Not really sure the reasons as the previous 2 movies were always so bright and we could see every detail perfectly, but this one was not as clear as I expected. Probably it would be better to see in IMAX? The music was good as it really could toy our emotions, from the dramatic part or the suspenseful part. And I guessed seeing it in a theater with Dolby Atmos system would also bring the best out of the sound effects.
As a movie aimed for family, I think this one is safe enough for the young audience. There was not so much violence (I think it was toned down a bit from the second movie). The dragons interaction plus their colorful animation would make the children excited as well. While for the more adults would be delighted to see the adventures and the story. Before I forgot, the duration was also just nice, less than 2 hours which did not have any mid or post end credit scene.
Overall this was a beautiful friendship movie about a dragon and a Viking leader. It was a perfect conclusion to a trilogy. It had so much emotions that affected both me and my wife. We got to laugh and cry together. The animation was really stunning and beautiful. The characters were mostly funny and also very memorable. And we got to see so many types of dragons, from the beautiful ones to the big but not so pretty looking ones. To me, this is definitely one of my most favorite trilogy. If you are interested in watching this movie, you definitely have to watch the first and second movie before seeing it to better understand and really appreciate how it was properly concluded.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Notes: The three movies were loosely based on the children's books How to Train Your Dragon series written by Cressida Cowell. There were some changes made between the books and the movies, but it was approved by the author. The books have also been adapted into several short films.
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