How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a perfect ending

Movie sequels often struggle to complete the story in a satisfying way. This popular franchise has just nailed the landing.

What’s remarkable about the nine years it’s taken from the first Train Your Dragon movie to The Hidden World, the final instalment in the trilogy, out today, is how much has changed.

The franchise accomplishes what most animated movies don’t even attempt — real character arcs.

After meeting him as a teenage boy of 15, How To Train Your Dragon fans have followed Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), with his fierce but puppy-dog-adorable dragon companion Toothless, through adventures big and small.

And now it’s come to an end, with a sweet but emotional climax that may have you tearing up (or blubbering) as the series reaches what is so rare in this franchise-obsessed industry — a proper conclusion that remains faithful to the story it’s been trying to tell over three movies.

It really is a trilogy so don’t try to jump in to How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World without having seen the first two movies — they work best together.

After the death of his father, finding his mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) and becoming Chief of Berk, Hiccup, now a (still lanky) lad in his mid-20s, and his friends have been rescuing dragons from trappers and bringing them back to their island village.

Berk has expanded to accommodate the growing brood of flying pals — the village is overflowing with them, dotted in birdbox-like structures whose colourful roof tiles have a scaly look.

But Berk is only so big, and the newcomers keep, well, coming. That’s when Hiccup mentions a legend his father told him as a child — of a hidden world where dragons live, free from the threat of humans, behind a waterfall where the horizon ends.

Bestest buddies. Picture: Universal Pictures

When the dragon trappers recruit a fearsome Night Fury killer named Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham, who’s always good for a menacing villain voice), Berk’s dragon-human utopia comes under attack from him and an armada of trappers, renewing the search for the hidden world.

How To Train Your Dragon’s greatest strength has been the deep bond between Hiccup and Toothless, a boy-and-his-dog trope that anchors the whole series. Their synchronicity and loyalty is the trilogy’s emotional core.

The Hidden World introduces a new element — a female version of Toothless, another Night Fury (or Light Fury) dragon. So Toothless gets his own character development too and becomes much more than a “pet”.

When dragons fall in love, it’s a mating ritual of flirtation and seduction. There’s hopping, wing-flapping, furtive glances and scepticism. And it’s bloody cute — partly because it’s a whirlwind of slapstick comedy but mostly because two previous How To Train Your Dragon movies have built that connection between the audience and Toothless.

I have a big stick.

If How To Train Your Dragon was content with serving up the same formula each flick, the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless would never evolve, but here it does, and it’s what really makes the ending affecting.

Meanwhile, Hiccup’s relationship with the feisty and capable Astrid (America Ferrera) has reached a point where marriage is on the cards — see, there’s the character growth again.

It’s no longer some swoony teen romance, but one that actually reflects how people grow comfortable with each other, relying on each other for more than just lust. It’s a matter of trust.

Visually impressive.

If you don’t care so much about the emotional arc of the characters, if you want to make sure your kids have a good time without running up and down the aisles, this also delivers.

It’s packed with exciting set pieces with the action moving from place to place, with even more imaginative, colourful dragons flying around. The visuals of the hidden world is particularly impressive — your eyes will pop at the way light seems to dance around.

Even though it’s been a delightful journey, let’s hope How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the last chapter — any more sequels or spin-offs would be a disservice to the beautiful ending lovingly crafted here.

Rating: ★★★½

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is in cinemas from today.

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