How To Train Your Dragon
The Film Trilogy -
I didn't watch a single piece of content from this franchise until I watched the film trilogy recently. I must say, they were all enjoyable experiences. The music was nothing short of breathtaking in each film, and the animation was truly art. The world building was well done and fascinating and added on with every movie. And Hiccup is a definitely hero of the generation that grew up with these films.
How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
"A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed."
I might be the only one that picked up on this, but I noticed an analogy for foster pets. Yeah, Toothless was a wild animal and Hiccup was taming him, but when you hear stories of dog parents who rescued dogs from a traumatic environment, they all follow their own path of gaining trust with that animal. Rescue dogs require a lot of patience, training, and love for the dog to build trust with their owner so they can transcend species differences and become a proper family. Hiccup and Toothless went through a similar journey, and even if I'm the only one who interpreted it this way, I still appreciate it.
Every kids movie tries to share a life lesson to it's young audience, and HTTYD did it right. The moral of this story is to learn and accept others' differences. We see this with Hiccup and his relationships with his father, Astrid, and even Toothless and the rest of the dragon species. And along the way, Hiccup learned how to accept his own differences as well. Accepting and understanding others can help you learn about yourself, and vice versa. Be yourself.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
"When Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace."
The time gap between this movie and the last is five years, so when we see our favorite heroes again, there's a lot to catch up on. I'm very aware of the television show that takes place between the movies, and this film did a good job of making us feel like we didn't miss much. They elaborated on how the lives of the characters changed and how Burk adapted to this new age of dragon training.
We also see a huge expansion of story, both in the world and with the characters. We see a whole backstory to Hiccup's mother and more story with his father. Through this we are introduced to how large the world is as Hiccup travels far from home. He finds his mother in a natural dragon sanctuary and there he learns a bit more dragon lore, like the concept of alphas. More breeds of dragons are introduced as well.
Now that Hiccup & friends have become familiar with their dragons, they're able to do more, which resulted in a lot of action, as well as the opportunity to introduce a villain that causes a great climactic battle. With more action came more emotion as well. Going back to the mom, there were a few emotional scenes relating to her reunions. There was also a very impactful moment between Hiccup and Toothless when Hiccup was trying to snap his dragon out of the trance he was in, further enforcing the deep bond they share.
Hiccup went from this scrawny dopey nerd to a wise and intelligent warrior and leader. The idea of him becoming chief was laid out probably from the moment he brought the greatest change at the end of the first movie. He has since been more brave and confident with his actions as him and Toothless became powerful partners in crime.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
"When Hiccup discovers Toothless isn't the only Night Fury, he must seek "The Hidden World", a secret Dragon Utopia before a hired tyrant named Grimmel finds it first."
Out of the three films of the trilogy, this was the funniest. Snoutlout had some one liners that made me laugh out loud and the twins had more moments for their comedic relief. I know Hiccup's friends get much more spotlight in the show, but it was nice to see them get some spotlight in this movie. And Toothless and his mating dance will never not be funny.
I don't know how, but this final installment managed to get better in terms of animation. Just something about the lighting and textures seems miles ahead of the first two. It was most obvious within the beautiful sceneries, like in the Hidden World and the wilderness surrounding "new Burk."
Hiccup did indeed find the hidden world, but when he saw how dragons reacted to him, he knew humans were not meant to be there, and those dragons were not meant to be tamed. Between that experience and Hiccup's experience with the film's villain, Hiccup learns that dragons are meant to be in that hidden world, far away from any human.
To me, this whole film was a huge message about protecting wildlife against poaching. Wild animals are not meant to be tamed and kept as pets, they're meant to be free in the wild. But because of poachers, there is a huge need of wildlife sanctuaries so different species can thrive and not go extinct. That's basically the plot of the movie and I greatly appreciate it.
The Hidden World marked the final chapter for Hiccup and Toothless. Their story of friendship is definitely one of the ages. Their goodbye drew parallels from the iconic scene from the first film when Hiccup reaches out his arm to Toothless, and that was such a heartwarming detail. As hard as it was to say goodbye, the future looked bright for the both of them as they went their separate ways to different lives.
After that emotional farewell, there was a beautiful epilogue that saw our favorite friends reunite. Despite the bittersweet goodbye, it really was a happy ending, as human and dragon reunited once again, flying in the clouds with their families, free and happy, as they were meant to be.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆