‘The Hidden World’ a perfect third act for ‘Train Your Dragon’ trilogy

A lot of my favorite films give me a feeling of a mixture of joy and sadness. “Safety Not Guaranteed.” “About Time.” “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” All these movies give me the most wonderful feeling of happy/sad. As “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” drew to its close, I noticed I was feeling a serious feeling of happy/sad. I loved it!

And that’s only one reason why “The Hidden World” is a terrific way to finish up the “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy.

“The Hidden World” find our heroes, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless the Dragon, leading a campaign against dragon hunters. The dragons he and his friends rescue come to live with them on the island of Berk, but things are getting crowded. To make matters worse, a legendary dragon hunter named Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) is bent on killing Toothless. Oh, and Toothless is falling in love.

To get away from Grimmel, Hiccup leads the citizens of Berk on a quest for the Hidden World, where they and their dragons can live undisturbed. Along the way and with the help of Astrid (America Ferrera), Hiccup must learn to be a leader so he can save the day. It’s a simple story, but it’s a story that’s powerfully told.

The “How to Train Your Dragon” series is one of the best current animated movies franchises. These films are visually striking, emotionally resonant, and simple without being simple-minded. “The Hidden World” is no exception. It’s a gorgeous-looking movie, something that has a lot to do with having Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins aboard as a visual consultant. The film feels visually cinematic in a way a lot of other animated movies don’t.

It’s also a soul-stirring emotional experience. Two of the major themes of the film are learning to define yourself through your actions and standing on your own. They’re the culmination of Hiccup’s three-movie character arc, and thanks to good writing, direction and great voice work by Baruchel, their resolution is an immensely satisfying emotional experience.

The movie also gamely handles issues of the impermanence of friendship, a complex idea to tackle in a movie that’s intended to entertain kids. It does so in a way that doesn’t talk down to the audience and bogs down in self-importance or condescension. “The Hidden World” is digestible for younger audiences while also having enough meat for adults to dig into.

“The Hidden World” brings back most of the cast from the previous movies and they’re clearly comfortable in the skins of these characters. Baruchel carries the whole movie, his voice conveying a lot of feeling in emotional scenes. He gets good support from Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Kristen Wiig’s performance as Ruffnut gets some of the movie’s biggest laughs. Craig Ferguson also shines as Gobber.

“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” finally lets us experience the completion of Hiccup’s story arc. We’ve watched him grow up over the course of three films and I can’t think of a better way to wrap that story up than the way “The Hidden World” closes. Pixar gets lauded for the emotional resonance of their movies, but I’d put “The Hidden World” head-to-head with anything they’ve done. Animated family films are rarely better than this.

5 Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG