It's
been a long time since Dreamworks first ventured to the Viking land
of Berk and captured our hearts with the lovable heroes Hiccup and
Toothless, and the franchise has spanned many years of the beloved
characters lives. Each installment has brought more antics, more
emotion, and more wondrous sights; there's hardly a better way of
ending a series than to combine the best of all of three to give them
a heartfelt send-off. The Hidden World begins
a year after the end of the last film, where Berk is now an idyllic,
if slightly chaotic, utopia where dragons and humans co-exist and
Hiccup and friends continue to free and care for captured dragons.
However, their peace is threatened by notorious dragon hunter Grimmel
and the group sets out to find a haven for dragons known as 'the
Hidden World'. Along the way, Hiccup and Toothless discover something
neither of them expected – a female night fury.
Building
on the successes of the previous films, The Hidden World
takes the series to a whole new
level. The bond formed between Hiccup and Toothless that we have been
so invested in throughout their journey is one of the main themes in
the film, causing some of the most powerful emotional moments ever
seen in this trilogy. Ultimately this is a tale about all of these
characters becoming adults, and the film hits every single emotional
note that it possibly can. But despite the many emotionally charged
moments and the hard-hitting ending not everything is serious. The
characters are still their same old selves, causing no end of
mischief; in many ways the only sign of the passage of time is the
growth of their facial hair (or lack thereof, which is frequently
joked about). Whilst the many supporting characters remain their
lovable selves, after three films some of their jokes feel slightly
overplayed, especially when they are repeated or referred back to at
regular intervals.
The
film juggles the changes in tone extremely well, whilst the emotional
moments are important to the story and the closure of the series, the
sense of adventure and fun that the films have had from the beginning
is still at the fore as well. There are many sweet moments between
Hiccup and Toothless, and between Toothless and the 'Light Fury',
which are a delight to watch. These are balanced out equally by the
villain of this film, the hunter Grimmel. A huge improvement on the
last films antagonist, Drago, Grimmel is a dragon hunter who seeks
not to control but to mercilessly kill. Add that to the fact that his
specialty is the hunting of Night Furys and that Toothless is the
last one, and you get a conflict with much higher stakes than what
has been done previously. Grimmel is an impressive villain for this
series, where the emphasis usually lies on their physical strength
and ability to intimidate. To see a character who relies much more on
his knowledge and instincts whilst still appearing physically
menacing is refreshing and makes him a worthy adversary for a more
adult Hiccup.
The
film also goes above and beyond with its visual effects. The series
has always been known to be extremely colourful and inventive in its
character design, and The Hidden World takes this a step
further. The village of Berk itself is more colourful than it ever
has been, both in the literal sense and the way that it's packed full
of colourful characters and endless varieties of dragon. The Hidden
World itself is even more grand, in terms of scale and in the use of
colour. The land is full of bright, mesmerising light and perfectly
captures the other-worldliness of the home of dragons. Despite dealing
with large scale places, it seems the animation team have especially
paid attention to the tiny details in the film, down to the
individual hairs on the characters heads. It's truly impressive to
look closely at the characters and realise the amount of time that
has gone into rendering them in the most detailed way possible.
The
Hidden World is a very
entertaining and beautiful film, with spectacular visual effects, a
fantastic villain and a heartwarming story. It really is the perfect
farewell to the characters that we have come to love over the course
of the series, even if it is sad to see them go.
