How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

This weekend, my family and I went to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Although it was not sensational, the movie did its job. It was a fine farewell to the characters my children had grown to like (not love... my kids were honestly never that into the series).

As a special education teacher, the original How to Train Your Dragon will always hold a special place in my heart. I found that it was a beautiful allegory that teaches the essential lesson that a disability does not need to make a person (or a dragon) less... merely different.

After that lesson was hammered home in the first movie, I honestly did not have much need for any sequels. In fact, I was not sure if I had ever seen the second installment. As a result, in preparation for the finale of the trilogy, last week we watched the second one (again?). Even after watching it, I can't remember if I had seen it before. And that is exactly how I feel about The Hidden World.

This movie was fine. It checked all of the boxes one would expect in order to end a trilogy. The Hero's Journey continues. Characters struggle to find their own strength and not rely on others. Some relationships ended while others were taken to a new level. Flashbacks provided a link to all of the characters the audience loved from the first movies. Kids in the audience cried, laughed, and then the credits rolled.

I would imagine huge fans of the series think my "ho hum" attitude is a bit insensitive. I would imagine to them, this was a triumphant final act for characters who adorned their bedroom walls, birthday cakes, and video game screens since they were wee ones. If you are one of those, you are going to see the movie (or more likely already have) so why the heck are you reading my review?

For those of you who are like me and enjoyed the first one but did not really care about the sequel, you could probably wait for this to come to Netflix. Although it is not a bad movie, it is not great either. Without the power of nostalgia to prop it up, the story is actually a little boring. While some may think the "love" scenes between the dragons are precious, I found them to be excessively long and dull. I definitely did not need to see extended scenes of the cute dragons flying around together getting to know each other.

This movie made me realize that I am incredibly spoiled by the technology and talent of today's animators. I discovered this when I found myself rolling my eyes at the dragons playfully soaring through the sky. Although it looked truly amazing... it also looked like something I had seen a dozen times before. As the dragons raced and later when they entered an incredibly colorful iridescent world, I found myself thinking, "Oh this is a little love letter to the animators who worked on these films. They gave them a budget and let them go nuts creating the most amazing visuals they could imagine". To me it was kind of like visual jazz. Sadly, I don't like jazz. Although beautiful, the animation did not seem to have a purpose aside from being beautiful (kind of like the Kardashians... if you are into that). Sometimes this works for me (*Blade Runner 2049). This did not. It simply made me tired.

Even though it was not the greatest movie I have ever seen, it did have enough action and laughs to make it an overall pleasant family experience. My 11 year old daughter and 14 year old son both enjoyed it far more than I did. I will mark that down as a win for the creators. They did not need to please a 47 year old geek. They needed to please the kids who grew up watching Toothless and Hiccup grow into life long friends. Mission accomplished.

Geeky Dad's Movie Guide

Images 1, 2, 3 from Giphy