Hiccup's dragon-utopia village of Berk barely survived a sneak destructive intrusion by notorious dragon hunter Grimmel the Grisly who was obsessed to kill Toothless, said to be the last Night Fury. In response, Hiccup convinced his village-mates to uproot themselves from their homes in search for the legendary "Hidden World" which his late father believed in. As they set up temporary camp on an isolated island, a female white Light Fury was sent as bait to make Toothless lose his focus.
This is the third in the "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise, the concluding installment. Frankly, the trailer did not really entice me too much to go watch it, but I still went to watch it with my kids who were bigger fans of the series than I was. Like many Dreamworks animated features, the artwork of some human and dragon characters did not really appeal to me from the start. However, the two previous episodes all delivered emotional moments in the third act to end each installment on a high note.
Jay Barruchel's Hiccup is still a fun-loving, earnest young man, but with the maturity of a seasoned fighter and leader now. America Ferrera's Astrid also matures here into a worthy consort of the chief. Jonah Hill's bully Snoutlout had also mellowed, especially since he was insecure with the taller and buffer hunter Eret (Kit Harrington). Kristin Wiig's annoying Ruffnut got to spend some solo time away from her twin brother Tuffnut (Justin Rupple). Cate Blanchett's cool voice made for a motherly authority in Valka. F. Murray Abraham's raspy voice was sinister as ever for Grimmel the Grisly.
To be honest, I was not too hot on the first two acts of this new film as well. I found it to be messy art-wise, and unengaging story-wise. I thought the attack on Berk was a crazy mess, with all those firebreathing dragons with tusks and scorpion tails, spouting gallons of green venom. There was even a very long, wordless sequence detailing some sort of comical courtship dance by Toothless to woo the Light Fury, which some viewers may find cute or delightful, but I did not. There were a lot of small kids in the theater when I watched this, I doubt if they understood any of these scenes.
However, once again, following their tried and true success formula, Act III saves the day again. I really loved how the writers was able to come up with such an inventive, exciting, and totally heart-warming climax and conclusion to neatly and fittingly wrap up all the chaotic action from the first two acts. Midway, I was about to just rate this average one at best, but because of that beautiful Act 3, I will give it a higher score. I may not rate it as high as the exhilarating Part 2 (MY REVIEW), but enough to recommend it as a memorable conclusion to this animated franchise. 7/10.
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