How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

2.5/4

Starring (voices): Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson

Rated PG for Adventure Action and Some Mild Rude Humor

A good sequel takes the characters and storylines from the original and moves them into a new direction.  "How to Train Your Dragon 2" did just that.  The original film ended with a complete social upheaval on the island of Berk, and the next installment started there and then journeyed into its new open world.  It wasn't as charming as the first one, but it had some bold ideas and left the film on a cliffhanger of an ending.  It's actually kind of shocking then that not only is "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" an utter rehash of the second film, but it completely ignores the ending of its predecessor.

Berk is becoming very overcrowded.  With Hiccup (Baruchel) and his friends rescuing dragons from evildoers, it is becoming very hard to move on their tiny island.  Hiccup's activities are also putting the island and its dragons in the crosshairs of dragon hunters.  Without convincingly explaining how, Drago Bloodfist is gone, and in his place is Grimmel (Abraham).  Grimmel has an obsession with hunting Night Furies like Toothless, Hiccup's dragon.  To do this, he uses a female Night Fury (dubbed a "Light Fury" by Astrid (Ferrara)) to lure Toothless away.  Grimmel's fanatical hunt for Toothless and his armada of dragon hunters threatens the entirety of Berk, forcing them to search for the mythical dragon homeland called "The Hidden World."

It could be argued that there's too much going on for a single movie.  You've got: Hiccup learning to be a king, his much-procrastinated marriage to Astrid, Toothless's romance with the Light Fury, a new villain, and the search for a new home.  Dean DeBlois has shown himself to be a talented director (in addition to the first two installments, he also co-directed  the underrated "Lilo & Stitch").  But his screenplay is all over the place.  It needed to pick one element as its main thrust and leave the others as the minor details.

One thing this new film lacks is a worthy antagonist.  The first film it was Hiccup's father, the stubborn and misguided Stoick (Gerard Butler).  The second had the monstrous Drago.  This one has Grimmel, who just isn't as interesting or intimidating.  Stoick actually had his reasons for his actions, although he refused to see the obvious (I liked Hiccup's line about the residents of Berk: "We have stubbornness issues").  Drago was a true monster; his introduction was so well done that it was actually spooky.  Grimmel is neither interesting nor intimidating.  He's a self-centered jerk whose only interest is himself.  F. Murray Abraham is miscast, but there's no denying that Grimmel is simply boring.

The rest of the characters return, but none are allowed to grow.  They're the same people they were in the second film, and they have most of the same problems.  Jay Baruchel makes for an ideal unlikely hero (he's certainly more interesting here than he is working with his bro-obsessed buddy, Seth Rogen). America Ferrera desperately tries to regain the spark that made Astrid so appealing but the screenplay rarely affords her the latitude.  Cate Blanchett is wasted, her talents being relegated to being a cheerleader.  Such foolishness has to be something of an unforgivable sin.

Ultimately, the flaw with this movie is that not only is there a dearth of original ideas, but everything it does has not only been done before, but executed much better.  I wouldn't dare call it a terrible movie since it's certainly watchable.  But I'm just glad that this is the (allegedly) final film in the franchise.

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