It’s rough being a kid now-a-days. School is more competitive than ever, creeps are sabotaging Peppa Pig videos online, the Earth might melt before they hit puberty, oh and kids movies have sucked recently. There are plenty of animation studios that churn out a movie every year, and yet so few have been good for all ages. Spider-Verse was amazing but more of a tween superhero movie, and I loved Mary Poppins 2 despite it being live-action and loooong to sit through. No, I’m talking about the dearth of tight 90 minute animated movies aimed at elementary aged children. Fresh out of the oven like Disney used to make.
I was told that the How to Train Your Dragon movies might be what I’ve been missing. So I watched the third (and final?) movie. It was okay.
Movie-wise: the villain was lame, the animation and expression of the vikings was a little off, and the dialog was juvenile. But for a kid’s movie, it was alright.
Maybe I’m just not a kid anymore. Millennials suffer from the weirdest and proudest form of nostalgia. There are enough of us that we back each other up. Of course the Lion King is one of the greatest animated movies ever because we all just know that the Lion King is the greatest animated movie ever. But what is the next generation watching? What will they consider the best of the best?
I bring up often when talking animation that I love Toy Story. Of course I do, because I am Andy’s age. I was a little kid with a toy chest full of green army men and RC cars. Then the summer after I graduated high school, ready to embark for college, Toy Story 3 came out. It made me cry, and sent Andy off to college as well. Those movies aren’t without flaws, but I grew up with them and they were important to me.
It is possible that How to Train Your Dragon is some kid’s Toy Story.
Over the course of ten years we have followed Hiccup from a kid in his father’s shadow that doesn’t fit in, to the respected and growing leader of his clan, all the way through an epilogue where he starts a family of his own. Spoiler I guess.
After watching the third movie, I caught myself up on the other two and was pleasantly surprised. There are ongoing themes and character development through the trilogy. Characters have struggles that they overcome. Maybe they still have to deal with them at time. Yet, they don’t just get reset at the beginning of each new entry. Toothless depends on Hiccup in the first, is reminded of their bond in the second, and pays off his journey toward independence in the third. The series as a whole works in a three act structure for the core relationship between boy and his dog, er, dragon.
The side characters are certainly dumb, but dumb in a way that kids can laugh at and adults can sit and recognize the voices of Jonah Hill, McLovin, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harrington, TJ Miller, and of course Not TJ Miller. Most mercifully, these movies are never a stream of references or silly jokes about Facebook. Dumb humor yes, but dumb humor about vikings and dragons with just a few grown up groans thrown in.
The world grows with each movie in a way that you can pick up if you haven’t seen the others (trust me, I had to) but that enriches each movie as well. The new dragons and lore and worlds all make sense for the plot. And are very exciting to see. The animation of the people is just typical DreamWorks fare, but the landscape and dragons are fantastic to look at. Reminder that legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins consulted on the first movie. The titular Hidden World of HTTYD: The Hidden World was bright and engaging and beautiful to see on a big screen.
But more than the sweeping scenery shots, the dragons look cool. Toothless is pretty much just an animated internet cat video cat. The best parts of Hidden World are his scenes with the new Bright Fury. They tell a better love story without words than any of the Valentine’s Day movies that came out this month.
And so I’ve swallowed my cynicism. I’m not a kid anymore and never will be again, but How to Train Your Dragon is a good franchise for the whole family. And Hidden World is a worthy end to a great series.