HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3... sort of review.
This is sort of my first ever review on anything at all on my tumblr blog, and i just have a lot of feelings to talk about How to Train Your Dragon 3.
So i watched HTTYD3 and I’ve got say, I had a lot of feelings about this movie. Some parts of the movie were my absolute favorite that i couldn't stop squealing in joy for because it was so amazing and lovely and the whole team made a great job of it.
Lets talk about what I found not so amazing in the movie. And i have spoilers, so those that haven't watched the movie yet. stop reading this now, because i will need to go into details about it. For warning that I have not read any of the HTTYD book series and I’m not sure if anything i comment here in my dislike might be canon in the series itself. But i’m happy for anyone to point me out on that.
When i first saw the trailer of HTTYD3, i was so excited. HTTYD2 was one of my absolute favorite animation movie of all time and I still think that they should have won the Oscars for Best Animated Feature and instead of Big Hero 6. It was everything and more than what the first movie gave and the bar that they set was so high in standards. There was romance (my absolute favorite), adventure, death and love lost and found and they paced it all so super well, that i was hoping the same for this. Alas, they didn’t quite reached what they had set out to do.
First thing that i didn’t really feel real excitement was the introduction to the female night fury. WHAT WAS THAT???? oh my god. I just couldn't believe that the team behind it was like we gonna make a white night fury. WHAT? have they not realized why in doing that would defeat the purpose of naming it a Night Fury???? It is a dragon that preys in the NIGHT!!!!. That’s what makes it deadly and dangerous because no one has ever seen what one had looked like before Toothless. Why in the world would you make one in WHITE!!!!, when they can be so easily killed in the goddamn night. This would probably make more sense about why all the other night furies have gone extinct because all the female have been killed because they kept flying in the night where they are shot very easily because they are so WHITE. and now none of the male night furies can procreate and have babies and that is why they all have gone extinct except for Toothless. I didn't have a problem with a female night fury, it was fine. But it looked like an sickly albino dragon that it didn't really settle with me and i didn't like her one bit throughout the movie. It would have been incredible if they had made the female night fury the same color as Toothless, but in a lighter shade. that way we still tell apart the female night fury. they could have played around with the features of the female night fury to show how it distinguishes from the male. It was already so obvious in the movie that Toothless has green eyes and the female night Fury has blue eyes. It would have been enough to tell the two apart without completely altering the very essential design of the Night Fury.
I don't know why but I think that the writers might have made the original concept of the female night fury pink and they probably thought like we couldn't work with that because it’d be too obvious and decided to make it white instead that way the children could still see the female from the male, but not make it too obvious. They do realize that children are not that dumb right. I understand that it is in the premise of an animated film aimed at children, but they cant have thought that children are that dumb that they can’t even tell apart a male and female dragon. More than anything children pick this kind of things up really quickly because they are bright enough to understand. Children can tell them apart from the features alone. Already this is going on too long. Yeah i just didn’t really like the whole white albino night fury thing.
Next was the villain, i don’t know man. The villain just seem like a cardboard cut of like a stereotypical villain. the only reason he wants to kill dragons is because when he killed a Night Fury when he was a kid, everyone in his village sort of worshiped him as a God. Like his motivation to killing dragons are for self-gratifications? You’ve already established a good, complex, and well-developed villain in the second movie, why the need for the same thing in this one? If you are creating this movie as a sort of finale to the trilogy, they could’ve made it end in similar to how the first movie began. The first movie began with the issues of dragons and it could have ended with the issues concerning dragons again, there was no need for a villain at all in this movie. The first movie was really well developed in the conflict where Hiccup faced it in his father and the viking community. it showed how Hiccup believed in dragons being their equal and he wants to show that to his father who opposes that very union. It felt personal and amazing and made a great story. The second movie had a proper villain where the bad guy wants to eradicate dragons because of a personal history of something happening to him because of the dragons and fueled by the disgrace from the vikings themselves. His anger fueled his goals and we saw where it took him. He was almost a sociopath in that sense and the conflict that ensued between Hiccup and the villain was the climax of the movie and was made incredibly well. Because we understand his motivations and why he is doing the things he is doing, we understand where his coming from.
i just don’t understand the villain in this one. It was like he was just put in there so that they had something to progress the story or one even remotely resembling a plot. the villain’s motivation felt weak at best and i cant even remember what his goddamn name was. That is how much of an impact he made in the movie. It felt like a flimsy attempt at having to recycle the same plot and idea from the second movie except that instead of fighting for their place, this time they run away with the dragons just to keep them safe. the thing was that the story could have progressed even without the villain’s involvement. Honestly i would have enjoyed it far more had there not been a villain in this one but simply an issue that Hiccup faced with the dragon overpopulation at the village. That would have given a great story and made more sense.
the worst of the whole movie, that made really want to storm out of the cinema, was Toothless romance in this thing. i absolutely hated it. I HATED THIS!!!!!. Oh my god, it was so bad and i don’t know how much more i can emphasize that this was the one thing that completely ruined the whole movie for me. I already hated the whole albino night fur thing and this just made it worse by tenfold. The story about HTTYD has always been about Hiccup and Toothless relationship and how much they have grown to love and form a bond with each other. This movie had barely any sort of hint on that. There was a little bit of it here and there but honestly you don’t see any of it in this movie. Suddenly it had become a romantic comedy, where Toothless the hopeless romantic is trying to get the unattainable female Night Fury with the help Hiccup his ultimate wing-man. I was just speechless, i couldn't even began to understand what was the whole point in giving the dragon of all things a romantic interest. i just hated it straight out. Like completely. The whole middle chunk of the movie was just a blur to me and i just wanted it to end so badly.
And what really made me furious in this whole thing. Like this was the major i wanted to chuck the popcorn on the movie screen kind of furious. Was that in the end, Toothless left Hiccup to go start a goddamn married life with the fucking albino dragon. I was just so mad. it made me so furious. I couldn't even, I would have left the cinema if i had not payed the ticket to watch this nonsense. Are you telling me that Toothless who risked his life again and again to rescue the boy that the he truly loved and considers his best friend to start a new one with that goddamn albino thing. Like WHAT THE HECK???!!!!!. WHO WROTE THIS???!!! WHO LET THEM KEEP THIS STUPID STORY IN THE MOVIE????!!!! WHY WOULD YOU RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD MOVIE WITH THIS NONSENSE!!!!???? This movie is basically the Cursed Child of the Harry Potter Universe. People would like to forgot that this thing even existed. This movie is the the Cursed Child of How to Train Your Dragon saga. I would be far more happier thinking that this movie doesn’t exist at all. I’m happy to live with the first two movies instead of this rubbish.
I understand that the part of the theme of the movie was that Toothless was the mirror image of Hiccup. That they both grow up to be almost the same, one being a dragon and one being a viking. In the first movie, it was apparent that they were both fighting against their own kind to protect one another. Hiccup with his dad and the vikings, Toothless with the harmful dragons and that giant-ass queen dragon. This was shown again when Toothless lost a leg in the final fight with the queen dragon as how Toothless lost one of his tail glider (at least i think this was what it was) to Hiccup, a viking. It showed them both to be equal which was what the movie was about. In the second movie, it came about Hiccup taking over from his father as chief of the vikings. After the death of his father, Hiccup was suddenly thrown into it and had to step up to being chief. This was later mirrored into the fight between Toothless and the Alpha. Toothless became the Alpha once he defeated the previous one and they both became leaders of their kind. This was also a good parallel.
But this movie was just fucking nonsense. I already knew this movie was going to be about Astrid and Hiccup talking about marriage or at least a conversation about it, This was fine. It was fine for the last 2 movie and it was fine in this one too. because we have already established this amazing relationship between Astrid and Hiccup. But why the heck would you want to have the same parallel of this thing with Toothless, a dragon? It’s a goddamn dragon, it doesn't need a fucking romance story. this was literally where it went downhill for me. The whole Toothless motivation was just motivated with him wanting to mate with the albino the whole way through. I’m not lying guys this was what took place for a good hour in the movie and i hated it. Completely hated it. There was barely anything of a hint of real emotion or love between Hiccup and Toothless. This movie was basically Hiccup trying to please Toothless by helping his get the female Night Fury because Toothless was throwing a fucking tantrum about it. That literally what it was about. He just gave in and said that it was okay for Toothless to leave him because of the fucking albino. I do not believe that you would make 2 whole movies establishing this great relationship between Hiccup and Toothless just to end up for Toothless getting laid and starting a family and Hiccup just letting that happen and doing the same. I do not believe that. I do not believe that any of this characters would be motivated or would have done the things that they done in this movie at all. This whole movie was just flimsy attempt at a story that was just barely developed. The entire motivation of the main characters and villains just seem flimsy at best or just downright wrong. It’s like a bad rendering of a fan-fiction.
The most ridiculous thing of the whole movie was the Hidden World. We don’t get anything more than a 5-minutes fly over of Hiccup and Astrid there. Like why would they even name the movie after this Hidden World if you are not even going to show us more than 5 minutes of it. What was even the point of having the Hidden World if you are not going to help us understand or even establish what it is about.? I wanted more, i wanted to learn its origins, what was there, how did it get hidden, how the dragons found the home there everything. I was really disappointed by this.
The whole movie could have gone in a very good direction because there was already a good story in it that no one even seemed to attempt to want to develop it and instead was so focused on this romantic nonsense between the dragons. The vikings and Hiccup were facing a problem of overpopulation of the dragons in their village, This was good. There is an issue. Hiccup could have been like, “ Uh, guys, the dragons are overcrowding our homes we don’t have any place to stay, we need to get a bigger village. This is good, OK we move one. One day, there was an attempted attack on the village, just some random person. There was no need for an established villain at all. Then Hiccup grows concern for the safety of both the dragons and the vikings. Living in this overcrowded place is proving to be impossible and it is creating a bigger target on the dragons. There was only a handful of them to actually protect the village and the dragons at the same time. Hence why they move, they move to find better home for the dragons and themselves, - the Hidden World - instead of them running away from the villain.
So far good. The one day, when they settle at some place, Hiccup and Toothless comes across another night fury, it didn't even need to be a female, just another night fury and it would have been fine.This would mean that Toothless wasn't the last of his kind and there is maybe more Night Furies here or maybe a family of them. See how the story could have progressed even without a female Night Fury. There didn't even need to be any fucking romance at all and it would have been a really good story. And we get to see that Toothless and Hiccup going in search for the other Night Fury and they come across a whole nest of them and Toothless is so happy and excited. This is the first time he is seeing another of his kind and there he feels like he finally belongs to a family. But the other Night Furies seeing Hiccup would have attacked him, and Toothless coming to his defense. The other dragons are confused as to why Toothless is protecting this human, when human and dragons are each others natural enemies. So in the end they leave the place, with a heavy heart and Toothless being sad. And Hiccup deciding that it was time that Toothless see the other dragons on his own and gives him the new tail that allows him the freedom to fly on his own without a rider.
This would have been a far better developed plot for the movie. It would have been the idea of granting Toothless his freedom. This would have tied the theme of the movie so brilliantly, which had always been freedom. Freedom to live, freedom to choose who you love, freedom to be who we are meant to be. And it would have also tied in to mythology of what it means to be a dragon. Dragons are these mighty beasts of the sky and what means more than anything to them is their freedom to be free and fly. Toothless discovering the family would have meant that he was finally granted the freedom to fly on his own. And more than anything he wants to be with his own kind. And here is where we could have shown the parallel image of how it ties back to the both of them again. Toothless wanting to be his own kind but also not wanting to leave Hiccup yet, and Hiccup, even though granting Toothless his freedom is still not ready to let him go yet. This would have been a brilliant way to show conflict and issue between the both and the love they have for each other. And this would have even brought the movie to a full circle to how it began, with vikings and dragons being two different people and the idea of how they were going to be together. This would have made a great emotional impact, the love between Toothless and Hiccup of how Toothless loves Hiccup but he craves to be with the family he just discovered and how Hiccup loves Toothless enough to grant him the freedom to choose where he wanted to be. See how good the movie could have been if they just never had the stupid romance at all.
This conflict could have been the highlight of the movie and how they were going to overcome these issues. Then also showing that when Toothless finding his family, he also finds the Hidden World, and we finally get to see the whole Hidden World from Toothless’s eyes and we get and understanding of the place. This would have been a brilliant way to give us the view of what the Hidden World was like. Once this is done, and we see Toothless being happy and excited to be with the rest of his kind, we get to the climax of the story. The same person who earlier attacked the village, could have followed Toothless to the Hidden World and have captured the dragons and Toothless tries to rescue them, but he couldn’t, so that he flies back to Hiccup and they together go back to rescue the dragons and they do eventually. The other Night Furies soon sees that Hiccup is not such a bad guys and they stop attacking him and here would be the big finale where they both have to make a decision. The Other Night Furies welcome Toothless to live with them in the Hidden World and to every other dragon from Berk that wants to.
Toothless and Hiccup have a moment and Hiccup being Hiccup would have granted Toothless the freedom to go and live with his family, knowing that he might not ever see him again. And it breaks Hiccup’s heart to make this choice but he knows that this is the right thing to do. And so Toothless leaves Hiccup to go to the Hidden World with the rest of the Night Furies with the other dragons. Astrid is there to hold Hiccup when they say goodbye to the dragons. Then we get to the wedding scene and Hiccup and Astrid gets married and Hiccup seems to be sorely missing Toothless and they both look over to the horizon and there out of nowhere coming towards them is none other than Toothless. Hiccup doesn't understand why Toothless was back, wasn't he leaving to live with the other dragons, but no some of them do return to the vikings. This would have given me all the feels and it would have been such a perfect way of ending the movie. The idea that Toothless now knows that he is not the last of his kind, and that there is family out there for him and they will always be there for him to welcome him. But to Toothless, family had always been Hiccup and that is why he returned to his true family.
This could have been such an incredible movie. simple and good and not overly complicated. this would have been the perfect story for all of them. And just it would have been so lovely and bittersweet and just good. But instead what we got was a Cursed Child parody. And i am just really sad about this.
Yeah so basically i hated at least 75% of the movie.
But there were some things that i really liked. i really loved the concept art of the characters. Those dragon scaled armors were one of my favorite things in the entire movie. The characters looks were amazing. the visual concept and looks were amazing. The whole environment art and concept were great. What i really really loved about this movie was the relationship between Astrid and Hiccup. Their relationship was some of the best romance that had been portrayed in any kind of film that i have seen and really loved. From the 1st movie till the 3rd one, their relationship has been one of the strongest suit in the entire movie. The love that they portray in the film is such a kind love, very subtle but it speaks volume. Also, that they aren’t so completely in love with each other that everything else is blind to them. Instead they are each their own individual and they complement each other instead of being each other's half like it is portrayed in so many romances. They each have so much good personality within them that they don’t drown each other but lift each other up and that’s what makes the both of them such a strong couple. The most pleasure that i had in the entire movie is their wedding. Oh my god, i almost cried and it was amazing and perfect and everything i love and pictured for them.
i was alright with them having kids and all i wasn't really that excited about it, it would have been great to leave at the wedding itself, but it wasn't really something that needed to be there, but i really didn't think it was much of a complain. The one thing that i really made me sad about the movie was that, i don’t believe that Toothless would have left Hiccup for a goddamn albino dragon, he can do so such much better. but the fact that Hiccup’s children would grow up not knowing Toothless and or any of the great relationship between Hiccup and Toothless was what made me really sad about this whole. Because i truly believed that Toothless would not have behaved as he did in this movie and he would not have left Hiccup and Hiccup would not have just given in to Toothless’s tantrums as he did in this movie. It was really sad and disappointing.
But yeah, so that was my review on the movie and mostly me ranting about my feelings for this movie. I’m also assuming that someone might have reached all the way down here and have had a good read. to which i am entirely grateful to.
