After rewatching Dragons: Race to the Edge more thoroughly, it makes me realize just how utterly horrendous The Hidden World really is. I'll break this down a little bit at a time.
Part 1. Dealing with Dragon Hunters/Trappers
The opening scene of Hidden World shows Hiccup and the Dragon Riders dealing with Drago's forces who’ve captured dragons to recoup their losses and rebuild their dragon army. As shown, the Riders are depicted as bumbling idiots who've never done rescue missions before in their lives.
Granted, in Race to the Edge, Hiccup and the Riders adjust to fighting professional Dragon Hunters, making the occasional mistakes here and there, and that’s life—you live and you learn. But after five seasons that show the characters we know and love fighting humans who’d enslave and kill dragons for profit, all of that knowledge you have on how to deal with those types of people doesn’t just slip your mind, it sticks.
So why are Hiccup and the gang so sloppy and dare I say incompetent in the opening of Hidden World and throughout the whole movie?!
You mean to tell me that the same Vikings who dealt with foes such as Viggo and Ryker Grimborn and their army, as well as Krogan and his Dragon Flyers (who were part of Drago Bludvist's army) and Traitor Johann, are having a difficult time dealing with the grunts of the same army that Drago once commanded? Yeah, right.
The warlords eventually get so desperate to get the Dragon Riders off of their backs that they hire Grimmel to deal with Hiccup and Toothless. The fact that the supposed "Night Fury Killer" is smarter than all the villains Hiccup has faced is laughable. Grimmel may know his prey, but he's nowhere near as smart as Viggo, who played Hiccup and the Riders like a fiddle multiple times throughout Race to the Edge. The warlords, like Drago, want to conquer the world, and because their operations are constantly being set back by Hiccup and the Riders, they reach out to Grimmel to capture Toothless, who is now the King of Dragons. Desperation causes people to do terrible things, whether the people are considered good or bad.
So you mean to tell me that after one encounter with Grimmel, Hiccup makes the choice to leave Berk so that they can find the Hidden World?
NO! You dealt with dragon raids and took matters into your own hands by training Toothless and killing the Red Death. You defended Berk from incursions from both the Outcasts and Berserkers, not to mention wild dragons like the Skirll, Whispering and Screaming Deaths and you still stood your ground!
Not only did you deal with attacks from the three musketeers here…
…but also dealt with Screamo and his Bewilderbeast, and you still held your ground and won!
This clown had no business being the reason why Hiccup, the Dragon Riders, the Hairy Hooligans, and all the dragon’s inhabiting Berk fled in a mass exodus. NO BUSINESS. Literally all Hiccup had to do was wait Grimmel out; find a safe place on Berk and either hide Toothless or fly somewhere where Grimmel couldn't touch them. But nope, this “new enemy” was far too dangerous for Hiccup to deal with.
Oh, man. The Hidden World is SO bad, it’s not even funny.
