Director: Dean DeBlois Lead Cast: Voices of Jay Baruchel, America
Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham Screenwriter:
Dean DeBlois Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Brad Lewis
Editor: John K. Carr Musical Director: John Powell
Cinematographer: Gil Zimmerman
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Animation
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Location: USA Running Time: 1
hr 44 min
Technical assessment: 4.5
Moral assessment: 5
CINEMA rating: V13
MTRCB rating: P13
Grimmel the dragon slayer (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) sees no point in
having man and dragon co-exist on earth. With mad obsession, he seeks to exterminate
the dragon species Night Fury, whose last of its kind, alas, is Toothless, the
dragons’ alpha male. His master and trainor Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), now chief of
the Vikings, remembers his late father talk about some faraway place—the Hidden
World—where dragons can be safe. So he leads the dragons and his people to that
sanctuary. But first, they must ward off Grimmel and his army of drugged
dragons that are programmed to kill. Plus, Toothless needs to focus, because
he’s smitten with Light Fury, and he doesn’t have the courtship skills that can
win the heart of his beloved. He gets some coaching from Hiccup who is himself awkward
and tentative but obviously in love but can’t quite propose yet to his best
friend Astrid (America Herrera). Thanks to strong woman Astrid, his anchor, who
believes in his capacity to lead with or without Toothless, even when he doubts
himself.
This is our third How to Train
Your Dragon, and we do think the franchise has squeezed out every which way
to train a dragon in this last instalment. Judging by the reaction of the horde
of children in the jampacked theater, the interval between conflict and the
next surprise is too long. What earns a thumbs up from CINEMA is the editing
and cinematography aided by CGI that can rival giant sci-fis such as Star Wars. Someone called it a screensaver cinema: a
swirly succession of pretty pictures and colors. Although the scenes are not
exceptional and, in fact, much too similar to Avatar, they nevertheless are undeniably breathtaking. The movie does elicit laughter from both kids
and adults at instances like the courtship dance between Toothless and Light
Fury, for example, with Hiccup coaching his best friend from behind a rock.
Toothless, the alpha male is, well, toothless, with his
now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t teeth which by worldly standards diminish his
macho image. Like his master Hiccup who is head of the pack, Toothless has a
prosthetic tailfin. While themes of
letting go can trigger separation anxiety in young audiences, here it’s handled
well because it’s told in the context of mentor Hiccup allowing his friend
Toothless whom he tamed and trained to fly away and start a new life with Light
Fury. You want lessons about teamwork, it’s also here. Hiccup and his friends
go to battle, always a team, never leaving each other, and although they
grumble, decision making is actually very democratic among the Vikings. And
finally, it’s every parent’s mantra instilled in children, told in various
permutations of take courage, be brave, believe in yourself. Finally, it will
please adults to know how the recurring theme of marriage—the traditional kind,
not the quick fix kind—is presented here with Toothless courting Light Fury, each
looking out for the other, and Hiccup and Astrid who are BFFs since childhood
not rushing to get married. Despite all these good messages, we’d still
recommend parental guidance for children below 13 because the fighting and visuals
may be too assaulting for very young audiences—MOE
