So while many of us were on the edge of our seats when Disney announced that they were acquring Fox (presumably in their quest for world domination), Univeral meanwhile were having a buyout of their own. For many years the most animation that Universal did included the works of Laika, Illumination and some that they did in house; the last of which largely ended up being direct to home media. So for them to buy Dreamworks Animation (or simply Dreamworks as it's known to many) kind of puts them at a point where they can properly compete with Disney seeing as Dreamworks was their main compeititor for a while. Of course Laika and Illumination had their fair share of animation and to have Dreamworks on board as well just makes Universal more ready than ever for the animated world of film (and TV as well of course). So the first film under Universal just so happens to be the long awaited third film in the
How to Train Your Dragon franchise which like many franchises in 2019 marks the end of an era or the story. Now seeing as I haven't reviewed the first one yet for some reason, I have decided to review it here alongside this film while leaving out the second seeing as I have reviewed that already. So with that in mind, let's go back to the past before arriving to here and now and see some viking and dragon action:
How to Train Your Dragon
Most of you know the story so I will keep it short. Berk which is home to a group of vikings, have long hated dragons and do what they can to prevent them from destroying their home. But on one such occasion, a boy called Hiccup (voiced in all films and TV by Jay Baruchel) somehow managed to capture and ground a Night Fury which has long said to be a deadly species of dragon. Determined to show his worth, he begs his father Stoick (voiced by King Leonidas himself, Gerald Butler in all the films) to allow him to enter training to fight the dragons. At first he refuses, but eventually agrees to it before setting out to find the dragons' nest. However he remains blissfully unaware of the dragon that Hiccup has captured and slowly befriends which leaves Hiccup to realise that maybe his father was wrong about the dragons all along. Having initally saw it at the cinema in 3D, it really is the sort of film that is worth seeing in 3D. Its a visual spectacle with plenty of laughs and thrills. Plus no one until then really knew if dragons and vikings could work. Anyway it is a great film and I still consider it great to this day and its starts what would become a franchise really well. 9/10
The Hidden World
Skipping ahead now, we come to the third film which is set a year after
the second (though wasn't released as such until recently). Hiccup continues to lead his friends into saving dragons and bring them to Berk which has since become a Utopia for dragons and humans alike. But when Berk becomes overpopulated with dragons, Hiccup then flashes back to a time where Stoick told him of the Hidden World and how he wants to seal it away from the rest of the world. So to solve the problem at hand, Hiccup sets out to find the Hidden World while contemplating on marrying Astrid (voiced in all films and TV by America Ferrera) and seeing his dragon Toothless meeting and falling in love with a white dragon who looks like him. Though as that all happens, the gang remain unaware of a deadly dragon hunter who is out to find every known Night Fury in an attempt to kill every last one of them. With the animation gig having come a long way, its good that Dreamworks much like Disney are wanting to push animation to the limit and with
The Hidden World, it shows. Its another visual spectacle with some emotional baggage, great character development and action sequences that aren't quite as spectacular as the first two, but are still great nonetheless. Although they say its the last one, the ending does make out that maybe there will be a time that humans and dragons can co-exist peacefully. But whether that gets put to film or not, we will have to wait and see. But for now, its a great end of an era to what has been one of the best franchises that Dreamworks have ever done (even though it itself is based on a series of childrens books) and if there is more, great. If not, that's ok because the ending was perfect. 9/10
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