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The dragons are pretty well trained in this aerodynamic threequel. Their emancipation now becomes the Vikings primary focus.
Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the franchises lanky, young adult protagonist, is attempting to fill his fathers soft skinned shoes as the chief and ruler of Berk.
Man and fictitious beast are living together in chaotic harmony when their relatively stable ecosystem comes under attack on two fronts.
The immediate danger takes the form of an evil dragon hunter, Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham), who hunts and destroys that which he does not understand. Hes a dark force hellbent on extermination.
 media_cameraHow To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Picture: Universal Pictures.
But theres a more insidious threat to the intense bond between Hiccup and his beloved Night Fury, Toothless, whom he befriended as a whelp, and thats their encroaching adulthood.
The Hidden World is part coming-of-age drama, part mythical action adventure and part wildlife fantasy.
Hiccups transition from boy to man is handled smoothly and without undue schmaltz.
Grimmels slash-and-burn mentality sorely tests the young mans leadership mettle. And when he chooses tribal migration, in search of a kind of lost paradise, not everyone is convinced by the wisdom of his decision.
Astrid (America Ferrera), Hiccups 2IC, cant be faulted as a love interest or a female role model (Cate Blanchett provides further support here in the role of Hiccups fearless mother Valka).
Bickering twins Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (Justin Rupple) provide the requisite comic interference.
Hidden Worlds airborne action sequences are also superbly rendered.
But its as an animated wildlife fantasy that the film really excels.
 media_cameraHow To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Picture: Universal Pictures.
The interactions between Toothless and his translucent, would-be mate, the elusive, untamed Light Fury, are as compelling as the footage in any Richard Attenborough documentary.
Shes the yin to his yang. A wild, mercurial spirit.
Theres a fun courtship sequence in which Toothless is coached by a similarly inexperienced Hiccup (a relationship mirrored, in the human world, by Tuffnuts romantic tutelage of his lovelorn chief).
And a tender scene in which Hiccup builds a new prosthetic tailfin for Toothless so that he can fly off on his own, liberating the dragon from their until-now symbiotic relationship.
When Toothless soars, so does the film.
Even the mythical Hidden World, which Hiccup must locate to save dragons from extinction at the hands of men such as Grimmel, is no match for the chemistry between the two Furies.
When Toothless and the Light Fury get together, sparks literally fly.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is now showing
 media_cameraHow To Train Your Dragon Hidden World. Picture: Universal
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (PG)
***1/2
Director: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham
Running time: 104 minutes
Verdict: Animal chemistry
Originally published as Dragons - on a wing and a prayer
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/movies/review-how-to-train-your-dragon-the-hidden-world/news-story/94f9c0ff63f9519c0b225409e0433513
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