By: Keaton Marcus

Director Dean DeBlois concludes his successful "Dragons" trilogy with "The Hidden World", the end outcome is more than satisfying, fantastic; The principal thing to observe regarding the third installment is the 3D animation, just unbelievable, sporting an expensive budget, "The Hidden World" proves a giant step ahead for animated films; While the animated pic can't help but be less of an accomplishment than its two predecessors, it stands on its own as another solid kid flick, despite its familiar storyline and lack of character depth.

After the events of Drago Bloodfist in the previous film, Berk is now at peace, with dragons and humans living in harmony; But when a new villain arrives, a dragon hunter known as Grimmel who threatens to kidnap and kill all the dragons starts trapping the creatures; Hiccup, the new chief along with his friends Toothless the dragon, and Astrid must keep their dragons safe and take down the new approaching conflict.

One of the best and most clever things about the film is Toothless's courtship with a new dragon, dubbed a Light Fury by Astrid (America Ferrera), who the banterful dragon attains while taking a trek in the forest. In the explosive trailer--and other advertisements, the main tease was that Toothless--found a "girlfriend" which is bound to spark--in the kid's minds as funny, and surprisingly the many scenes consisting of the "Light" and "Night" fury are hysterical and outshine the film's dazzling animation occasionally; To add to the fun, Toothless does a "mating" dance of some sort which provides many more laughs to get out of the audiences. These scenes that focus on the dragons leave us guessing that DeBlois, the brilliant filmmaker who created this world decided to make the highlight of the film about Toothless, and his dragons, also making us think that it was about time that Toothless gets "his own film"; And while it is still primarily about Hiccup stopping Grimmel, the satisfying ending explains that the film was generally dedicated to the dragons.

The cast is still as talented as ever--featuring Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera reprising their main characters, Hiccup, and Astrid, while veteran Cate Blanchett plays Hiccup's mother Vulca, introduced in the previous installment; And other supporting members include comedic actor Jonah Hill as Snotloat, and even a couple memorable flashbacks of Gerard Butler voice acting Hiccup's dad, who perished in the last film. The company is not just top-notch, the script is just as compelling as their strong, emotional performances amidst the "Lord of the Rings" type action.

The final verdict is: "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" concludes the trilogy with dazzling animation, strong performances, laughs and more than enough emotion to distract audiences from the familiar storytelling...$PLURGE IT

By: Keaton Marcus

Box Office Info:

Opening: 55M

Domestic Total: 160.7M

Worldwide Total: 521.7M