[SPOILERS] HTTYD 3 review
Posted: 04 Feb 2019, 17:55
I went to see the film on its release date (1st February), and now that I’ve had a couple of days to digest what I’ve watched, I’m going to do a review. Alright, here we go. I’ll start with the bad and end with the good things.
My biggest issue with the film was… why didn’t they bring Drago back? If it was because they wanted a new villain for HTTYD 3, they could have compromised and had both Grimmel and Drago. In fact, this probably would have worked better for the film. Perhaps they could have teamed up, and when Hiccup was at his lowest point, he could have decided that they were unstoppable, and that he would have to send the dragons away. He eventually gathers his resolve and Drago and Grimmel end up being defeated anyway, but at the end of the film, he could have decided that in case something like that happened again, it was best to send the dragons away to protect them. It also annoyed me how one of the warlords just said that he drowned in an offhand way. This man has survived the murder of his family, the destruction of his village, the loss of his arm, and you expect me to believe that he just drowned at the end of HTTYD 2?
Grimmel irritated me as well. We don’t really know anything about him, just that he’s a dragon hunter who has killed almost every Night Fury in the world (which seems impossible). Whereas I absolutely loved Drago in the second film (he’s actually my favourite villain in the series) because he was so interesting. There was so much mystery built up around him, and when his backstory is finally revealed, he seemed like a real, three-dimensional character. By comparison, I thought Grimmel was quite flat. Speaking of which…
Valka. I was quite disappointed with her. I thought she was amazing in the second film, an iconic character with an incredible presence. (In an interview promoting HTTYD 2, Cate Blanchett said that Valka’s introduction scene was one of the best in cinema history, and I have to agree.) However, in this film, she seems to have been reduced to little more than a running gag, which brings me onto my next point.
The tone of the film. HTTYD 3 is a lot more humorous and lighthearted than the previous instalments, which initially struck me as strange because unlike other animated films, HTTYD is normally quite serious. I assume that due to the darkness of HTTYD 2, somebody advised Dean to uplift the tone in HTTYD 3.
Leading on from this, here is my final negative point. I was expecting the end of the film to make me feel more emotional (after all, HTTYD has been in my life for almost a decade), but when the dragons left, it didn’t have the impact that I was expecting. To be honest, I felt more upset at Stoick’s death in HTTYD 2. The epilogue with Hiccup and Astrid’s children also confused me as well. I hate to say it, but it felt a bit cliché, which was a bit of a let down because I have always loved and respected these films for their originality. Overall, I was left slightly disappointed by HTTYD 3 in some parts.
My family have suggested that I feel this way because I’m growing out of HTTYD, but that’s not the case. I preferred the first and second films (HTTYD 2 is my favourite), but that doesn’t mean that I hated everything about this one. The animation was absolutely gorgeous. Toothless’s courtship scene and Ruffnut being captured by Grimmel was hilarious. I thought that five-year-old Hiccup (I assume that was his age in the flashbacks) was adorable, and the flashbacks of him and Stoick were beautiful. I loved the Deathgrippers – they were terrifying!
Even more frightening is the thought of the comments that I might get in response to my review. (I'm joking ) Just remember, I have only seen it once. I will post more thoughts when I see the film again, but for now, that’s all from me!
My biggest issue with the film was… why didn’t they bring Drago back? If it was because they wanted a new villain for HTTYD 3, they could have compromised and had both Grimmel and Drago. In fact, this probably would have worked better for the film. Perhaps they could have teamed up, and when Hiccup was at his lowest point, he could have decided that they were unstoppable, and that he would have to send the dragons away. He eventually gathers his resolve and Drago and Grimmel end up being defeated anyway, but at the end of the film, he could have decided that in case something like that happened again, it was best to send the dragons away to protect them. It also annoyed me how one of the warlords just said that he drowned in an offhand way. This man has survived the murder of his family, the destruction of his village, the loss of his arm, and you expect me to believe that he just drowned at the end of HTTYD 2?
Grimmel irritated me as well. We don’t really know anything about him, just that he’s a dragon hunter who has killed almost every Night Fury in the world (which seems impossible). Whereas I absolutely loved Drago in the second film (he’s actually my favourite villain in the series) because he was so interesting. There was so much mystery built up around him, and when his backstory is finally revealed, he seemed like a real, three-dimensional character. By comparison, I thought Grimmel was quite flat. Speaking of which…
Valka. I was quite disappointed with her. I thought she was amazing in the second film, an iconic character with an incredible presence. (In an interview promoting HTTYD 2, Cate Blanchett said that Valka’s introduction scene was one of the best in cinema history, and I have to agree.) However, in this film, she seems to have been reduced to little more than a running gag, which brings me onto my next point.
The tone of the film. HTTYD 3 is a lot more humorous and lighthearted than the previous instalments, which initially struck me as strange because unlike other animated films, HTTYD is normally quite serious. I assume that due to the darkness of HTTYD 2, somebody advised Dean to uplift the tone in HTTYD 3.
Leading on from this, here is my final negative point. I was expecting the end of the film to make me feel more emotional (after all, HTTYD has been in my life for almost a decade), but when the dragons left, it didn’t have the impact that I was expecting. To be honest, I felt more upset at Stoick’s death in HTTYD 2. The epilogue with Hiccup and Astrid’s children also confused me as well. I hate to say it, but it felt a bit cliché, which was a bit of a let down because I have always loved and respected these films for their originality. Overall, I was left slightly disappointed by HTTYD 3 in some parts.
My family have suggested that I feel this way because I’m growing out of HTTYD, but that’s not the case. I preferred the first and second films (HTTYD 2 is my favourite), but that doesn’t mean that I hated everything about this one. The animation was absolutely gorgeous. Toothless’s courtship scene and Ruffnut being captured by Grimmel was hilarious. I thought that five-year-old Hiccup (I assume that was his age in the flashbacks) was adorable, and the flashbacks of him and Stoick were beautiful. I loved the Deathgrippers – they were terrifying!
Even more frightening is the thought of the comments that I might get in response to my review. (I'm joking ) Just remember, I have only seen it once. I will post more thoughts when I see the film again, but for now, that’s all from me!