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Comparing book & movie endings
Topic Started: 02 Jan 2022, 20:30 (4274 Views)
Tuffnut'sChicken
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B-BAWK!

If you're in this thread, I'm gonna assume that you've finished How to Fight a Dragon's Fury as well as The Hidden World and Homecoming. That is to say, expect spoilers. :P

What were your thoughts on the endings?

(This question is followed by a huge bulk of thoughts from me, but I'd love to hear your opinions! Even if they're different from mine ;) )

I can see how THW tried to do what the books did... and I also believe it fell flat on its face in the attempt. Now, I don't hate the movie; I thought that for the plot it had, it was very emotional and the characters' dialogue was great. And WOW were the animation and soundtrack good! (It was also the only one I saw in theaters, so that was a lot of fun!)

Anywhom.

With the movies, I think they fell prey to the trap so many movies based on books do—they tried to take a really, really big concept and shove it into a movie that's too short to handle it. It felt like they took the basic gist of it and didn't do it justice.

At the end of the books, it concluded (based on efforts that included the entire Viking Archipelago) that society wasn't ready to peacefully coexist with dragons after Hiccup was no longer there to ensure peace. This conclusion happened slowly, over the course of many years. And even then, the dragons went off slowly. Some chose to go into the sea or in hiding early on, but others (like peoples' riding and hunting dragons they had a close bond with) only slowly started drifting away. They valued those bonds and while the dragons ultimately went to their own species, they didn't do it overnight.

At the end of the movies, it concluded (based on a rather quick fight involving some villains the characters had never even heard of before) that society wasn't safe for dragons to peacefully coexist. Like, immediately. This conclusion happened in a matter of a few moments, and then all the dragons were gone. (And apparently, this means all the dragons everywhere, even though the fight only involved the ones on Berk.) They ripped apart each bond and though they visited for a very brief time in Homecoming, it doesn't seem to be any kind of priority to either dragons or humans.

Soooo basically, what I'm seeing:

Books: Based on many years of trial and error involving all the tribes around, they made a hard, yet thought-out decision for everyone's safety. Existing friendships remained a priority.

Movies: Based on a short battle with an all-new enemy, they decide almost on a whim that it isn't safe for people and dragons to be together. Existing friendships were torn apart.

I think the problem is largely that the books... they stretched out so long. Like, the audiobook for book 12 lasted 7 hours, and that very closely follows book 11, which was 5 hours. Trying to cram that much depth into a 1 hour, 44 minute movie just didn't work.

But the great thing about stories is that it's possible to look at them from many different angles. That was my opinion; I'd love to hear yours!
Clouds of corn <3
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