On February 22, DreamWorks Animation released, “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”, opening to $55 million dollars from the box office in its opening weekend.

As the film begins, Chief Hiccup Haddock, played by Jay Baruchel, and his town, Berk, are again under threat from dragon trappers who want to knock down the massive dragon population by taking them all away. The trappers ask for help from the dragon-killer Grimmel, played by F. Murray Abraham, to take out Toothless, as he had killed every other member of the Night Fury species.

Hiccup’s response is an attempt to find the legendary Hidden World that his father spoke fondly of, where dragons come from, hoping to move all of Berk and it’s dragons there. Along the way, Toothless meets the Light Fury and is met with a dilemma – the wild or Hiccup.

While Toothless is trying to impress the Light Fury, Hiccup is similarly trying to figure out his relationship with his girlfriend, Astrid Hofferson, played by America Ferrera, under pressure from their village that expects them to marry.

While the story was entertaining, it felt rather rushed at times. It wasn’t too rushed, but just enough to be noticed. Throughout the movie, there were some parts of the story that seemed to need more detail than it actually got.

For instance, the main villain, Grimmel, has some resemblance to the dragon trapper Drago Bludvist, played by Djimon Hounsou, from the previous movie. Grimmel comes off as a rather basic character whose only interesting fact is that he killed the rest of the Night Fury species.

The best thing about this movie had got be the gorgeous visuals. No doubt, this movie has the best animation and visuals out of the three movies. Of course, over the years, there were major improvements that led to the animation style and quality in Hidden World.

The movie had both heartwarming themes and messages about love, sacrifice, and growing up. The movie, despite being a bit thin story-wise, was a lovely addition to the “How to Train Your Dragon” story.