How To Train Your Dragon! The official HTTYD, and anything there related thread

[hobbit_of_narnia]

I've been a bit anxious about it to the point of almost not wanting to see it when it comes out, but now I'm not so worried. Thank you, Hermit!

[HermitoftheNorthernMarch]

You're welcome, Hobbit. I'm not saying everyone will like the movie, though. I just know I enjoyed it. But I was also very sleepy from staying up all night at the hospital working the night before, (I almost fell asleep during one of the scenes with the villains in it because we were in the nice theater with huge leather recliners) and I also tend to like most animated movies I see so I'm not a very good judge.

I'm also glad my sister came with me to see the movie, because it's really weird seeing a movie that hasn't come out yet and I keep wanting to talk about it to people. In the past, when we were poor, we had to wait about 6-12 months to see movies by checking them out of the library. Now we've seen one ahead of time...

I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Okay, now that I've seen HTTYD3, I can talk about it!
I enjoyed it. The themes and the way they chose to tackle them were great. Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid were great. The ending... highlight the bottom of the post if you've already seen the movie.
I was surprised that some things were not rounded out as they should have been. There was so much focus on the themes, Hiccup's character development, and NightLight romance that other parts of the story suffered. The villain felt like a forgettable Marvel movie villain, for one. Now, I'm not saying that Drago was a fabulous villain, but he had more presence than Grimmel. Grimmel is a clever guy, and I totally appreciated that, but he lacked in something. Maybe his plans weren't as grand as Drago's, or maybe as universal in its effect, I don't know. Side characters were largely forgotten except for fight scenes, humour, and a few bits of advice. Some scenes felt like they were there to move the plot along, rather than properly integrate with it.
Overall, though, the movie pulled through in all the places where it mattered most.
Also, Dreamworks (surprisingly) managed to get me to cry three times, a feat only once before achieved by "Toy Story 3". I do have to say that one of the HTTYD3 ones isn't a likely candidate for making people tear up (and I was surprised I did), but I think the fact that I ugly-cried here and managed not to for "Toy Story 3" makes up for it. (Though, on a completely unrelated note, I fully expect "Toy Story 4" to destroy me in my theater seat.)

Okay, now the ending....
I loved that the climax had Hiccup and Toothless working together... apart. Toothless takes his role as alpha to the apex, but also used it to set the groundwork for whatever plan Hiccup would come up with. Hiccup comes to realize what an asset is waiting for him on the battlefield and plans accordingly. Though I have some complaints about the fight (eg: six teenagers managed how much damage before the dragons could get going? that cage just happened to nicely sweep up those three chieftains/captains?), I loved this part of it.
The goodbye was properly bittersweet. I loved that Hiccup grows to the point of being able to let Toothless go. Honestly, I think his mature handling of it helped stem the emotion some, heh-heh. At first, I thought they missed a golden opportunity to reuse the "Forbidden Friendship" theme. Boy, was I wrong...
BECAUSE THE REUNION WAS MUCH, MUCH WORSE. The music started and I felt all the feels well up and my face geared up for some ugly-crying and my hand went to my mouth, ALL BEFORE HICCUP EVEN TAUGHT HIS KIDS HOW TO HOLD THEIR HANDS OUT. "Forbidden Friendship" is my hands-down favourite track in the trilogy. Has been since the moment I fell in love with the first movie the very first time I watched it. And to have it come back at that moment was all kinds of beautiful and perfect.

So there are my principal thoughts.

[EveningStar]

Hate to tell you, but knights are just a story dragons tell their young to make them behave.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Ha, I wouldn’t doubt it. Though in the context of these films, I imagine the horror stories would revolve around vikings (wilding historically inaccurate ones, granted), at least until knights become prominent.

[HermitoftheNorthernMarch]

Now, I'm not saying that Drago was a fabulous villain, but he had more presence than Grimmel. Grimmel is a clever guy, and I totally appreciated that, but he lacked in something. Maybe his plans weren't as grand as Drago's, or maybe as universal in its effect, I don't know. Side characters were largely forgotten except for fight scenes, humour, and a few bits of advice. Some scenes felt like they were there to move the plot along, rather than properly integrate with it.

I think you've brought up a good point, Ariel, Grimmel is... more of into trying to prove he's smarter than Hiccup and the dangers of Grimmel winning are not fully explained.

The emotional parts of this story are the ones I like. It's going to sound a little bit weird to say this, but I'm at the age where most of the people I know (that are my age) are married or about to get married, so the romance theme is something that I can relate to. Regarding Hiccup's friendship with Toothless... Toothless reminds me of the first dog I had, Jewel, who was part wild dog and was very independently minded. And Toothless is a wild animal that has been trained (or maybe he's trained Hiccup; it's debatable) and Hiccup's whole goal was for the Vikings to see that it was better to befriend the dragons rather than fight them. The theme with Hiccup letting Toothless and the other dragons go back into the wild is sad, but somehow it reminds me of growing up and so I see why they chose it.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

@Hermit: I think you've managed to stick your finger on my problem with Grimmel. Because technically, Drago isn't any less like a forgettable Marvel villain (world domination (reasons for which are not given), big army, etc), but despite this typical villain goal, it was a better goal than Grimmel's. Though one could argue that Grimmel is more like Moriarty in "Sherlock" (thriving on intellectual stimuli, striving to one-up the main character, etc), you're right: "the dangers of Grimmel winning are not fully explained", which is not a problem Moriarty has. Really, Grimmel doesn't even care about threatening Berk. That's just a bonus to his whole "I want my name to go down in history as the man responsible for the extinction of Night Furies" shtick.
EDIT: Actually, I've thought of something else! I realized that Grimmel is a more realistic villain because his goal is personal (and more achievable). But even with that, he doesn't come off as being as much of a threat as he should be... and that particular point is not his problem. It's Hiccup's. Because of the focus on the emotional "friends parting ways" theme, Hiccup spends more time worrying about losing Toothless to the Light Fury and the Hidden World, than he does about losing Toothless to Grimmel. Hiccup does not communicate adequately enough the threat that Grimmel poses. So my conclusion is that, because of the way the story is structured, Grimmel is a MacGuffin.

The emotional parts (being part of the central themes) are what carry this movie and what allow me to be kind about the weaker portions. They really did a great job with all that.
I totally get you on the "other people are in romantic relationships" thing! Those scenes in which Hiccup is awkwardly third-wheeling on NightLight's dates reminded me of the times I'd hang out with the couples among my college friends (not that I third-wheeled on dates; just more like, "maybe I should be giving them more time and space to themselves, even though they're the ones who invited me to hang out").
And about the other thing, interesting how all three films seem to have that growing up/coming of age sense to them. I mean, I consider HTTYD 2 to be more along that line, what with the sudden transition into adulthood (not least of which was the whole promotion to chiefhood), but still.

[anunknownpevensie]

SO I finally went out and saw it with a friend!

I
I almost cried yes, I'm very emotionally attached to the characters.
It was an incredible movie. Sad, indeed, that it ends. But it was a good ending. Very well done. And THE BABIES AAGGHHH DAH:DSHAJLFKAHDLKJSDHALJFHASDJLKFHJDHA