EPIC'S ENDING
STIRS THE HEART, SPURS THE MIND

In ‘The Hidden World,'a young hero comes into full ownership of his birthright, though at a heartbreaking cost.

By Bob Verini

Amidst a decade-long, worldwide chorus of praise for the visual inventiveness and excitement of DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" trilogy, less attention has been paid to its themes. But this is a movie — and the three chapters deserve to be thought of as one unified film — with a great deal on its mind.

Indeed, with the appearance of the final chapter, subtitled "The Hidden World," the complete "How to Train Your Dragon" was revealed as a mature epic examining the meaning of heroism and kinship, as well as a forceful parable of humanity's relationship with the natural world. Making story choices far outside the traditional animation box, writer-director Dean DeBlois and team built a triptych worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the most celebrated live-action fantasies and trilogies of our time.

As millions of children and more than a few grownups already know, the action centers on the Viking Isle of Berk, its inhabitants perpetually in tension with flying beasts that regularly raid the local livestock. Killing these marauders is the obsession of young and old alike, including the village chief Stoick's beanpole son Hiccup, whose father harbors misgivings about grooming his awkward lad of 15 as his successor. "You are many things, Hiccup," sighs the brawny chieftain, "but a dragon killer is not one of them."

Too right. Hiccup is destined to become a "dragon whisperer" who tames these ferocious creatures and who will devote his life to bringing about a lasting interspecies rapprochement: no easy task considering humans' intractable bigotry, which keeps rearing up at the trilogy's most fraught moments.

The agent of Hiccup's metamorphosis is a rare, elusive dragon known as a Night Fury, whom the boy maims but can't bring himself to dispatch. "I looked at him," he will later say, "and saw myself." He and "Toothless" — named for the retractable choppers that instantly transform playmate into warrior — enter into a practical (and emotional) symbiosis unique among fantasy epics.

Matched pairs are usually secondary characters like R2-D2 and C-3PO, or "Avengers" twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but this one is front and center. The injured Toothless can't fly without a human rider to control his prosthetic tail, while would-be leader Hiccup possesses few physical resources beyond his companion's flying prowess and fiery breath. As Hiccup passes into adulthood, each completes the other.

Their twinship is reinforced in the first film's climactic battle scene, during which Hiccup's leg is crushed and amputated below the knee. Heroes have been damaged before but such a radical plot development is unprecedented in animation. No Wile E. Coyote-style bounce-backs here.

It was risky storytelling. Concerns were assuaged, producer Bonnie Arnold reports, when at a test screening a little boy announced, "Hiccup lost something, but he gained so much more." It was a vindication of DeBlois' instinct that an injury would create a stronger bond between Hiccup and Toothless.

When "How to Train Your Dragon 2" opens, five years have passed. Hiccup, Astrid (his partner in derring-do and romance) and all the other humans have aged and matured, the result being what Variety critic Peter Debruge would call "one of the greatest character arcs animation has ever seen."

Berk has become the first "Viking-dragon utopia," announces the 20-year-old Hiccup. A far-off sanctuary — overseen by none other than Hiccup's mother Valka, whom he'd long thought dead — is home to far more dragons than anyone dreamed existed. But protecting them means squaring off against cruel warlord Drago Bludvist, who can harness the power of an Alpha dragon to lead dragons to their doom. Drago shows that putting aside long-held prejudice won't come as readily to the rest of mankind as it has to Berk.

Through its action sequences, "Dragon 2" advances character development and themes. The self-sacrifice that leadership can demand comes into play when Stoick, protecting his son, is killed when he steps into the fire-blast of a temporarily mind-controlled Toothless. The resulting rift between the friends is only temporary but DeBlois shrewdly plants a reminder that, as close as they may become, man and beast are fundamentally different.

In "The Hidden World," ecological and environmental concerns come to the forefront. Tiny Berk cannot contain the crush of humans and dragons (a reminder of the unintended consequences of even the best-intentioned policies). Hiccup, now chief but still questioning his leadership ability, must decide his village's future even as he confronts yet another human hunter determined to render dragons extinct. Cold, amoral Grimmel the Grisly arrives armed with the most potent weapon so far: the Light Fury, a female of Toothless' species and a creature of pure instinct, uninfluenced by human contact.

Like Drago, Grimmel will learn the folly of dismissing Berk's chief as a mere boy, and Hiccup will finally come into full ownership of his birthright, though again at a cost. The young chieftain is willing to lay down his life to save his friend, but he soon finds that it is the friendship itself he must lay down, as the wedge driven by the Light Fury between best friends leads to the bittersweet — and in retrospect, inevitable — parting of dragons and men.

"Our world doesn't deserve you… yet," admits Hiccup. Like Frodo and Gandalf sailing off into the west, the dragons are too good for our tainted world. Until all of humankind has renounced evil, they must dwell out of sight.

It's an emotional finale, but not just because we are witnessing the separation of soulmates who, having completed each other, now await different destinies. Even if dragons never existed — and the notion that they may be thriving in an undersea realm makes one want to believe they do — we cannot forget that there are countless actual, wondrous species in our real world, every bit as threatened by human stupidity and venality as Toothless and his kind. When, the movie asks us to wonder, will we deserve them? And will it be too late?

ASSURED AUTEUR
FORGED NEW
FANTASY CLASSIC

Writer-director Dean DeBlois adapted Cressida Cowell's books and proved a fearless protector of his masterpiece, inspiring his team as he calmly navigated story changes and production challenges.

By Bob Verini

Each member of the "How to Train Your Dragon" team, it seems, has a different explanation for what makes writer-director Dean DeBlois so damn good.

To producer Bonnie Arnold, in on the trilogy from the beginning, "he understands emotions that really resonate with audiences." For Jay Baruchel, who has voiced the hero Hiccup through three features and a TV show, he's "a wellspring of imagination…a romantic who sees what's good in people."

And veteran animation producer Bradford Lewis, new to the franchise with the climactic "The Hidden World," says "He's one of a handful of the best animation directors that we have.
"[Those directors] have an absolute, locked-in vision of the story in their head," says Lewis, "and they keep it while taking creative feedback that's going to give you ideas to make it better."

The completed trilogy, based on author Cressida Cowell's popular book series, reflects DeBlois' personal vision and passions.

But the producer goes on to note that Cowell's Viking narrative "doesn't always translate one-to-one" from the printed page to the demands of cinema.

Happily, for all concerned, wrangling a movie story is DeBlois' superpower. He sensed the Cowell project would be "something in my wheelhouse: It featured a younger protagonist, in over his head in a world of fantasy. And that spoke to me because it's a common element in a lot of stories that I write."

Head of character animation Simon Otto admiringly recalls their first department heads' meeting, in which concerns about a new boss were understandable after 18 months of prior effort. "He was this calming presence, taking one problem at a time, attacking it as thoughtfully as he could, and allowing the creativity that's in a place like DreamWorks to happen."

One of his early decisions amounted to "a paradigm shift," in Otto's words: Toothless — up until then an earthbound little green fella — would become a flying dragon of dark menace, putting Hiccup in the position of befriending the enemy.

He also skillfully finessed studio notes. Word came down that Hiccup should have some version of a Skywalker light saber.

Recalls Otto, "Dean went, ‘Hiccup's a pacifist! How can we give him a weapon that looks cool and makes him look heroic without going against his core?' That's how he figured out, ‘Maybe that's his way of becoming a dragon: if he has some kind of device that helps him tame the dragons…to mesmerize and befriend them.'"

Thus, was born the fire-blade "Inferno," wielded as a pacifist might and particularly prominent in "The Hidden World." An executive suggestion, one that many a filmmaker might resist or try to ignore, begat something unexpected and meaningful.

DeBlois, among the most urbane and relaxed of raconteurs, is quick to credit his colleagues at every opportunity, lacks any trace of false modesty. He's well aware of what he brought to the show.

"I was always charged with being the guardian of the story," he says. "My greatest contribution is that I could talk to any department head, any artists on the film, and give my feedback based on story intent. And that made it go smoothly."

Like other animation auteurs before him, DeBlois sees new worlds to conquer as he prepares to helm Hasbro's "Micronauts" and then a new retelling of "Treasure Island."

"Live action comes with its own fears and concerns," he admits. "But I've worked with large crews over sustained lengthy production schedules, and I've been the caretaker of a story multiple times, so I know my value in that mix."

Fans of "Dragon," however, can look forward to more DeBlois magic in his wheelhouse vein. "I love animation," he affirms. "I would never leave it behind."

Art by : Dean DeBlois

“IT WILL STAND
THE TEST OF TIME”