By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Releases May 21, 2019
The future is wide open for where the How to Train your Dragon saga will go next. Astrid Hofferson confirms it in her recap of the saga in 60 seconds in the home video release of Hidden World. There’s no need to cry, as there are fans who are not ready to part ways yet. While Hiccup and Toothless’ story is over, other stories can continue on, especially when considering this film reveals the next generation.
This release also offers some behind-the-scenes moments and discusses the emotional journey the cast and crew went through in the past ten years. Most of the artwork presented in this disc can also be found in Dark Horse Comics’ Art of Hidden World
Provided in this release is an alternate opening which Dean explained as showing how Toothless is necessary for Hiccup’s (Jay Baruchel) life. I suspect this scene was not used since it put too much emphasis in these two characters when all of Berk should be a concern now that both are king of their respective worlds. When Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham) is a threat, running away is not an option. Instead, it’s dealing with them and realising the rest of the human world is not ready to accept living with other alien beings side-by-side.
But things will change. One Day.
This video release’s extra contents suggests the possibility of a reunion, and is packed with more material than I previous films and is worthwhile picking up over waiting for a trilogy-pack. There are five deleted scenes in total to look at, and they are mostly extended takes of certain scenes. “The Expanded Tail” shows every moment of Hiccup making the left flap of his tail for Toothless to control, and John Powell’s music is the highlight here. “Protector vs Captor” shows Hiccup talking to mom and discussing whether humans are needed to protect the dragons, Fans of Stoick will see two cutscenes featuring him teaching young Hiccup the ways of life, which is sad since I hoped to see more of the tyke’s life before being that awkward teen.
“How to Voice Your Viking,” “How I Learned from Dragons” and “Brave Wilderness” are the better pieces to watch. I particularly enjoyed seeing the talents behind the microphone acting out their animated roles, and the second featurette from this list is basically the cast saying their final farewells.
With “Deck of Dragons,” I can not help but wonder if a trading card game can be made? Technically, this piece is a nod to Cressida Cowell’s books which offer cards with specs of each dragon.
Although this particular part of the franchise is technically over, confirmed to air on Netflix later this year is Dragons: Rescue Riders. While Dean DeBlois said this chapter is non-canon, fans will no doubt want to check this out. When considering this director says the dragons are going to talk, I feel it a bad move. It’s like being a fan of Pokemon having doubts when the live-action film Detective Pikachu was first announced. I suspect it may go the route of Nathaniel “Coyote” Peterson‘s wildlife show (also on this disc, which is terrific since the studio went all out), and be an edutainment product much like Transformers: Rescue Bots. Until this series releases, what I offer is speculation.
5 Dragons out of 5
