Over the past nine years, the animated series "How to Train Your Dragon" has struggled to build a fan base for its story about a young Viking, Hiccup, who bucks tradition by befriending a dangerous dragon nicknamed Toothless. Based on Cressida Cowell's 12-volume book series, the movies _ two so far _ have earned more than $1 billion combined. Still and all, you just don't see a lot of Hiccup Halloween costumes and Toothless plushies out there.
The third installment, "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World," is also the last, and it feels a bit like gentle euthanasia. Other series have been treated worse: "The Chronicles of Narnia" fizzled out after four films, "Percy Jackson" stalled at two and the woebegone "Divergent" is on ice. "Dragon" fans can at least be grateful for a fond farewell.
"The Hidden World" begins with Hiccup and his friends saving dragons from poachers with such regularity that their little village, Berk, is crawling with the creatures. Hiccup, once a runt but now a chief (Jay Baruchel again lends his boyish voice), decides to relocate all of Berk to a mysterious island, "off the map," where outsiders will never find them. In hot pursuit, however, is the dragon-hunter Grimmel (a wonderful F. Murray Abraham), a brilliant strategist with a secret weapon.
-copy-dd1f2bf0.jpeg?w=600)
