Sightlines · reception

How How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was received

2019 · Dean DeBlois · How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on Sightlines

The arc

Landed in 2019 to warm reviews and an Oscar nod but with a faint 'weakest of the trilogy' shrug; since then the trilogy has been canonized as DreamWorks' crown jewel, and the finale's reputation has only climbed as fans salute a blockbuster franchise that actually chose to end.

What’s debated

The eternal fan fight: is the bittersweet ending a perfect, brave farewell or a needless heartbreak — with a side skirmish over whether the Light Fury deserved more personality?

Its footprint

Toothless's dorky courtship dance escaped the film entirely, going mega-viral as a meme — most famously the TikTok wave of the dancing Night Fury set to Pokémon's 'Driftveil City'.

Where it stands

The tear-jerker capstone of what Letterboxd-era animation fans routinely call DreamWorks' best trilogy — the 'watch all three in one night and cry' pick.

Did you know? It was the first DreamWorks Animation film distributed by Universal Pictures, after the studio's deal with 20th Century Fox ended.