HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 (THE HIDDEN WORLD)

Release Date: Malaysia, 31 Jan 2019

Genre: Action / Adventure / Animation

Running Length: 1:45

Cast (voices):  Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, F. Murray Abraham, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harington

Director:  Dean DeBlois

Screenplay: Dean DeBlois based upon the "How to Train Your Dragon" book series by Cressida Cowell 

In this last installment of the How to Train Your Dragon series, I went in with some anxiety anticipating for the worst. If you followed part 1 and 2, you would have realized that the series creators take risk. 

In the first one, our heroes Hiccup (Baruchel) and Toothless lost their leg and tail wing respectively. And in Part 2, as Hiccup finally found his mother, his father dies! 

So, going into HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3, I had all these thoughts in my mind, "Does Toothless die?" , "Does Hiccup die?", "Do Hiccup and Astrid get married?" 

Well, all I can reveal for now is that the character arc (the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story) of both Hiccup and Toothless is complete in an emotionally satisfying way. 

With Hiccup as head chief now, he and Toothless (being the alpha dragon) safeguard their island and keep everyone safe, both humans and dragons. However, there is a new threat to this peaceful dragon utopia where the villagers are forced to make a decision to vacate their village.  

Meanwhile, Toothless has fallen in love with another dragon, a Light Fury. 

This is where Hidden World soars. It's such a delight to see the courtship of this cute couple, from a clumsy mating dance to a no dialogue high-flying sequence official date across the clouds and beautiful "magic hour" cinematic landscape. It's one of the most beautiful and heart warming sequence for me ever created using animation.  

The visuals in this movie is stunning and accompanying score is just perfect.  

The villain (Abraham) in this installment is also much more memorable than Part 2. I swear his demeanor and voice sounded so much like John Lithgow. 

Speaking of the non-verbal, there is this powerful moment somewhere at the end where Hiccup and Toothless communicates without any words. Such an emotional scene.   

How to Train Your Dragon 3 is a fitting ending. Much better than part two, whereas the first one was still the best. 

RATING: 8/10

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure
Running Length: 1:39
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, F. Murray Abraham
Director: Wes Anderson

If only Stephen Chow continued the trajectory of making his brand of "nonsensical" movies, he would have created something like THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL as he matures in his profession; a much richer and denser experience but still possesses all his trademarks - a relatively easy to follow storyline set in a surreal world littered with exaggerated characters caught in quirky situations (and blood bleeding from their nose). But I digressed. Wes Anderson's Budapest Hotel is an engaging 90+ minutes of unconventional adventure and idiosyncratic humour all framed up in obsessively carefully composed and symmetrical shots (with beautiful bright striking colours). There are sudden burst of unexpectedness throughout the movie. My favourite was a particularly lengthy chase scene where the action becomes increasingly elaborated. Ralph Fiennes is our main protagonist, the concierge of the The Grand Budapest Hotel and he plays a caricature of himself - the impeccable gentleman (some of the film's most amusing moments occur when he gets angry, slips out of character and goes on a profanity laced rant). I could never imagined Ralph Fiennes being attached to a film like this but he owned it. A big shout out to Tony Revolori (the lobby boy, Fiennes' protege) for his debut as Fiennes supporting actor. I must say he held himself up very well among all the A-list supporting cast and cameos. Not everyone will enjoy this movie but if you're looking for a "matured Stephen Chow" fix, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Rating: 8.5/10