#toothless and hiccup were bad leaders in hw

[fanfic-lover-girl]

I finally watched HTTYD 3 and I am still in shock

I knew I would likely dislike the movie but I wanted to watch the entire trilogy. I feel robbed when I remember I paid $4 to rent the movie. I even watched it a second time (which I don't usually do) by myself to make sure I never had first watch bias or something.

There are several posts already about the flaws of the movie. I want to do something different. I went into this movie with a lot of prejudice from Youtube reviews, Tumblr posts and even some fanfics. So I will highlight how these prejudices were challenged when I watched the movie.

Let's start with the positivies:

How the movie was not as bad as I thought

The fate of the Death grippers

I don't care much about animals. In fact, I am not too fond of how the movies paint the dragons as innocent victims all the time (except for the dragon queen) and the humans as the evil ones. Not all dragons can cohabitate with humans and some are genuinely dangerous. The death grippers are vile creatures and I felt little pity when Toothless barbequed them. Grimmel using their venom to control them was so dumb.

Gobber and Eret

People made it seem like Gobber was hitting on Eret. Sure, he said Eret had the body of a norse god but that was basically it. It's easily forgettable. In fact, when I first watched the movie it didn't even sound like flirting but Gobber making a quip in response to Snotlout's idiocy.

Hiccstrid peptalk

I don't agree with Astrid that Hiccup was back where he started. However, the scene where she agrees that Hiccup is a screw-up was not as bad as I thought. There was more levity than people give credit for.

The animation

Hiccup and the others looked way too pretty but it didn't bother me much.

Light fury and Toothless' relationship

I have seen people describe it as shallow. Meh, it was ok. It never got me emotionally invested but I didn't hate it. They had three fairly adorable courting scenes and the light fury was obviously interested. I was confused why she was pursuing Toothless instead of trying to get as far away from Grimmel as possible. When I first watched the movie, I thought Grimmel was forcing her to chase Toothless as part of his plan. I guess that was not the case. I don't agree that she only likes him because he's an alpha. Even if she did, she's a wild animal. Given that Toothless and she are animals, I am not fussy that their relationship was not given more depth. It just meant that I hardly cared when Grimmel was holding her hostage to control Toothless. In fact, I kissed my teeth when Toothless sacrificed Berk's dragons for her. All I could think was 'Berk has TWO crap leaders'.

Toothless not defending Hiccup from the Light Fury

I was not a fan of this scene. At all. But I surprisingly had more grace for this scene for some reason. The light fury is aggressive because she's frightened and after Toothless growls at her she backs off. It just sucks that Toothless shows little to no concern about Hiccup.

Who died and made you chief

Not as bad because everyone on screen reacted appropriately and Gothi whacked him on the head :)

This is Berk

Not too bothered that this movie lacked the classic Hiccup intro and outro. Hiccup's perky intro tied in nicely with the complete chaos of the Berk opening scene (still not over the monstrosity Berk became - glad they left that dump behind). I hated Hiccup's message in the outro but at least there was something. I wish there was more exploration about New Berk though :(

How the movie was worse than I thought

The gang was annoying as hell

Tuffnut was the top offender. His marriage pep talks made me want to tear my hair out. So cringe and unnecessary. What a waste of screentime. Fishlegs and Fishmeat were annoying too. Everytime I saw Fishmeat on screen, I felt slightly angry. Snotlout's crush on Valka was also unnecessary and the triangle with Eret made me roll my eyes. Why is Valka entertaining this fool? Ruffnut was not as frustrating given her minimal screentime.

The intro scene

The intro scene was so bad. The gang have been dragon riders for 6 years now so why are they acting so sloppy?? Hiccup ruined the scene the minute he shushed the guard and opened his mouth.

Hicctooth in shambles

The friendship between Hiccup and Toothless was severely lacking in this movie. Toothless spent most of the movie not giving a damn about Hiccup. Toothless runs off to the hidden world without even a goodbye. I had thought Hiccup had let Toothless go permanently at that point but nope! Hiccup was expecting him back and it's heartbreaking how Toothless immediately moves on from Hiccup for his new mate. Being with Hiccup seems like a total chore to Toothless.

Romance means the end of friendship

What I love about Hiccstrid is how Hiccup is able to love Astrid and Toothless without any conflicts. He doesn't put one before the other and Toothless and Astrid share a bond too. Why is this not the case with Toothless? Why does mating with the light fury mean leaving Hiccup in the dust? Why is the light fury not given the chance to bond with Hiccup? I would hope that my future significant other would be relatively close with my friends. I think the Hiccstrid marriage happening after the dragons leave also leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The whole argument about not being ready for marriage was a waste of time. What exactly made them not ready for marriage!?

Grimmel as a villain

I have mixed feelings about him. He's simultaneously fun and boring. I can't explain it. I thought the scene within Hiccup's house was badass. But other than that, he fell flat for me. Maybe it's because everyone around him was so stupid. Not sure why Grimmel never killed Toothless when he had the chance instead of taking the light fury on a joyride.

HW!Toothless is not my Toothless

What made this point worse for me was how Toothless dropped the ball as Berk's alpha. He abandoned his pack for the dragons in the hidden world - makes no sense how he became king of dragons btw. I don't know why the dragons are compelled to follow him when he is not a true alpha dragon and he easily traded their freedoms for the life of this light fury he practically met yesterday. Also, Toothless was a lot uglier than I expected him to be. Toothless showed more anger over the light fury stepping on his drawing than he did the THREE times the light fury attacked Hiccup. Toothless was a total disgrace! Toothless had more regality as a lone wolf dragon than he does as an alpha simping over this nobody dragon.

The plot was boring

I feel like the threat Grimmel posed was ruined by the dragon romance. Berk is under threat by a dragon hunter and Toothless is more concerned about chasing tail. Plus, the hidden world was a concept with wasted potential. There was no point in the movie where I felt a sense of awe like the first two. From the first movie, test flight and Hiccotooth bonding. From the second movie, Hicctooth intro flight and Toothless breaking Drago's control because his bond with Hiccup was that powerful. The third movie left me with an agape mouth and millions of questions. I just felt sad at the end. The departure from Berk was too rushed. Toothless' departure was too rushed. The dragons leaving Berk was too rushed. The movie was too rushed and too slow at the same time.

These are the major points for me. There are other disappointing things about the movie but I am glad I watched it so that I have my own opinion of what a letdown this movie was.