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'Dragons: Race to the Edge' really allows the supporting characters to shine. In the movies Fishlegs, Snoutlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut don't get much screen time. The scenes they do get in the movies serve to emphasize just one characteristic of each character: Fishlegs, the nerd; Snoutlout, the windbag; and Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the gasbags, who can do nothing else except talk nonsense. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of that in 'Dragons: Race to the Edge' too, but the supporting characters are more than just one-note. Fishlegs gets to explore a sweeter side of his personality (I won't spoil anything); Snoutlout is courageous; and the twins actually save the day on a couple of occasions. Fishlegs is one of my favourite characters, and I was really sad to see that he just got a line or two in 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.' Christopher Mintz-Plasse is such a talented voice artist and he is superb as Fishlegs. He makes the character so endearing and goofy at the same time. So, I was really happy to see him get some much-needed screen time in this series.
I love America Ferrera, but her Astrid gets a little annoying here because at times, she comes across as an overbearing know-it-all. That said, I am really glad that both Ferrera and Jay Baruchel returned to voice their characters. If, like Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Craig Ferguson and Gerard Butler, they had also not been in the series, it would have just not been the same. They also added David Tennant to the cast and who doesn't love more of David Tennant?
Another reason I like this series is because it allows the characters to just "be." Sure, there is some adventure in every episode and there is the overarching plot of the dragon hunters, but there are also scenes in which the characters are just sort of going about their daily life, exploring islands, finding new species of dragons and just being themselves and that's a real treat to see.
As for the dragons themselves, there are so many new ones in this series. Full marks to the team that conceptualized the different species of dragons, and gave them imaginative names and idiosyncrasies. It's really impressive. My favourite, though, remains Toothless. He is just the most adorable dragon of them all and he is so fiercely protective and loyal to Hiccup, it's really touching. The anthropomorphic qualities given to the dragons can really be appreciated in this series by the bond Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch share with their respective riders.
Now, for where this series ever-so slightly goes south... the plot of the dragon hunters gets annoying and drags after a while. First there's Dagur, then Ryker, then Viggo, then Krogan and then... the story just drags and it's the same thing over and over again: evil dragon hunters attack dragons, while Hiccup and the dragon riders attempt to foil their plans. I do understand that this was supposed to be a 4-season show, which got extended to six seasons, but I feel like some fresh material should have been written. I didn't mind Heather so much. I know she's a bone of contention with many reviewers, but I didn't mind her. I also really liked the character of Mala and that story.
The quality of the animation is definitely not as good as the movies. The characters don't walk or move naturally and there is no attempt at animating everything. In every episode, the dragon riders visit some island, but they never leave any footprints on the sand. But to my mind, these were minor niggles, which I got over with because what was more important were the characters and the stories.
I recently saw 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World' and I absolutely loved it. After I had watched the movie twice in the movie theatre, I was still feeling a lot of withdrawal symptoms and really wanted more of Toothless and Hiccup in my life. That's why I watched 'Dragons: Race to the Edge.' If you love the 'How to Train Your Dragon' universe, if you love the movies and are fond of the characters and their adorable dragons, 'Dragons: Race to the Edge' is a must-see addendum. It's not perfect, but it will do!
score 10/10
Lee-107 31 March 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4753730/ |
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22-11-2019 13:18:45
