When Hiccup and Toothless find out there is another Night Fury they must find the Hidden World of Dragons before dragon hunter Grimmel gets there first. See the full plot summary and review below.
Trailers & Clips
Movie Details
- Release Date: February 22, 2019
- Run Time: 1hr 44min
- Director: Dean DeBlois
- Writers: Dean DeBlois, Cressida Cowell
Cast and Characters
- Jay Baruchel – Hiccup
- America Ferrera – Astrid
- F. Murray Abraham – Grimmel
- Cate Blanchett – Valka
- Gerard Butler – Stoick
- Craig Ferguson – Gobber
- Jonah Hill – Snotlout
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse – Fishlegs
- Kristen Wiig – Ruffnut
- Kit Harington – Eret
- Justin Rupple – Tuffnut
- Robin Atkin Downes – Ack
- Kieron Elliott – Hoark
- Julia Emelin – Griselda the Grevious
- Gideon Emery – Trapper
Box Office
Opening weekend in the U.S. The Hidden World brought in an estimated $55,022,245. The movie budget is estimated to have been around $129 million. The worldwide gross at the box office was $521,799,505.
Movie Links
Games & Apps
School of Dragons
Fly fast, train hard, and learn well to become the Ultimate Dragon Trainer! Join Chief Hiccup and Toothless and embark on the thrilling adventures of DreamWorks Animation’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon.
Plot Summary (Contains Spoilers)
The film opens on the deck of a ship where trappers guard caged dragons. Hiccup and Toothless land on the ship along with other warriors of Berk to free the captured dragons.
The warriors wear dragon-scale suits to protect them from the dragon’s fire breath. A clumsy yet successful battle takes place, and all the dragons are free except one.
The Dragon Riders and newly freed dragons return to Berk, which is now growing out of control. A large dragon even dominoes a row of dragon houses knocking them all down.
Hiccup is still the leader of Berk and but his dream of dragons and humans living together is in danger, and he doubts that he is as good of a leader as his father. Gobber speaks up and suggests Hiccup and Astrid should take the next step and get married, but neither of them seems ready to take the leap.
The trappers all gather together and call on a well-known Night Fury slayer called Grimmel the Grisly. They bring Grimmel up to speed about Hiccup and Toothless leading the dragons and setting them free.
Grimmel is shocked to find out there are still two Night Furys that still exist since he is sure he has got rid of them all. The trappers reveal a white Night Fury, and Grimmel decides to use her as bait to lure out Toothless.
Hiccup has a flashback of when he was younger.
His father told him of a place far away from the end of the map where a hidden world of dragons existed. His father wanted to find it to end the fighting between people and dragons once and for all but Hiccup thinks it could be the answer to unite dragons and people.
In the evening Toothless ventures out and picks up on a strange scent. He finds a white female night fury deep in the forest. Toothless is immediately intrigued and dances around her in excitement trying to communicate.
Hiccup and Astrid attempt to sneak up on them, but the wild night fury notices. She fires in their direction and then flies away vanishing in thin air. As the white night fury flies away Hiccup and Astrid agree to call her the light fury because she is bright white.
Toothless finds himself in love with the Light Fury so Hiccup and Tuffnut head back to the spot they found her to try to find her again. In the same area, Hiccup finds a dragon trap and a tranquilizer dart.
He shows his findings back at camp, and Eret recognizes the dart. He tells Hiccup it is Grimmel’s dart and that Grimmel is a dangerous person to deal with.
That night, when Hiccup returns home, he is greeted by Grimmel who snuck in and shot Toothless’s tail with a tranquilizer dart. Grimmel tells Hiccup to give up the night fury since dragons and humans shouldn’t live together. After all, he believes humans are far superior.
As Grimmel goes over to Toothless, he finds that he shot Fishlegs not Toothless, and the Dragon Riders attempt to ambush Grimmel. To escape, Grimmel calls his own acid-spitting Deathgrippers to burn through Hiccup’s home and challenge the Berk warriors.
The people of Berk gather together for a meeting, and Hiccup tells them he no longer feels they are safe if they stay where there are. He shares his father’s dream to find the hidden world of dragons and suggests they take flight and leave their home.
Hiccup reassures the Berkians that Berk is not a plot of land. Instead, Berk is made up of the people and where ever they are is where Berk is.
The Berkians load up all they own and fly toward the edge of the map where no one has ever traveled before. The Light Fury appears on their journey and attacks Hiccup who is riding Toothless.
After flying into the unknown for a long time, they come across a nice piece of land and decide to land for rest. The Light Fury comes back to their camp at night, and Toothless follows her to a secluded area.
Hiccup wakes up and notices Toothless is gone. He ventures out to find him and finds the two on the beach. Toothless spots Hiccup and he acts out dances for Toothless to try to win over the Light Fury. After several dances, Toothless draws her outline in the sand with a large stick, which she seems to admire.
Then she gets spooked once again by Hiccup, and she flies away. Toothless attempts to go after her but he isn’t able to keep up with his homemade tail fin.
At camp, the next day Hiccup struggles with the decision to upgrade Toothless’ mechanical fin since this will likely mean Toothless can fly free without him, and he may not come back. Hiccup builds the upgrade, and Toothless takes off to find the Light Fury.
Valka and Cloudjumper backtracked to be sure the Berkians weren’t followed when they fled the area. Along the way they run into Deathgrippers and narrowly escape to warn Hiccup they are not safe.
Toothless flies better than ever with his new fin upgrade and eventually finds the Light Fury. They fly together showing off their abilities. She shows him how she shoots a ball of fire then flies through it and disappears.
Then, she teaches him how to do the same. Toothless harnesses the power of lightning and is able to do the same thing. The two continue flying through a waterfall in the ocean.
When Hiccup finds out that Grimmel is catching up with them, he goes on the offensive and tries to stop Grimmel before he reaches all the dragons of Berk. Hiccup and the Dragon Riders fly to Grimmel’s hideout and try to capture him.
The Dragon Riders end up falling for his trap and end up in a large cage. Grimmel sends his Deathgrippers after them, and they manage to find a way out of the top. Once they return to their temporary home island, they realize they left Ruffnut behind. Hiccup has to figure out another strategy now to get back at Grimmel.
He also notices that Toothless has not returned and seems sad, but Astrid reminds him that he gave Toothless his freedom to be with the Light Fury.
As Grimmel plots his next move, Ruffnut continuously talks to him inside her prison cell. Ruffnut does not feel in harm’s way and keeps talking to seemingly no end bothering Grimmel and annoying him.
Eventually, Ruffnut unknowingly talks about their camp with all the dragons. Grimmel decides to set her free since she is being so difficult to deal with and follows her back to their camp.
Hiccup and Astrid set out to check up on Toothless. They ride Stormfly until they come across the waterfall in the middle of the ocean. They follow the waterfall until they find the hidden world of dragons and discover the legend of the hidden world is true.
They spot Toothless and the Light Fury flying in unison as all the dragons gather around to watch. It appears to be a ceremony as Toothless and the Light Fury are married or crowned king and queen.
Some of the dragons spot Hiccup and Astrid and chase them. Toothless rescues them and calls off the other dragons. Toothless and Stormfly take them to safety. It begins to become clear to Hiccup that the hidden world may be for dragons only.
Ruffnut returns to the village with Grimmel following close behind. He and his Deathgrippers begin a well-orchestrated attack on Berk. Grimmel shoots Toothless and the Light Fury with tranquilizer darts and captures them in large nets then flies away.
The rest of the dragons are forced to follow as Gimmel has Toothless, the alpha. He pleads for Hiccup not to follow or fight since Grimmel threatens to shoot the Light Fury if anyone follows.
Hiccup feels discouraged, and Astrid helps him feel better. Together, they mount a counter-attack with the Dragon Riders and head for the trapper’s ship on a rescue mission.
Grimmel brings the dragons to the ship for the trappers but says he wants to kill the night fury himself before Grimmel can hurt any dragons the Dragon Riders swoop in and begin battling the trappers and freeing the dragons.
The Dragon Riders steer the ships into one another to sink them while the dragons are being freed. Hiccup tries to cut Toothless free while Grimmel is trying to kill him.
Grimmel drugs the Light Fury with venom from the Deathgrippers, and he is able to fly her away. Hiccup and Toothless take after her and Grimmel. In their pursuit, they fight off the Deathgrippers with Toothless’ new lightning strike trick.
Toothless catches up to Grimmel and makes a move to attack him, but Grimmel shoots him again with a tranquilizer dart, and Toothless begins to freefall. Then Hiccup jumps at Grimmel and tackles him, knocking him off of the Light Fury who he tells to save Toothless.
The Light Fury saves Toothless and then takes off after Grimmel and Hiccup who are still falling to the ocean. The Light Fury saves hiccup at the last second, and they all return to where Toothless is resting.
The people of Berk briefly celebrate a win but Hiccup quickly realizes he needs to let Toothless be free with the Light Fury.
The two say goodbye, and Toothless flies away free. Soon, the other Berkians free their dragons to fly away with the alpha to the hidden world.
Later in the winter months, Hiccup and Astrid take the next step and get married in their new Berk settlement in front of the whole town.
A few years later Hiccup has a beard and has grown up. He and Astrid have children now. We are also shown Toothless’ and the Light Fury have had pups of their own.
Hiccup, Astrid and his two young children row a boat toward the waterfall entrance of the hidden world. Toothless and his family are resting on the edge of the waterfall when Toothless senses danger.
Toothless pounces on his boat and growls at the human family until a big smile comes over his face when he realizes it is Hiccup. They wrestle and laugh on the boat. Hiccup introduces his children to Toothless.
Hiccup takes his kids for a ride on Toothless as both families fly together. Hiccup narrates that although most people believe dragons are gone forever, the Berkians know the truth and will continue to protect their secret until the day dragons can come back in peace.
Editor Review
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World wraps up the film series and delivers a better ending than Even Hiccup and Toothless could have imagined.
Hiccup’s dream of humans and dragons living together in harmony has never been an easy journey. Each film has had its challenges to overcome, from befriending dragons to leaders and loved ones passing away.
The Hidden World comes with unforeseen difficulties that push the boundaries of the Berkian’s wisdom and uncharted territories.
The Hidden World takes off with the Dragon Riders landing on the deck of a trapper’s ship. They launch a heroic rescue mission, freeing captured dragons. The gang is back with new high-tech dragon-scale suits and a flame sword in all their goof and glory.
The usual clumsy Dragon Riders provide comic relief between the Oohs and Ahhs of Hiccup and Toothless’ skilled moves. As the heroes leave in a frantic escape, one dragon is still caged and left behind unknown by Hiccup’s crew.
Back at the tiny isle of Berk, things have changed for the bigger and better. The dragon population has grown exponentially, and there appears to be little room left as houses tumble off the cliff’s edge like dominoes.
Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship seems to have plateaued as his buddies needle Hiccup about taking the next step over the threshold, becoming Chief and Chieftess.
In a hideaway, the trappers join together to plot their counter-moves against the Dragon Riders of Berk. They hire Grimmel, a lanky Night Fury slayer who is surprised to find out that two Night Furys have escaped his wrath.
A proper villain you like to hate, Grimmel is crafty and enjoys the hunt.
The trickery and mind games begin as Grimmel makes the first move, putting the white Night Fury in play. Toothless takes notice.
She’s the only one of his kind, and he immediately falls in love with her while also avoiding a fall into a trap hidden under the forest floor leaves. Hiccup discovers a tranquilizer dart nearby which a peer recognizes as Grimmel’s handy work.
With a more significant threat looming, Hiccup begins having flashbacks about a place that’s off the map his father called The Hidden World of Dragons.
This place off the map could be a final solution for Hiccup’s dream of dragons and humans living together peacefully.
As the previous films in the series have shown, difficult decisions can lead to growth and maturity. Hiccup and his friends have grown up before our eyes throughout the series. Some of the most complex decisions are yet to come in The Hidden World.
With three entangled love stories between humans and dragons, Hiccup and Astrid, and Toothless and the Light Fury, there are plenty of good feelings and happy endings to satisfy the most enthusiastic dragon-training fans.
View the full DreamWorks animation list of movies and Dragon TV shows like Dragon Booster on Prime Video and YouTube as well.
Brandon Crombar
Editor In Chief / FounderBrandon is an animation enthusiast and animated film critic. He has been writing about animation since 2013 to celebrate animated movies, characters, and songs. His favorite animated movies include Finding Nemo, Aladdin, and The Lion King.