There’s nothing quite like a bittersweet ending, and since trilogy closer How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World graced hundreds of screens in early showings ahead of its Friday wide release, the reception has been overwhelmingly emotional.
Many moviegoers have been ugly crying over the third How To Train Your Dragon and letting the world know it, thanks to the film’s sad but satisfying ending between best pals Hiccup and Toothless. During a recent press visit to DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, I spoke with the voice behind Hiccup, Jay Baruchel, and asked him just how it feels to know the world is crying a river over his latest film. Here’s what he told me:
That's really cool. That's cool. What's weird is like, I don't know if it's sadistic to be proud that we make everyone cry but like Dean said, if we make people cry, then we did our jobs. It is very uncommon for any film to be universally loved and I haven't seen a single bad thing about this movie at all. People are allowed to hate it, whatever, but yeah, it's kind of staggering. I can't stress enough how inspiring it is and how proud I am to be a part of something that means what these movies and TV shows mean to as many people as it does. Like our fans are religious about our films and they take ownership of our characters and our stories. So for them to love number three means that they feel, we gave them the movie they deserve, which is like everything that we're trying to do.
Here comes the waterworks again! Like Jay Baruchel said to CinemaBlend, there’s some sort of pride that comes with the reaction this How To Train Your Dragon movie is receiving. Yes, the actor has seen the various social media posts of fans (many adults) posting emotional selfies after seeing the film. It’s the highest-acclaim the movie could wish for, especially when delivering on a gratifying ending to a franchise isn’t common.
The How To Train Your Dragon series started in 2010, and it has been over four years since the sequel came out in 2014. Many fans have grown up watching Hiccup and Toothless bond, certainly finding likeness to their relationships with their pets, parents and children, and what it feels like to grow up within the imaginative space of vikings and dragons created through these films.
Jay Baruchel has been playing Hiccup for around 12 years, so his sweet words in reaction to the early emotional response from fans understandably puts a smile on his face. He tipped a figurative Viking helmet to audiences everywhere who have enjoyed and supported these films and is especially thankful that people are receiving the ending warmly.
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World has already shared early success but making an impressive $175 million overseas, receiving highly-positive reviews from critics and is even getting Oscar 2020 talk way too early.
The third Dragon movie follows Hiccup and his dragon Toothless once again as the dragon falls in love with a Light Fury and the Berkians race to find a safe haven for dragons they’ve taken under their wing when a dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisley is hot on their trail.
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World comes to theaters on February 22. Don’t forget to bring tissues!
