7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
As Hiccup fulfills his dream of creating a peaceful dragon utopia, Toothless’ discovery of an untamed, elusive mate draws the Night Fury away. When danger mounts at home and Hiccup’s reign as village chief is tested, both dragon and rider must make impossible decisions to save their kind.
Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Gerard ButlerAdventure | 100% |
Family | 80% |
Fantasy | 78% |
Animation | 69% |
Action | 40% |
Comedy | 36% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Spanish = Latinoamerica, French = Quebec French Dolby Atmos always has a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) core
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Dragon romance, a dangerous villain, mass migration, and inescapable change are all at the heart of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the third and supposedly final film in the hugely successful digitally animated franchise based on the book series written by Cressida Cowell. This final stop brings an emotional and satisfying, if not somewhat predictable, close to the story of a young Viking boy named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and his one-of-a-kind Night Fury dragon, Toothless. The picture both progresses the series while remaining true to its structure and style, finding perfect balance amongst action, humor, and heart.
The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is, of course, an entirely digital production. It was reportedly finished at 2K, but that doesn't mean that there's not a
wondrous image
to be found. Indeed, the movie looks spectacular on the UHD format, managing to best a near-reference quality Blu-ray by a fairly significant margin. This is not simply a tweak around the
edges but
a serious improvement to both clarity and color. The former is certainly a little less dramatic than the latter, but the sheen and sharpness join together
to
enhance the intricate details around Berk and its human and dragon populace with fairly sizable increases in detail rendering and total image clarity.
Dragon scales and bony protruding structures enjoy a much more firm, reliable, and texturally adept delivery. Small environmental details are just as
impressive when seen up-close, like little bits of rock or moss or plant life seen around a huddle of brightly illuminated eggs at the 1:03:34 mark. The
rise in clarity is fairly dramatic and surprisingly so for a digitally animated film.
The HDR color palette is the real highlight. More intense blue skies, firmer and more complete character and environment black levels, and more
carefully rendered skin tones are obvious, but the real delights appear on the variously colored dragons which manage to outshine their Blu-ray SDR
counterparts by a large margin, besting the Blu-ray's color appearance with a much greater feel for color foundation, pop, nuance, and diversity. With
the added clarity, the hues absolutely leap off the screen both broadly (such as flyovers around Berk) or intimately (the aforementioned eggs). The
movie is brilliantly alive with color and the HDR color spectrum only enhances the intensity, luminance, and overall dazzle, from Berk to the title
location and everything in between. The image does appear slightly darkened overall but not at the expense of color intensity or black level depth. In
fact, it only compliments some of the film's most critical moments, such as a dusk farewell late in the movie. It's a perfectly balanced color beauty from
start to finish.
As with the Blu-ray, there are a few aliasing/shimmering effects which appear in several one-off moments that many viewers may not even notice, such
as on Toothless and the Light Fury in a distant shot at the 1:24:37 mark. Otherwise, this one's UHD animation perfection.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World's Dolby Atmos soundtrack delivers a well balanced and very effective listen. The track has no shortage of robust elements and full stage engagement at its disposal, presenting potent bass as necessary but also folding in subtle atmospherics in less dynamic scenes, creating a full spectrum listen that finds harmony in every element. Of course the action scenes are the highlights, with powerful bass, directional effects aplenty, seamless sound movement, and fully integrated back and overhead usage. The top end channels are not used for discrete elements but rather purposeful support, to allow action to soar higher and music to play with a fuller feel for the entire stage. Clarity and detail through all elements is perfect, whether high flying and intense action or the din of the collected Berk at a town hall meeting in chapter seven. Dialogue is clear, center positioned, and well prioritized for the duration. This is a fantastic all-around sonic performer.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World's UHD disc contains a number of extras, including an alternate opening, deleted scenes, short
featurettes in quantity, and an audio commentary track. A Blu-ray copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with
purchase.
This release
ships with an embossed slipcover.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World offers a fitting, exciting, and heartfelt, if not a little predictable, conclusion to the trilogy, which is easily the best digitally crafted non-Pixar franchise around, and it gives most of Pixar's best a serious challenge for supremacy. Universal's UHD is first-class, offering animated reference 2160p/HDR picture quality, invigorating Atmos audio, and a full compliment of supplements. Very highly recommend, as is the entire How to Train Your Dragon trilogy.
2019
2019
+ Funko Pop Keychains
2019
with wearable dragon wings
2019
2019
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2010
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2022
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2020
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