How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Although I wasn't crazy about How to Train Your Dragon 2 —don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, it just didn't live up to How to Train Your Dragon, in my opinion— I was still looking forward to seeing How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World as it is the final chapter of the trilogy. 

In this final entry, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and the other Vikings continue to rescue captured dragons and bring them to Berk. Hiccup's efforts to free the dragons, however, has made him a target for other warlords and Vikings, and pretty soon he and his people are forced to face an infamous dragon hunter (F. Murray Abraham) who uses a female Light Fury as bait to capture Toothless and plans on turning him against his friends. 

The plot is really interesting at first but unfortunately, as it develops, there are so many plot holes and inconsistencies with the previous films, that it's difficult to enjoy it. It doesn't help either that the story never reaches the depth and complexity of the first film, at times it so boring and dull, I lost completely my interest, and it's flat on emotions and drama. 

The characters, on the other hand, are nicely done. Not only they are still very likeable and therefore you care about them, but they have given more depth and development, especially the supporting characters who no longer have only a single trait to differentiate one from another —it's too bad most of these characters don't add anything to the story. The villain, unfortunately, is quite a disappointment as he's never as menacing and smart as he's said to be. The voice cast does a pretty good job though, even F. Murray Abraham who plays the weak villain.

The humour is also a bit of a letdown. While there still are some funny moments and jokes, most of the film's comedy is one-liners and jokes able to entertain only a kid. Sure, the film targets kids, but the filmmakers should have taken more into consideration the adults that watch the movie along with the kids.

Universal Pictures

The best aspect of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, as well as the only aspect of the film that doesn't even come close at being a disappointment, is the animation. Just like its predecessors, this third film of the series looks stunning —from facial expressions to movements to textures, the animation is top notch.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Historical movies aren't really my thing —despite the fact that I loved my teacher, history was one of my least favourite subjects in high school— but I checked out Mary Queen of Scots anyway because one does not simply pass a movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. And of course eye-candy in the form of Jack Lowden is always welcome. 

The film tells the story of Catholic Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan). Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, she returns to Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England are both ruled by her cousin Elizabeth (Margot Robbie), the Protestant Queen of England, and her claim to the English throne puts her on a collision course with Queen Elizabeth I.

A more or less compelling political battle of wits is what I was expecting, but what I got instead was a beyond tedious and "not so easy to follow because of all the double-crossing" plot filled with historical inaccuracies —this part of history was unknown to me but there were things so far fetched I checked for facts on Wikipedia—, Mary refusing to do what people advised her and Elizabeth crying. There are political intrigue and backstabbing, lots of both, but the story is not interesting, it's not engaging and I just didn't care because of the dull, inconsistent storytelling.

The characters are also pretty bland and uninteresting as they are poorly characterized, poorly developed and, for the exception of Mary, they don't even have clear motivations. They are just cartoonish characters that deserve absolutely no sympathy, especially Elizabeth who is presented as a weak, constantly whining woman. Not to mention the openly gay friend of Mary, or her gay husband.

At least there's the cast, part of it, that makes Mary Queen of Scots more bearable. Both Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie do a good job in the roles as they manage to make their characters slightly more interesting, and both doing a great job at hiding their accents, Irish the first, Australian the latter —I'm not sure though why Mary has a Scottish accent since she grew up in France. The rest though is quite a mess. It's not entirely the actors' fault as the script is quite poor but most of them give wooden performances or over-act like David Tennant and when they are actually decent, they are criminally underused like Guy Pearce.

Focus Features, Universal Pictures

The strong performances from Ronan and Robbie aren't the only good things about Mary Queen of Scots. The cinematography is quite breathtaking with plenty of beautiful scenery and locations rich in colour; the costumes are gorgeous; the makeup is very good.

Unfortunately, the writing is terrible, the direction is dull, and the casting of people of colour to play 16th century Great Britain aristocrats just doesn't feel right. If they wanted to make a politically correct movie, they should have gone with fictional characters. But I guess it fits the film very well if you consider all the inaccuracies.