In the final installment of the “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy*, brave young Viking Hiccup and his fire-breathing Night Fury buddy, Toothless, find themselves facing their biggest challenge yet: raging dragon hormones*.

Picking up a brief time after where the last installment left off, the storyline finds Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), having taken over the title of tribe chieftain from his late father, Stoick (Gerard Butler, in flashback), successfully following through on his dream of seeing humans and dragons living together in harmony*.

Perhaps a bit too successfully.

Working together with his intended, the fearlessly accomplished Astrid (America Ferrera), his recently rediscovered mom Valka (Cate Blanchett) and fellow rookie* alpha male Toothless, Hiccup and company have been busily freeing caged dragons and bringing them back to the increasingly crowded Isle of Berk.

Then arrives the villainous Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), who wants to destroy their utopian* paradise.

As the villagers and the dragons leave in a hurry in search of a hidden world previously thought to exist only in myth*, Toothless finds himself increasingly distracted by a pure white female dragon known as Light Fury. Their bond forces Hiccup to reassess* his own relationship with Toothless.

The technology reaches impressively detailed new levels, from the stubble* on Hiccup’s chin to cascading waterfalls, and, most notably, flickering flames.

Also worthy of mention is a lovely ballet of a mating dance sequence between Toothless and the Light Fury.

Once again, the element of comedy also plays a significant role in the adventure, but just like the darker dramatic underpinnings at work here, the humor also feels edgier* than before.

All told, by the time the film nears the end, in which Hiccup must learn how to let go, the bittersweet result will have audiences finding it equally hard to say goodbye.(SD-Agencies)