Dragons: les neuf royaumes

There was an opportunity to make this show as exciting and as wonderful as The Race To The Edge. But it fell short on just about every count. Weak storyline, weak characters and the ending was just a huge let down. What exactly was the point of doing this series any way. If the point was to make sure that not another How To Train Your Dragon series ever gets written again, then mission accomplished. I doubt any network would gamble on another spin off especially with the show runner that created this monumental stinker of a show. I really hope the show runner has a back up job that isn't writing for TV.

This 6 part show isn't a solid stand-alone series the plot, animation, background story, ending, motive, setup, and delivery is jarring and poorly done. This diverse cast is the most substantial part of the show, and it's easy to follow along with the story are the best parts of the show. (The motive of Tom, the lead, is dumb and against the people of his new town and the dragons he kills more than he protects. Just to keep the dragons a secret.

I will admit that I only watched the first episode, but there doesn't seem to be anything to keep me watching. I honestly can't think of a thing I liked about it, so I'll move on to the negatives.

1. The story felt too bland 2. The characters are unlikeable (to me at least) 3. The animation looks a bit sloppy compared to the projects the HTTYD series has had in the past.

4. The style of the humans does not seem to match with the past films or series's, the human designs all look vastly different to each other. (Not in a good stylized way) 5. This last issue may be a personal gripe, but the voice actor for the the lead character does not match the body and age, it feels very off.

Overall, if you are looking for a bold new leap into the future of the HTTYD franchise, this is more of a backwards summersault leading into a face plant. Give it a try if you want, but to me, this is a disappointment.

Everyone talks about how bad the animation is... lets talk about the story.

It's called Project Icarus. Well that's original.

Mom says, "Poisonous gas, razor sharp rocks, rivers of lava..." So she takes her son there?!

In fact, all the adults at this facility have a child on board, each of distinct ethnic backgrounds. The big tough black guy is security, the tiny asian lady is the boss, so naturally they have a loud-mouth Black kid, a cool girl love interest, the nerdy girl, etc. Etc. (Face palm)

This is remedial writing at its worst. Nothing new or different. What made the original HTTYD movies and series so special is hard to sum up in one review, but this follow up series definitely didn't hit the mark. They're trying to hit all the diversity checkboxes but struggled to make it make sense.

My kids and I sat through all the films and the series together but I'm not even going to tell them this came out. Can't risk them damaging brain cells.

It has the same animation as How to Train Your Dragon, so it's a guarantee of a good job.

It has an interesting story that takes dragons to the modern era, or more accurately to the future, coordinating how Toothless and Hiccup's adventure ended. The first 5 episodes introduce the protagonists and their dragons, and then a final episode. The only bad thing is that this final episode is not an ending in itself, it feels like a normal chapter of the previous series rather than a final episode.

In fact, the reason I give it a 6 as a rating is that my son looked at me with a "put the next chapter" face and I had to explain that it ended like that, which seemed strange to him too.

It promises to be a fun series, as its predecessors had been, but hopefully they will give it a season finale if they return.