The How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy may have reached its beautiful conclusion with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, but the love for Hiccup, Toothless and the adventures they shared in Berk and beyond lives on!
Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to join Universal Home Entertainment on our own HTTYD-themed adventure through Norway. We embraced our inner Viking and dragon selves by soaking in the incredible landscapes of Norway, visiting the tradition-flavored village of Flåm, getting the full dragon-riding experience on the Flåm Zipline, and finally, going full Viking in Gudvangen, where I learned I’m a killer with an axe and couldn’t make enough thread for a winter sweater if my life depended on it.
Image via DreamWorks/Universal
Now, How to Train Your Dragon author Cressida Cowell was famously inspired by her family’s island off the coast of Scotland — another prime destination for fans looking for a Viking vacation — and of course, the bulk of the characters boast Scottish accents in the film, but Norway was a big influence on bringing the magic of Berk to life on screen. Writer/director Dean DeBlois is on the record that “Norway was incredible and inspiring in so many ways — and the light, the skies, the way color filters through at those northern latitudes definitely found its way into this movie.” In fact, the film-maker even took his department heads, including visual consultant Roger Deakins, on a team-building trip on a team-building trip to Norway to help conceptualize the world of the film
So yeah, I more or less got to journey to the real-world Berk, and you can tag along for the journey with me in the video above (just try not to judge me for how often I say “amazing” — it was an amazing experience!), or read about the highlights in the article below. And for more on How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, be sure to check out my interview with DeBlois and star Jay Baruchel here.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital platforms.