“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” combines all of the necessary elements in a children’s movie to create the perfect final installment to the beloved series.

If you are a parent wondering whether or not to see this movie the answer is simple: yes. This movie has enough of a story line to be found interesting by viewers of any age without having seen the first two movies in the How to Train Your Dragon series; I will say, though, that it is obviously a piece of a series and the inside long-running jokes can’t be fully appreciated as a stand-alone.

I have always been a fan of this series and as someone with many younger siblings under the age of 12, I’ve been easily kept up to date on the storyline and releases of the movies.

The series was meant to target the hearts of younger viewers with its colorful characters and simplistic humor elements, but it easily captures those of adults of all ages with elements of a coming of age story, strong conflict, sad moments and life and death moments to keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

I’m going to dive deeper into the plot of this movie, so if you aren’t looking for spoilers, read ahead with caution because there will be many.

For those wondering whether it’s worth the effort to see, I went to see it with my mom and adult friend who is 23 years old—we brought no children with us and we all laughed, cried, talked way too much and loved every moment of this movie bouncing on our heart strings.

The third installment of the series picks up about a year after the end of the second movie and shows our favorite hero, Hiccup, ruling after his father had passed. He and Astrid are still not married and Toothless is still the most adorable character ever.

Berk has become a haven for dragons (and don’t worry, the sheep are protected thanks to handmade dragon costumes and the village is well fed). The main mission of those living there is to save dragons from poachers using them to create an army or kill them, which is completely successful, until a new character is introduced.

The movie follows the village trying to escape the dragon killer responsible for destroying all of the Night Furies in the world, except for Toothless and the Light Fury they discovered.

In addition to the threat of a killer, the characters balance the loss of Stoic, the difficulties of growing up and the journey to find the hidden world, a place where dragons can live peacefully.

The movie balances out the difficult circumstances and dark undertones with crude humor and adorable baby dragons.

From when Ruffnut literally annoys her way out of being captured, Tuffnut braiding his hair in front of his face and demanding that everyone cries into his “full thick beard” to Toothless doing a ridiculous and hilarious mating dance to attempt to impress the Light Fury that he is enchanted with.

My only critique of this movie was the flashbacks. While they added a depth of character to Stoic and showed the struggles that Hiccup was facing, they seemed entirely inconsistent with information from previous movies.

For example, one flashback shows Stoic talking about the hidden world and how he was going to find it to lock the dragons away and keep everyone separated and safe, but in the first movie Stoic was obsessed with killing the dragons, either as Hiccup grew he lost faith in the hidden world and built a hatred for dragons, or that flashback is completely inconsistent.

In the end, I loved the movie. It was hilarious, adorable and had a beautiful ending which gave me a satisfied feeling in the bottom of my tummy.

I find that far too many times the conclusion of a series only serves the purpose of tying up loose ends; however, I thought this movie did a wonderful job of having its own storyline while still giving us the chance to see our favorite characters grow up and even have beautiful babies that fit them so wonderfully I definitely cried.