HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD.  Part three in this franchise and the best! The continuing saga of Toothless, the dragon and his master Hiccup, we have an all-star cast of voices including Jay Baruchel as Hiccup with other roles filled by America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, F. Murray Abraham, Kristen Wiig and Johan Hill. While very young children may not "get it," the younger crowd of pre-teens I saw it with where gung-ho and give it a round of applause at the film's end.  The animation is wonderful, thrilling at times as the noble band of Vikings set out to find the Hidden world where all dragons are same and thrive.   Villainy is in the mix however and the task is not easy.  Along the way and particularly at the end, some life lessons are explained without being obvious of preachy.   All in all, it's a lovely film with a happy ending.  Just what we need.

A DOG'S WAY HOME

A DOG'S WAY HOME:  This is one of those film's that Disney used to make when I was growing up and I loved it!  It is scary, heartwarming, sad, funny and all totally believable.  Dallas Bryce Howard supplies the voice-over of the dog Bella's thoughts throughout this canine saga in which she travels 400 miles and crosses paths with an orphaned mountain lion, a pack of wolves and various nice and not-so-nice humans along the way just to be reunited with her "family."  With supporting work from Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos and Jonah Hauer-King as Lucas, Bella's owner.  Filmed beautifully along the trek from Arizona to Denver, there is even an avalanche to contend with.  But Bella is one spirited dog!  And worth a visit for a feel-good film.