Director: Dean DeBlois
Stars: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, America Ferrara, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harrington
How to Train Your Dragon 2 picks up five years after the first film. Berk is thriving and people have really taken to the dragons, and Hiccup and Toothless have bonded even more. However, Hiccup is being pushed to be the new chief of the tribe but he’s more occupied with mapping the world in an effort to find other dragons and dragon riders. On one such excursion he runs into dragon trappers, who reveal they are working for Drago, a fearsome man who is building a dragon army.
This does what all sequels do best, it goes a little bigger but it also goes deeper. The story of a hero trying to find himself isn’t anything new but the characters are so endearing here that it works. Hiccup and Toothless make a great pair, and if you’ve ever had a pet you’ll be fully invested in their relationship. As well as going deeper into the characters the world gets bigger as well and I enjoyed how it built on the first film, and raises the stakes in such a way as it doesn’t diminish the events of the first film.
All the dragon designs were cool and the visuals were fantastic. The action was frenetic and fierce and everything a dragon movie should be. One of the sub-plots was the two guys fighting over the girl. This became a little annoying but it had a good pay-off at the end. Drago was an imposing presence and I felt a lot of tension at the end as Hiccup and his friends had to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.
But the real star is Toothless of course. He’s adorable and is responsible for the film’s best moments.
It’s funny, sad, tense and entertaining. I enjoyed it a lot and was fully caught up in the events of the film and I’m sad to hear that it seems to be performing badly at the box office because it’s such a good film and I hope it becomes a success because the people involved should be rewarded for their efforts.
