Review of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) by James S — 16 Feb 2017

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, and America Ferrera.

Directed By: Dean DeBlois.

Written By: Dean DeBlois.

Rated: PG.

Based on the book series "How To Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell.

5 years after the events of the first film, the viking village of Berk has fully embraced living with dragons and making them a part of their lives. Hiccup is restless and longs to explore the growing world with his dragon Toothless, but his father Stoick thinks it's time for him to take over as chief of Berk. The arrival of the warlord Drago and a mysterious dragon rider, who is sabotaging his dragon catchers put a stop to their plans as war seems to be on the horizon. With the help of his friends and their dragons, Hiccup must try to prevent it and save Berk.

The first HTTYD was an instant favorite of mine. Fun characters, dragons that felt like they were real animals, and amazing 3D all made for the best family film of 2010. So when I heard of the sequel I was both excited and skeptical. Knowing Dreamworks' history of chugging out cash grabbing sequels made me a little anxious about whether this would turn into one of those. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case, but it still ended up falling short of the first one.

There's some good voice work from the cast and I enjoy Jay Baruchel's as Hiccup, even though I know a couple of people who can't stand his voice. He spends most of his time conversing with a character that doesn't talk back but you instantly buy the relationship between him and Toothless.

Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, and Craig Ferguson are about the only cast members who actually sound like Vikings and are fun to listen to whenever they get to interact with each other.

Djimon Hounsou and Kit Harrington were the standouts as the villain Drago and the dragon trapper Eret. They're new characters and are right away, easily memorable.

Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kirsten Wiig all return as the other dragon riders, but they are downplayed a lot in this and are mostly just there with little else to do. You could take them out of the movie and it wouldn't make much difference. It's a bit of a disappointment because they were fun amusing characters in the first and were a great contrast to Hiccup. America Ferrara gets to do a little bit more than the others and at least served a purpose.

The movie goes for a darker tone then the first one and is an admirable idea, but there is never anything really funny to break up the seriousness. There are a couple of cute moments in the background with the dragons but that's about it. Snoutlout and Fishlegs competing over Ruffnut gets old fast and felt like it came out of nowhere, but it does manage to have a somewhat humorous conclusion.

SPOILER WARNING (unless you saw the trailer that is). The reveal that the mysterious dragon rider is Hiccup's mother shouldn't have been given away in the trailer. If they had left it to be revealed for the first time in the film then that would have been huge and a great moment. Not really film ending, but a disappointing choice on the studio's part, especially since the director was going for an Empire Strikes Back feel for this film. END SPOILER.

Another big disappointment I had, was the 3D (I saw both Dragon movies in RealD 3D). While the first one had lots of amazing flight scenes that made you feel like you were flying right alongside Toothless and the other dragons, the 3D here never felt as engrossing. There's a decent scene towards the beginning, but it always cut away just as it was starting to pull me in. If you see this, the 3D is a pass.

There are a few good moments, like a song between a pair of characters that are reconnecting and a pretty sweet battle preceding the finale fight. Toothless is still an amazing character and the animators do a fantastic job of bringing him to life despite him never saying a word.

It's not as horrendous as say the Madagascar or Shrek sequels and I will still see the third one when it comes out, I will just be less excited for it. Without much humor and the fact that it drags terribly (I was surprised when I got out that is was less than two hours when it felt like three) I'm not sure kids will enjoy this one, much less their parents. I'd say it's a rental if you are a Dragon fan.

6 Reels Out of 10.

"Drago Bludvist is a mad man!".

"I'll bloody HIS fist with my FACE if he tries to take my dragon!".