Review of How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) by A T — 26 Aug 2015

I remember seeing the original in theatres and liking it, but 5 years later wonder, why? I think the biggest problem with the sequel (despite the clear amount of effort thrown in) is the time gap, I can't remember at all what happened in the last movie so much so that now probably a lot of in jokes and continuity seems lost.

Regardless, the movie strikes a nice tone between the dark and comical elements (I mean how many kids movies have the balls to still kill off main characters these days?). It's much darker than the first, although less focused in meaning.

Call me cynical, but I feel the villain straight forward as a man named Drago seemed kind of generic and predictable (I was possibly hoping maybe the mom attacked in retaliation for not believing her about dragons, not sure why I was expecting something that dark but maybe I'm just thinking the plot twist is too predictable (Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Dark Knight Rises, etc.

)). Still a lot of the CGI fights are fun if sort of generic. In a way, I'd compare this to Brave but I'm not sure why one has a higher RT score.