How to Train Your Dragon 2

Greatness finally comes to a Dreamworks sequel

We start off with Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) going through his usual thing. Riding Toothless, and trying to find more land across the globe. He has been distancing himself from the village and learning more of the world, trying to find more dragons and their secrets. He has also been trying to distance himself from his father/ Stoic the Vast (Gerard Butler), who has been on his case about becoming the new chief. One day while flying around with his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera) he gets caught in a trap laid by Eret (Kit Harrington) self proclaimed greatest dragon trapper in the world. Eret says that he is working for a man named Drago (Djimon Hounson) who is building a dragon army. Hiccup escapes going to warn his father, and his father batons down the hatches at the village. Hiccup goes off to try and deter the situation (thinking he can prevent war) only to be shut down by a mysterious rider who seems to know even more about dragons then he does. Hiccup soon learns that the mysterious rider is his mother that everyone thinks died from a dragon 20 years ago (no spoiler for that, it is in the trailer).

So the story line here was unbelievably good. I dare say even better then the first. At no point during this movie did I feel bored, and at no point did I want it to stop. The villain here is better than the first movie since the first movie was all about the dragons being villains, and this movie was all about the man. This movie has found a way to challenge the strangle hold Disney has on the animation market by lifting you up, tearing you down and sending your emotions on a roller coaster. I don't know what to say about the story line in particular that won't be a spoiler so I will talk about some of the best points of the story line, the characters, the weapons, and the dragons.

The characters in this seem to have more depth than in the first. In the first they seemed to be interchangeable set pieces, but in this they seem to have a little life. The twins are almost the same but the female twin has been getting a lot more attention since she seems to be the only female other than Astrid that is around the age of everyone else. She has been getting hit on by Snoutlout and Fishlegs since Astrid got taken by Hiccup, and seems to be getting over it. The two men hitting on her seem to be more set pieces then she is, and she seems to be the character spent the most time on. Her brother is another set piece, only having three of four lines in the movie. Astrid took a bit of a back seat on this in the romance department, in stead becoming more of a warrior. You barely know that her and Hiccup are together besides the fact they keep saying it, but that isn't a bad thing at all. I like the Valkyrie thing she is doing. Hiccup got a a lot more definition in his character, now being the most popular person in town he sets to run away from it. His mother is amazing, seeming like a feral "save the dragons" matriarch. Torn between her love of dragons and her love/missing family. She then breaks out as knowing she can have both, and the family welcomes her, being as patient as they can as she tries to get back into the lifestyle she once knew. The dad is the same, barely listens to Hiccup only thinking of what he wants, but somehow a little more considerate. The main character I liked in this (besides the mother) was the new villain. He is the crazy whaler type that found his own way of controlling dragons, the way he does is so creepy and amazing you need to see it to get the full effect.

Hiccup has a new weapon that seems like just another thing in the movie, but turns out to be almost as useful as the dragons themselves. It's is a sword he filled with gas from a dragon that coats the blade, and releases gas on it's own. You think it is just some flaming sward, but it is closer to a "Blade" style sword, with all of the tricks Hiccup comes up with for it. It shows you that Hiccup still has a flair for building things, and this might be one of his greatest inventions.

The dragons in this are the same, but seem more happy since they aren't being hunted by the village any more.  They are secondary characters, seeming like pet dogs at some points or other human at others. The design of them is still incredible, and now that Hiccup has been trying to find more of them you will see a whole lot more new designs. Like the alpha male, a cold ice blowing dragon: or Hiccup's mom's mount.

So the story line is awesome, but what about the voice acting? Every voice that you loved in the first is back in this and does just as amazing if not more so then they did before. That being said I am going to concentrate on the new voices. Cate Blanchett seems to bring some familiar tone to the voice of the mother, like you are hearing the voice of the queen of the forest from the LOTR franchise. Her voice penetrates, while soothes and seems to be the perfect fit for a mother, when she is scared or happy you can tell more in her character than most. Djimon Hounson has always been a good voice for either teachers or villains and the same can be said here. You can tell that he really gets the feeling of his character and gives other famous villain voices a run for there money (like Ron Perlman or Jeremy Irons). The last new boy in the bunch is Kit Harrington (of Game of Thrones fame and nothing else) this is the movie that makes up for him being in movies like "Pomeii." He is a far better voice actor then I could have imagined, and I love being pleasantly surprised by an actor like him.

If there was ever a competitor for animation this year against "The Lego Movie" this is is it. It seems a bit formulaic at points, but still drives home that great feeling you get when watching a cartoon. If you are looking for a more classic form movie to take the kids to that you will also enjoy, this is the movie to take them to. This is also the movie that you will be getting begged for from you kids for Christmas. Your kids will whine and pead with you for the DVD or Blu Ray of this, and you should ultimately give in to that whining. Not only will it be a gift for them, it will be gift for you to be able to watch this movie over and over again.

Final Verdict: Buy it This movie didn't surprise me that it was good, but it did surprise me that it was better then the first installment. I don't want to set your expectations high, but this movie was amazing. I could watch it fifty times and still not get bored with it.










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I am doing another section just for movies like this, but it is a spoiler section so...

Spoiler Warning!

The death scene.

I feel like animation like this is required to kill off a character to try and remain relevant to the monstrous body count Disney has racked up over the years. As if to challenge Disney, they killed off a parent, Stoic The Vast father to Hiccup. The scene in question is so powerful, it might have you reaching for the tissues, especially if you cried at the death of Mufasa. You end up liking Stoic and relating to him over both movies, but he does what any parent would do and takes a bullet (fireball) for his son. Toothless get's under the control of the Alpha dragon and is set to kill Hiccup, while his rider tried reasoning with him Stoic sees there is going to be no reasoning with the dragon under hypnosis, and saves his son from impending demise. As soon as he dies Toothless snaps out of it and can't really remember any part of what he did. Hiccup is obviously mad at him and yells while toothless flies away under Drago's command again. We get treated to a viking funeral with all the proper respects given.

Final Death Scene Verdict: Best I have seen in years