How to Train Your Dragon 2 (****)
Directed
by: Dean DeBlois
Starring
(voices): Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig
Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig,
Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington
Seen:
June 21st 2014
****
Out of ****
Being
a massive fan of 2010’s first How to Train Your Dragon movie, I approached the
sequel with the requisite trepidation, as we all know that sequels rarely
measure up to their predecessors. Just earlier this year the sequel to Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs showed us just that; I really enjoyed the first one,
but the sequel, while serviceable, managed to reduce the entire franchise to
something… less. And who can forget what the sequels to Shrek did to the
original’s reputation? Well, I am happy to say that not only is How to Train Your
Dragon 2 a fantastic movie, it also makes the series better, much like Toy
Story’s sequels did. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is fantastic, and it improves
on its already great predecessor in every way. The two Dragon movies have now
eclipsed Monsters Inc. and its sequel as my personal favourite animated movies.
Five years
after the events of the first movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2 starts with a
new Berk. The Vikings now live and coexist with dragons, and a main pastime now
is dragon races and a life of leisure. Stoick the Vast (Butler) is still chief,
but is grooming his son Hiccup (Baruchel) as successor. Hiccup is happy to fly
around with Toothless, his dragon and best friend, exploring and mapping out the
region’s islands. Astrid (Ferrera), Hiccup’s girlfriend, joins him on his
adventures when she isn’t busy in the dragon races, and one sunny day they spot
a distant cloud of smoke. On arrival, they find the remnants of a fort destroyed
by an enormous ice formation, and some of its survivors, dragon trappers, led
by Eret (Harington). Eret blames them and their dragons for the destruction of
their fort and tries to capture Toothless and Astrid’s dragon to take them to
his boss, Drago Bludvist (Hounsou). Hiccup and Astrid manage to escape, and
they return to Berk to warn Stoick, who, when he hears mention of Drago’s name
and his intention of building a dragon army, orders a complete lockdown of
Berk, with no-one allowed in or out of the town, human or dragon.
Hiccup
and Astrid escape Berk, as Hiccup believes he can talk sense into Drago and
convince him that dragons aren’t crazy killing monsters. They capture Eret to
take them to Drago, but Stoick and Gobber (Ferguson) find them and try to stop
them, Stoick knowing that Drago is an absolute madman who will not listen to
reason. Hiccup is an idealist however, and continues on his quest, leaving
everyone behind. En route he encounters a mysterious dragon rider, Valka
(Blanchett), who captures him but then turns out to be an important character
from Hiccup’s past. Valka has been saving dragons from trappers for years,
taking them to her fortress of ice where a gigantic alpha dragon lives and where
all other dragons can be safe and free. Hiccup gets to know Valka better while Astrid
and more Berkians are captured and taken to Drago. Drago hears about this
dragon utopia and heads out to conquer it, and with this, the scene is set for
a great battle for Hiccup and Toothless, Valka and her alpha Bewilderbeast, and
many more as Drago descend in force. And what a battle we are treated with.
Visually
How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a massive step up from the first movie, as even a
small detail such as Stoick’s mustache and beard shows. The battle and action
scenes are truly breath-taking and the story is fantastic as family and
friendship are celebrated. The movie is somewhat darker than the previous one, which
parallels such famous trilogy middle parts as Batman’s The Dark Knight and Star
Wars’ The Empire Strikes Back. It’s still an animated kids movie however, so it
doesn’t end on such a dark and hopeless point, but to me it felt that young children
might perhaps not get so much out of this one as they did from the first one.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 is an absolute triumph, and while the first movie
was fantastic, this one is even more so.
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