HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 Is Even Better Than The First

Wow. I didn’t go into How To Train Your Dragon 2 expecting my world to be rocked, but… it sort of did. I enjoyed the first How To Train Your Dragon, I even read the first book (won the series in a giveaway, courtesy ofRantingDragon.com) – after which I came to the conclusion the books are great for 10 year olds, but less so for 20+ year olds. The movie already did better in that aspect, and it was enjoyable, but it was still very much a kids movie.

The Dragon Riders

In part 2, however, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his friends have grown up. The guys all have a hint of beard on their cheeks and are busier with checking out the girls than with their dragons. And that’s because on the island of Berk, keeping dragons has become the norm. All the Vikings of Berk now live together with the dragons harmoniously – they are their caretakers, friends and mutual protectors. The movie opens to set the mood in a terrific way: we meet Hiccup’s friends (and former bullies) in the middle of a dragon race. Hiccup and his dragon Toothless are nowhere to be found. His dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), the clan chief of Berk, wonders if it’s because he mentioned to Hiccup that he wants him to become the clan chief soon…

While the race wraps up, we finally get to see Hiccup and Toothless, though they’re far away from Berk. Hiccup too has grown up – he looks like a perfectly clumsy teenager – except, riding on Toothless, he’s far from clumsy – he’s become a great dragon rider. We also find out he built a flying suit for himself, and together, they rise and fall and soar through the skies. To get away from Berk and his incessant dad, they’ve taken to exploring the undiscovered territories around Berk.

Soon, he stumbles upon a huge, spiky, frozen structure. Not only that: he finds dragon trappers, who are especially enamored with Hiccup’s rare Nightfury. We find out the trappers have been taking dragons to grow the army of Drago (Djimon Hounsou), who is bent on conquest, and uses dragons to achieve it. In the hour and a half that follows, Hiccup, his friends and their dragons have to find a way to stop Drago, who has enslaved some extremely impressive and powerful dragons.

Amazing… Everything

I’m always critical of movies, and even if a movie’s good, I know to mention one or two or three elements that I liked less, or not at all. It’s extremely rare I love a movie – but I can honestly say I loved How To Train Your Dragon 2. This review might be a bit on the dull side – I’m just going to list all the things I liked about it. If that bores you, just go see the movie! 😉 Here we go!

The Script and Story.

The script of this animated movie is so tight. Major credits to Dean DeBlois, who took Cressida Cowell’s books and turned it into a story for all ages. The movie is funny (especially so in its social commentary, often expressed by character Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig), who’s just plain hilarious), it’s cute, it’ll break your heart and it will make you cry (trust me, I rarely cry over movies and I did – and even my 29-year-old (male) +1 did), it will make you bite your nails and make your heart fill with joy. It’s quite an emotional roller coaster, and a well-paced one at that. Truly, the writing is remarkable. 

The Characters and Dragons.

I really liked how they developed the overly cute/annoying kids from the first movie into funny, (not annoyingly) heroic, relatable teenagers. The relationships between the characters feel real and the emotion expressed between the characters is very touching. Furthermore, the dragons are terrific. They’re likened to dogs and cats – just regular pets, and despite their fire-breathing and flying capabilities, they’re treated just like that by their Viking owners. Toothless is just like a cuddly cat, but he’s also very cool, endearing and courageous. If I didn’t already have a cat that was enough of a handful on his own, I’d want one.

The Animation.

Holy crap! The dragons! The skies and views! The colors! The details and textures! The Vikings and their costumes! It’s all a lot to take in – it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. It may the best animation I’ve seen to date – the amount of attention paid to detail and is very impressive. Berk and its surrounding territories are incredibly well-developed, and every element feels well thought-through. The animation is beautiful and awe-inspiring, especially so on the big screen.

The Music.

John Powell, famous for composing the scores for many animated movies (among them Rio, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Happy Feet), truly outdid himself. His music punctuates every scene perfectly. Furthermore, in this interview with Time (note, spoilers there), he suggests that with the characters maturing, he wanted to make the music sound more mature as well – a commendable sentiment. He succeeded, in my opinion.

His music is almost always influenced by the cultures the movies are inspired by, a very sensible thing to do, especially for movies like Rio and Kung Fu Panda, which were inspired by respectively Brazil and China. For How To Train Your Dragon 2, he made use of Highland bagpipes, which he said he wanted to use because “they were the only instruments [he] knew of were used to inspire fear on battlefields”. The scenes that are scored with the bagpipes are the darkest, most tense and emotional scenes. One note, however: factually, the Norse weren’t known to play bagpipes – they relied more on fiddles, harps and flutes. Nevertheless, the music strongly befits the atmosphere and environment, and it’s a job well done.

The One Flaw… Maybe?

I couldn’t think of anything I didn’t like about this movie, but after some discussing with my +1, we concluded that the only thing we liked less was the character of Hiccup’s mom, Valka. She’s voiced by Cate Blanchett and she does an excellent job at conveying the character, who’s also introduced as cool and mysterious, Valka unfortunately does end up to be a cliche. She seemed manic and much like a crazed tree hugger (though she prefers dragons), and that bugged. Nevertheless, they probably wanted her to be an oddball on purpose – after all spoiler alert she spent over ten years alone, among the dragons. That must drive you at least a little crazy, I guess. …There, I’ve even convinced myself that even though she’s annoying, they still showed quality writing exactly by making her a bit kooky.

What can I say, I just really liked this movie! I won’t even pretend to be objective about it. Here it is, my review, in all its subjectivity.

To Conclude

Honestly, if you’re one of those people that dislikes animated movies purely because they’re animated, I say: poo to you – you’re missing out on some really good films. Already, Pixar established that animated movies aren’t necessarily pulp made exclusively for kids, and Dreamworks just underscores it again with How To Train Your Dragon 2. They can be thoroughly enjoyable even for adults, perhaps even more so because we actually understand all the puns and parody.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a lot of fun. You’ll be amazed at the graphics, the story, the dragons, and you will probably end up shedding a tear, maybe even two, even if it’s just during the final act when Hiccup and Toothless stand up against some truly formidable creatures that put Godzilla to shame… I can genuinely recommend watching How To Train Your Dragon 2. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Finally, How To Train Your Dragon 3 has already been announced for 2016, and Dean DeBlois will direct and write again. I can’t wait. In the beginning of part 2 it’s hinted at that the Vikings want to find a companion for Toothless, who’s supposedly the last surviving member of the Nightfuries. Who knows if perhaps they’ll find another Nightfury in part 3?

Fair warning

If you want to take your kids to see How To Train Your Dragon 2, I’m not sure if you should take your youngest. The movie’s very intense – especially in the action department, and the dragons can be quite scary. The youngest kids (I estimate around 3 years old) present at the screening I attended weren’t all too happy at some points. It’s up to you, of course; after all, it’s been rated PG.

Will you be seeing How To Train Your Dragon 2? What do you think of animated movies – do you like them in general, or not?

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