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Continuing on with this latest trilogy, we get to the chapter where most usually peak. Will this follow suit? You’ll find out soon enough. It does have one thing in common with most other middle chapters in trilogies: This one does go bigger and darker, and so the stakes do get even higher. One thing it probably doesn’t: This one happens to also be animated, and that is How to Train Your Dragon 2.
The story picks up five years after the events of the first movie. Hiccup and his friends are now young adults, and all seems to be peaceful in their village of Berk ever since Hiccup brought the townsfolk and the dragons together.
That is, until they come across a group of dragon trappers working for a psychopathic warlord named Drago Bludvist, who seeks to use his army of dragons to conquer the world.
Along the way, they encounter another dragon rider, who may have ties to Hiccup’s past.
What Worked: The voice acting continues to be top notch here, with new cast members giving great performances and returning cast members expanding their characters’ developments from the first movie.
For example, Jay Baruchel’s performance as Hiccup transitions flawlessly from the awkward teenager in the first movie to a more mature young adult in this movie. He retains the good heart and determination to try to avoid violence whenever possible, but there are some moments this time around where it can only go so far, and others where taking the pacifist approach is either not enough to overcome the current predicament or just not an option. He really does begin to feel the pressure of having to make harder decisions in life.
Gerard Butler is still excellent as Stoick the Vast, Hiccup’s father, who wants his son to succeed him as the chieftain of Berk, even though he doesn’t feel ready for that level of responsibility.
Much like in the first movie, they have very heartfelt moments in this one and there’s one in particular in the second half that’s genuinely emotional for both of them.
This one does have humorous scenes in between the drama. Craig Ferguson is still hilarious as the voice of Gobber, Stoick’s lieutenant. He has great comedic timing, an example being during that emotional moment with Hiccup and Stoick.
Hiccup’s friends also provide enough humor to lighten the mood, and they have moments that stand out because they’re on their own, and they prove more than capable of handling themselves.
The one that stands out the most of all of them, and probably gets the most development, is of course Astrid, voiced again by America Ferrera. She has gone from being Hiccup’s crush who didn’t really like him at first but gradually came to respect him more over the course of the first movie to Hiccup’s girlfriend in this one. She remains a strong female character here, with the same traits from before (tough, determined, skilled in combat) carrying over, and loyalty can now be added to the list.
As with the first movie, the best character here is Toothless. His relationship with Hiccup has grown even more. Because Hiccup is more experienced in flying, he’s enhanced the gear for both of them, like a wingsuit that allows him the freedom to fly alongside Toothless rather than always having to be on him. However, there are some scenes with them that are among the most emotional ones in the movie.
There are three new additions to the cast, but I can really only talk about two of them in regards to their characters, as the third one, at this time in my coverage of the trilogy, may be considered a spoiler.
The first one I can talk about is Kit Harington (who a lot of people will know from Game of Thrones) as Eret, leader of the dragon trappers. He’s really good in this movie, and his character is awesome. Eret’s narrative arc is very satisfying, too.
The other one is Djimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist. He plays a lot of villains, but while he’s really good at it, this might be his best one to date. He is very angry for something that happened in the past, and he is also very ruthless as a result of it. However, when you see what happened, you completely understand why. Unlike most of his other villain roles where anger is mainly part of the character’s personality to show that they mean business, it’s a key trait of the character. He really leaves an impact as a villain because aside from the rage that an actor like him can channel into their characters very well, there’s one thing that he brings to Drago that you don’t really see in those other villains: a sense of pain.
Speaking of pain, this movie has a lot of emotional moments, not just for the characters as mentioned earlier, but in terms of the story. The first movie had mostly heartfelt moments, but that was due to a more lighthearted tone. This one also has a few of them, but since the stakes are even higher this time around, the tone has to be even deeper for the emotional moments to be more impactful. It doesn’t just go deeper, but there are some scenes that are really dark.
The shift in tone makes sense, though, because it matches the progression of character development: They are now more mature, and so the tone has to be more serious. This is also evident in John Powell’s score, which is still fantastic. It conveys excitement or intensity depending on the tone during the action sequences, deepens when the story gets dark and somber, or softens for the lighthearted moments.
It’s not just the tone that gets bigger. Some of the dragons they add here are huge. The biggest one by far is known as the Bewilderbeast, also referred to as the Alpha. If you thought the Red Death from the first movie was big, that’s the dragon equivalent of a T-Rex by comparison. The Bewilderbeast, on the other hand, is so enormous it might be the dragon equivalent of Godzilla. There might even be a parallel or two to the King of the Monsters himself*.
I have two big positives with this one. The first is the animation. It’s been improved in every way from the already phenomenal animation in the first movie. You can especially tell in the new designs of the main characters and the looks of the dragons, like with the new flight gear that Hiccup uses to ride Toothless, as well as his friends and their dragons.
The other big positive is that the scale and the world building are both expanded upon here, which makes the story of the series very satisfying so far.
Overall: How to Train Your Dragon 2 is everything a sequel should be: bigger, better, and darker. The stakes are even higher, and there are some very emotional moments. It all culminates in a bittersweet ending to where you feel like what you just witnessed was rough to watch, and yet still glad that you got to see this story continue. Much like how the first movie left you wanting to see more, this movie leaves you wanting to see how it concludes.
*You’ll know them when you see them.