Review: How To Train Your Dragon 2
MILD SPOILERS
It took me some time to finally getting round to seeing How To Train Your Dragon but I finally did and found it to be a surprisingly great flick and probably the best film Dreamworks has made to date. Then I saw the sequel, and the bar was raised. Everything that made the original film so great is improved upon here to create a far more expansive and creative film that stands a big chance of being the best animated film of the year.
Set five years after the original, the Vikings of Berk have now welcomed the dragons into their lives and the two species co-exist peacefully, none more so than Hiccup and Toothless who spend their days experimenting with new ways to fly (Hiccup's lost leg doubles up as a steering device) and discovering new far off lands, much to the annoyance of Hiccup's father, Chief Stoic who wishes for his son to take his place as head of the clan.
On one adventure, Hiccup, Toothless and Astrid are captured by Dragon Trappers led by Eret, a famed Trapper under contract by a fierce warrior known as Drago Bludvist who claims to have control over all dragons. The three of them escape but when Hiccup tells his father about Drago Stoic immediately shuts down all dragon use, having dealt with Drago before and lost many friends as a result. With Stoic wanting to shut out the incoming invasion, the ever peace-keeping Hiccup rides out to try and reason with Drago, however he is instead captured by a third party, one who has been working tirelessly to free the dragons from Drago's command.
A woman named Valka. Hiccup's long-lost mother.
The family reunion is not to last as Drogo's plan soon becomes apparent and it's up to Hiccup and his friends to stop him before he destroys Berk once and for all.
It lacks the charm of the original story but makes up for it for sheer excitement and just how massive it is, not just in locations but in world-building, we see a far greater part of the world now and with new lands comes new dangers. There's more than a few surprises in store for this flick and it handles them all in a manner that doesn't talk down to kids or adults.
Characters were a lot of fun as well, both old and new, we did get a lot less of Hiccup's friends but they maintained their personalities from the first film, Twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut were as wild and dumb as ever although Ruffnut did have a couple admirers in the forms of cocky show-off Snotlout and cowardly but intelligent Fishlegs, both of whom vied for her affections.
Astrid, now Hiccup's girlfriend (and possible fiancée, the film didn't go into much detail but five years is a long time) is a lot warmer than before but still very much her own character. What worked about her was that she and Hiccup didn't spend a lot of time together, when they did you could tell they cared about each other but for a vast majority of the film they're in different parts of the story, allowing them to exist as separate characters. She's as tough as before and now with her own personal dragon she's practically unstoppable, not taking shit from anyone but not forgetting to have a laugh now and then either.
Gerard Butler returns as Stoic and likewise he's not as confrontational as before but he's still got his moments where he has to pull rank to hold back Hiccup. You can see he's only doing it for his son's best interests but often he leaves out vital details, mistakenly believing that his word is enough to hold back Hiccup. When he's reunited with Valka though something changes, no longer does dragons, war or his weak son bother him, he's reunited with his love and we see a different side to the - ironically enough - stoic chief that helps flesh him out as a character. Butler even gets to use his Phantom Of The Opera chords at one point.
Once again Stoic is teamed with Gobber, the eccentric and outlandish blacksmith. As before Gobber is as hilarious and as loyal as ever and stands out as one of the best characters of the film, helped immensely by Craig Ferguson's comic timing and surprising emotional depth during later scenes. Plus he's given a small line that hints that he's the village gay, it's just a small thing but a nice little addition to his character.
New character Valka (voiced by Cate Blanchet) is a fine addition to the team, a reclusive woman having lived amongst the dragons for twenty years, too scared and too ashamed to return home. Her reunion with her son and realisation that they share the same goal gives her a second chance to be a mother again, she's knows she's done wrong by her family but the thought of losing them again is too hard to handle and she tries to make things right, to great success. I feel like we've only scratched the surface on what Valka can do, especially with dragons since her way with them and ability to perform elaborate tricks and stunts is all incredible to watch but you get the feelings there's a lot more in store with her.
Two other new characters to the series are the villains, Drago and Eret voiced by Djimon Hounson and Jon Snow respectively. Eret has more to do since he goes through a change of heart when he's betrayed, never losing the feel of being a cocky son-of-a-bitch his talents as a Trapper will come in handy later on. Drago is the main villain, and as far as bad guys go what he lacks in interest he makes up for in threat, his master plan isn't all that original (world domination) but his means of doing so are, building a dragon army, asserting his dominance over the Alpha Dragon in order to control it, it's a new method and it helps that the character is just so threatening, scared to hell, with a metal arm and a growling voice, you believe that he's as mean as they say he is. I do wish he had more to do but he's a pretty good bad guy for this film.
And finally there was Hiccup and Toothless, after five years together they've formed a strong friendship that relies on trust and instinct and teamwork. Toothless is just as loveable as ever, his dopey nature is matched only by his ferocity, he can be a bundle of mischief at times but don't fuck with him cause he's deadly as hell, as evidenced in this film to some horrendous effect. Hiccup, once again voiced by Jay Barrachul, is a different person though, he's a lot braver than he was before and while he's not all that strong he is very smart and uses that to his advantage. With his father wanting him to take his place as Chief Hiccup has to question if he's ready or not, he doesn't feel like a leader but knows it's his right to take the throne. Struggling with who he is isn't helped by the arrival of Drogo as it forces Hiccup to deal with a human enemy for the first time, where last time the problems was dragons and he soon realised they could be tamed, Drogo cannot be and for a pacifist like Hiccup he has to learn that sometimes the hardest choice is the right one.
Like I said before the film improves upon the first film in nearly every way, it may lack the same charm but it makes up for it by including some harder emotions and a deeper level of excitement. After missing my opportunity with the last film I saw this one in 3D and it was worth it, nothing popped out but the added dimension allowed the dragon flights to feel all the more impressive, it enhanced the film without overtaking it and made the set-pieces so much more elaborate. This is particularly true of the action sequences as a 3rd dimension helped to expand them and make them feel so much bigger, a key scene about 2/3rds through the film when Drago's army attacks Valka's fortress and you end up with this huge battle royale between two titanic dragons amidst the fire and the fury of the battle around them, without the 3D it's an already fantastic spectacle with plenty of creative uses of dragons and traps but with the 3D it gives an extra layer that makes it feel that much bigger overall, making an large fight, fuckin enormous.
It helps of course that the animation mirrors the increased level of excitement, not only being some truly elaborate and often massive segments with some huge amounts of action happening on screen but just in a sense of how incredible the whole thing looks, the added amount of different lands and locations made for some gorgeous looking scenery, from the hill-shaped valleys and crevices that make up the island of Berk to the icy cool blue of Valka's ice fortress that gives with to reveal a lush, tropical paradise, the colours and creative shaping of the film helped the feeling of expansion and a much larger world. This went to the dragons themselves as well with a metric fuck-ton of new species each with their own unique trait and appearance, you can tell that in the five years since the last film the Vikings have been discovering no dragon types and new uses for each of them.
The surprising level of emotional moments helped put this film above the original as well as it helped make the film appeal to a much broader audience, to give an example, when Stoic and Valka have a little song and dance that they use to share in their younger days it's a sweet little scene as you watch these two fall in love all over again, hell even just their reunion is a much softer and more sombre scene than you would've expected with the usually gruff Stoic brought speechless by the return of his once lost-love. There's more than a few moments like that in this film and some hit pretty hard but it works because the film handles them with great care and attention so that it always fits where the story is going.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 is one of those sequels that gets it right, it builds upon the original film but remains its own beast, the story is bigger as the world around the Vikings opens up around them, inviting new dragons and new locations for them to enjoy, the characters are all great with Stoic and Valka being two standouts in both the old and the new (plus the ever endearing Toothless) and the whole film just adds more of what made the first film great, more excitement, more emotions, more colours, more creativity, more dragons. It's a bloody great film and definitely one to watch, particularly if you're a fan of the first cause this knocks it out the park.
9/10