'How to Train Your Dragon 2' - Review

Riding high on the universal success of its predecessor, How to Train Your Dragon 2 continues the story of young Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless. Set five years since the Viking town of Berk made peace with their former foes – a swarm of dragons – Hiccup is faced with inheriting the mantle of chief from his father Stoick (Gerard Butler) and escapes into the wilderness, but soon finds himself at the centre of an approaching conflict between a mysterious Dragon Rider (Cate Blanchett) and warlord Drago (Djimon Hounsou).

The first thing to grab your attention during the film is the extraordinary animation. In a time when 3D animation flicks are churned out en masse – usually aimed at kids whom the studios believe are easily entertained – it is a wonderful breath of fresh air to see something so meticulously detailed and lovingly crafted. To those of us that were once amazed at being able to see each of Sully’s individual hairs in Monsters Inc., the work that has gone into this film has taken things to a whole other level, and I think you’d have to be very cynical to find it anything but beautiful. 

But a great film is nothing without great characters, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 has that in droves: the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless evolves well, with both now committed to protect each other no matter the cost, Hiccup having matured greatly from the bumbling nobody of the previous film, and the dragon providing enough charm to fill three whole human characters. Stoick and Gobber (Craig Ferguson) still carry a bickering but dependent relationship with each other, and greater attention has been paid to the role of female characters, notably the twists that emerge from Cat Blanchett as the mysterious newcomer, and Hiccup’s partner Astrid, who feels less of a hanger-on in this film and is given a lot more to do. 

The film romps along at a great pace, delivering impressive action sequences but also taking its time to develop characters, and dish out a fair share of set pieces which carry real emotional depth that will have you grinning from ear-to-ear one moment, and then reducing you to tears the next. Those of you – like me – who never expected anything to match the beautiful moment in the first film where Hiccup finally reaches out to Toothless will be proven wrong in the best possible way. Much like the first film, a great deal of the emotional weight is carried by returning composer John Powell’s rich and unashamedly fanfare-heavy score.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is probably best seen as an antidote to Transformers: Age of Extinction. It is a film which has great big battles between gigantic evil monsters but instead of just throwing things at the screen, it takes time to flesh-out characters, to make the audience care about what happens to them and earns the right to end with a bombastic, adrenaline charged finale that (despite feeling a little rushed and jumbled) leads to a satisfying conclusion. It is a dragon-breathed fireball of pure-spirited adventure, and delivers on everything a great sequel should.

4.5 stars