Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon 2

I have to be honest. When you compare Pixar to Dreamworks, they have a lot of differences. But one thing that I do notice, is that the sequels that Dreamworks make, tend to fair better than the Pixar ones with the exception of the Toy Story ones. That's because that for the most part, those sequels come from some of Dreamworks more successful films like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda and while Dreamworks like to milk franchises in a similar fashion to how Disney does it, its always (well for the most part) for the right reasons and reasons that make sense to a lot of us. Now you all know that the first film in this series which many can just simply call "Dragons" as opposed to using the whole name, was one of my all time favourite films and with such a film like that which is better being seen in 3D, a lot of pressure was put into making its sequel that we get today. But if Dreamworks succeeded with Kung Fu Panda, then I'm sure they have no problem here. Let's take a look:

So the film takes place about 5 years after the first one where Berk is now home to both dragons and Vikings (who both used to be enemies). Dragon racing has become the next big thing and as all the youngsters from the first film partake in it (all showing signs of maturity and actually look more grown up than before), the chief Stoick the Vast (reprised by King Leonidas himself, Gerald Butler) wonders where his son Hiccup (reprised by one of many actors who I often see as being the actor who plays a nerd in all or most of their films, Jay Baruchel) is. Hiccup, having been the one responsible for how Berk is today, rides on his dragon Toothless to find new areas explore and dragons as well. Hiccup has been pressed by his father to become his successor as Berk's chieftain, however Hiccup remains unsure about this responsibility. Along his travels, he meets up with his girlfriend Astrid (reprised by Ugly Betty herself, America Ferrera) and the two come across an ice formation where they meet a dragon trapper. This trapper tells them that a man by the name of Drago (voiced by Djimon Hounsou) who wants to create a dragon army and basically as most villains like to do, take over the world. Its down to Hiccup to determine the fate of his allies, friends and his and their dragons while also meeting someone who he hasn't seen since he was a baby.

So I said that the first one was a great film which in turn would make a sequel to be very hard to succeed and in all honesty, its a great film. As any sequel should do, it manages to build upon what the last film had by adding a vast open world to explore, new and well designed dragons, the younger characters showing signs of maturity and a great story to go with it. The acting despite being a CGI film, is great and you do see true emotion in the characters which is very rarely seen in some CGI films, but that's OK. Is it better than the first? Hell, freaking yes it is. This is how a sequel should work. It should build upon what made the first great while also bringing new things to the table and this film has all that as opposed to say Transformers. Oh and try and see this in 3D because its worth being seen in 3D. Trust me. 10/10