Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If, like me, you liked (or more like me, absolutely loved) the first film, then you're not going to be disappointed by How to Train Your Dragon 2. Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who co-directed and co-wrote the first film and also gave us Lilo & Stitch), this film if anything actually raises the very high bar set by the first film. The same creative team is behind it and they've matched and at times even surpassed themselves. The animation is superb and even more textured this time around, and the 3D - which was dazzling in the first - is even more breath-taking in the flying sequences. I am not in general a big fan of 3D because so many films do such a poor job of it, but both HTTYD films show just how much can be done with 3D when you have people who really understand its potential and know how to use it doing the film. Five years have passed since we last saw Berk, and all of our characters are five years older (though not in some cases five years wiser). The film opens with what has become the new big sport in Berk - dragon racing (which visually is something of a cross between Hogwarts Quidditch and the chariot race from Ben Hur, except with Vikings). Astrid (America Ferrera) is just as fiercely kick-ass competitive as ever as she and her dragon Stormfly vie with Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and the twins Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (T.J. Miller) over live sheep that are used as game balls. Stoic the Vast(Gerard Butler) and Gobber (Craig Ferguson) cheer them on along with the rest of the village, but Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is nowhere to be seen. As always, Hiccup is marching (or dragon-riding anyway, with Toothless) to a different drummer, obsessed with exploring and mapping everything that lies beyond the known frontiers of Berk. New seas, new islands, new lands. Always wanting to go further out. Especially with Stoic increasingly breathing down his neck about assuming his responsibilities as the clan chief heir-apparent, something Hiccup is very ambivalent about. On one of these exploratory jaunts, Hiccup discovers a mystery. Or rather several mysteries. Species of dragons that he's never seen before, strange frozen formations of ice that are clearly not natural, and a mysterious dragon-rider whom he quickly realizes vastly surpasses him in both mastery and knowledge of dragons. If you've seen the trailers, then you know exactly who this is. More than that I will not say though as that's a lot of the story that unfolds. But you can't have a story without conflict, and the new characters bring the conflict on. Drago Bludvist (Djimon Hounsou), a rival chieftain and ruthless enslaver of dragons, bent on conquest, presents the bigger threat, at least to the Vikings of Berk and their beloved dragons. But a dragon trapper named Eret (Kit Harington - GoT!) presents an additional threat as far as Snotlout and Fishlegs are concerned. Apparently Berk is short on women in their age demographic, and with Astrid and Hiccup clearly a couple, that leaves only Ruffnut for Snotlout and Fishlegs to fight over and she's clearly not thrilled by either of them. But when the riders confront Eret to find out what Drago is up to, suddenly Ruffnut is very, _very_ interested in this new possibility, much to Snotlout and Fishlegs' chagrin. And then there's Valka (Cate Blanchett), the mysterious dragon rider Hiccup encounters who has some unfinished business with Stoic. And with Hiccup. It's the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless though that gives the film both its center and its heart. A lot of the best scenes are simply watching these two interact and seeing how the bond formed in the first film has only deepened over time. A bond, it turns out, that is soon to be deeply tested. And I love the way the animators bring out Toothless's personality, from playful and petulant to curious and courageous. And more interestingly, how they use Toothless's expressions and physicality to show just how much he understands not only Hiccup but humans in general. On a side note, I also loved the way the animators gave each of the main characters their own physicality, bringing out personality differences in body language, in how they move, even in how they ride their dragons, making each pairing subtly unique. But their most remarkable achievement, at least among the human characters, is Valka. Before she even speaks, simply the way she _moves_ about - at once both graceful and feral - shouts that this is a person who has spent a _lot_ of time around dragons, probably more even than she's spent around humans. In addition to the returning actors and creative team, HTTYD2 has the same people returning for the music. John Powell, whose original score for the first film has become one of my absolute favorites (it's also great for working out to, BTW), did the score here as well and did a superb job, adding new themes that reflect the new situations, and Jónsi of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós once again did the songs. Highly, highly recommended, for anyone who loved the first film, for fans of animation and 3D in general, and for anyone who just feels like having a rollicking fun time.