How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

To call it spectacular is too mild a word. This is perfection in every way. A lot more thrilling and exhilarating than the original. The animation is AMAZING. Definitely aimed at a more mature audience.

This movie is amazing just like the first! In my opinion the first is better but this is still awesome! I loved this movie and I don't think I could made it better! Just like the first this movie has good comedy, action, character depth and an amazing main character. The thing I love most about this movie is hiccup and toothless! Hiccup is such a funny character in the first movie but in this one not so much however he manages to make for this by having an even stronger bond with toothless! If u guys see this movie anywhere please do urself a favor and watch this phenomenal movie!

Respectable and good. Not fantastic and not horrible. This is sort of a middle kind of deal. I remember watching and enjoying the first one - this on the other hand just seemed like a reacting sort of sequel, which most likely means it was forced out due to the wildly successful first film. Frankly it seemed rushed in parts and has bad pacing. But good action.

What these two films have in common is that they are both DreamWorks Animation Sequels and both of them have darker content compared to the first installments and both have two plots, in which one is about family related and the other one is about stopping a central villain. The difference between those films however is that one of them managed to tell these plots right and that would be, Kung Fu Panda 2. This film starts with a short intro about the past of a character that becomes the main villain of the story, followed by a fight in a local village. From there Po gets a short vision about his past, with a vague image of his mother, by seeing a symbol carried by the evil leader, he asked his "father" about his past, but in the end Po learned nothing other that he is adopted. After that we see how Shen uses his secret weapon that can outmatch Kung Fu and both plots are settled in only 20 minutes of the film! Now in HTTYD 2 we have to wait 30 minutes before one of the plots comes in light(Hiccup's missing mother) and we have to wait another 15 minutes before they finally introduced the main villain. The only things we know before that is that Eret works for him and that this villain went once to Berk and killed plenty of Vikings there, because they didn't want to obey him, but why not intimidate those Berkians with his dragons like the way he intimidates them? Oh and apparently he also managed to control an alpha dragon. How he did this is beyond me, but most of all his motive to conquer other people. After one hour Drago explains why he needs to intimidate all these dragons by literally showing his lose, caused by dragons and his motive is therefore to force dragons to work for him? He does not kill them though(except for that alpha), he just uses them in his advantage to conquer other lands for no good reason actually, because his past is barely related to this. In short we got a villain with an illogical match between motive and past and that simply gives no satisfaction to Drago's character whatsoever.Now in KFP 2 the main villain is 'Shen' who is heir to the throne of Gongmen City. This makes it believable that this position makes him hungry for more power and his reason to destroy the Panda homelands(where also Po's parents lived), is that they were a thread to his plans to take over China, at least he heard this by a soothsayer. He also got banned. This is something I am willing to buy, I even have to say that this concept is pretty damn good! Not only we got a villain that is in every way understandable, they also managed to connect two plots in order to create a story that reaches far more deeper and more complex than HTTYD 2. Because yes, HTTYD 2 kept the two plots rather separate than connected, which is barely intriguing to watch. After 30 minutes Hiccup coincidentally found his mother Valka(really do love the voice of Cate Blanchett) and after they got to her hideout. She said that she only left in order to protect Hiccup, but against what? This is not even tied to Drago! Besides if she truly wanted to protect them then she would've taken every dragon away from Berk. She will safe therefore more villagers and more dragons, but that did not happen. The only reason why she left is because she disagrees about killing dragons, but that is nearly not good enough to disappear for good without even visiting the place. And another thing: Why is everyone okay with that Valka left for 20 years, if that is the only reason? Hiccup did not care at all, he was just surprised, Stoick sang together with Valka like nothing of that ever happened and the rest did not bother. Also why does Valka continuously act that she knows who Hiccup is after knowing him in about 2 days. Saying that being Chief is who Hiccup is, while the one thing that we know for sure in HTTYD is that Hiccup is an explorer rather than a leader. So why does Hiccup not name Astrid as Chief? She could've been a great leader, but in this film she is rather a tag-along than an independent character and that is not Astrid I knew from HTTYD. Speaking of characters, Stoick died during the battle and surprisingly Drago just left Hiccup and the rest unharmed after defeating them! Remember what Shen did after that battle scene on the boats when he defeated his foes? He would've finished the job, if it wasn't for 'inner peace'. Anyway after Stoick's funeral scene no one either speaks of him nor mentioned him again, they just got over it? Really emotional gripping, but it does not work. This is incredibly rushed and forced writing. In KFP 2 the story started very early with emotional investment with Po and his dad(Goose), that last through the entire film. So why didn't they start with a emotional gripping conversation between father and son that also last through the whole film? Ugh, so many questions, so few answers...In conclusion: What they did here in HTTYD 2 is telling both plots by a mysterious approach rather than a swift, dynamic approach which is typical in the KFP franchise. But therefore KFP 2 tells their both plots exactly right with a clear direction in where they are heading, along with improvement of certain characters especially Po, his father and Tigress. As for HTTYD 2 the beginning is far too slow in order to tell all there is with this approach and as a result we got a very rushed middle and end. Therefore both plots, which are barely connected, are told very poorly. A forgettable Sequel(5/10)