After the success of Shrek, moving on to Madagascar, and the Kung Fu Panda series, Dreamworks Animation release another hit, with 2010’s How To Train Your Dragon; a brilliant, original, family film following a young boy who befriends a dragon; and whilst it can be difficult to provide a follow-up to such a successful family film, Dreamworks have done an excellent job; as How To Train Your Dragon 2 is every bit as good as the first movie.
Revisiting the world of Hiccup and the Vikings he shares his hometown of Berk with, How To Train Your Dragon 2 picks up the action five years after the events of the first movie (where everyone has gone from fearing and fighting dragons to embracing them as part of their culture, and living alongside their winged companions), and given the Vikings new found ability for flight seeks to fully expand their world by taking them to new places, and meeting new friends and, of course, new enemies.
Friends come in the form of a host of new dragons, and another seasoned dragon-rider (who, it turns out, has plenty of ties to Berk), whilst enemies come in the form of dragon trappers, and the man they work for; a vile, and rather typical, evil warlord named Drago Bludvist, who’s intent of trapping every dragon he can find in order to expand his dragon army, and conquer anyone who opposes him.
The story is simple enough (we’ve got dragons, the bad man wants our dragons, lets stop him), but somehow, in family-film terms, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is an epic; every second of its 1 hour 42 minute runtime is well utilised, the scale and scope of the film feels much bigger than most animated movies would dare attempt, and while Berk doesn’t really feel that vulnerable (even during a Berk-based battle), the whole movie is fraught with a sense of danger and foreboding that comes from the unknown, and actually makes you feel like these kids have something to fight for (especially when a major character gets hurt in a way you really don’t expect).
It all adds to the expansion of the world, and the ageing of Hiccup and the people of Berk; because while the innocent, playful, getting to know your dragon, stuff from the first film may have disappeared from this movie, what we’ve got is an organic world which has grown in realtime, successfully aged the characters (in both looks and actions, even if Hiccup and his friends are still a little bit childish for supposed 20-year-olds), and given us a darker, more intense film, which still maintains many of the endearing qualities of the original the camaraderie, the comedy, the setting, and the dragons, and will still be just as appealing to the young ones.
In terms of voice acting, Jay Baruchel (RoboCop) is still a touch grating as the whiny Hiccup (but undeniably suited to the role), Gerard Butler (Olympus Has Fallen) delivers another excellent turn as Hiccup’s Viking father Stoick the Vast, while Jonah Hill (22 Jump Street) and Craig Ferguson (Brave) also reprise their well-suited roles, and are joined by excellent newcomers Cate Blanchett (Robin Hood), Game of Thrones’ Kit Harrington, and Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator) as the voice of the tyrannical Drago.
Musically the score was a little off (it fit the world fine, but was far too reminiscent of Pixar’s Brave), the entire Viking culture seems just a little too Scottish, and there were scenes that looked liked they’d been screen-grabbed straight out of Avatar, but in the end these are all minor gripes, and in what’s essentially a children’s film, they really don’t do anything to harm the movie at all.
Delivering, tension, emotion, fun, some stunning animation (which is a world away from the first film), and essentially making a family-friendly epic, Dreamworks Animation have delivered everything you could want with How To Train Your Dragon 2; a successful expansion of the first film that was well written and directed by the returning Dean DeBlois, How To Train Your Dragon 2 does not disappoint, and is bound to be enjoyed by children, parents, and anyone who appreciates a well crafted animated movie.
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 was viewed in The Regent Cinema, Newtown.
