The first How to Train your Dragon was fantastic, a pleasant surprise that charmed everyone and stood way above the rest of Dreamworks’ films; it was funny without lazily referencing pop culture, the soundtrack and gorgeous animation (especially in the flying scenes) were about as good as spectacle gets in films, and the plot was unabashedly heart-warming (without being mawkish) and perfectly constructed (the ending just gets me). It had the quality that Pixar is renowned for (without showing off), but was still appealing to kids.
So 5 years after uniting Vikings and dragons Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) discovers an island home to thousands of dragons, and must protect them and his home Berk from the scary Drogo, who is building a dragon army. He meets his long lost mother, played by Cate Blanchett doing a really strange accent (vaguely Celtic) who’s been looking after Dragon Island.
It’s really more of the same; lots of flying around on dragons, laughs from the supporting characters’ squabbles (Jonah Hill’s Snotlout and Chirstopher Mintz-Plasse’s Fishlegs getting lots of the best lines), a lovely relationship between a boy and his cat-like dragon, and a huge war at the end with massive dragon dogfights. It does go slightly darker though, as do lots of sequels. Hiccup has to confront his past, deal with loss, and betrayal. The bad guy Drago (Djimon Hounsou) is very scary, as are his dragons, and he wants to take over the world, so there’s more at stake this time.
In the screening I saw there were about ten kids in the cinema and twice as many adults (most of them accompanying children, a few on their own). Most of the laughs I heard came from the adults; the film didn’t reference things that would go over children’s heads like Shrek, but much of the humour comes from relationships and dialogue rather than slapstick and farts. One of the best scenes in the film shows Astrid (America Ferrera) mocking Hiccup. Weirdly, it all goes a bit Judd Apatow and you feel like it’s really mocking Jay Baruchel; she’s poking fun at how he talks and moves. It’s a lovely moment showing how close and comfortable the young couple are, but it does feel strange. Maybe I’ve just seen too many Judd Apatow films and find it hard to think about Jay Baruchel outside of the lovable stoner context. It gets away with it though; there's plenty of childish humour; I went with a nine year old though, who loved it.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 has most of what made the first film great, and to say it’s not as good as the first is doing it a disservice. It’s still gorgeous, funny and not afraid to make you feel things.
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