How to Train Your Dragon 2 2014
I was surprised how much I liked the the first movie, but somehow never watched the sequel. The Blu-ray was on a good sale and got even better reviews than the original, so I figured I would get it. It had been a while since I saw the first, so the details weren’t that fresh, but I knew the basics. The movie didn’t grab me at first as some kind of heavy material is introduced leading towards a big conflict. I should probably have trusted the story a little more and eventually everything pays off, but it stays pretty heavy throughout with only a few light touches from some of the side characters, plus some of the dog-like antics of the dragons.
The animation is very good. There is some amazing motion with lots of flying around, big battles, and the dragons themselves are pretty amazing (similar to Avatar, this might have looked great in 3D). I would have liked a little more character development, but the relationship of the characters and their dragons are shown pretty well. There are some big family moments that I thought were bold, but again done well. It is a shame that three years after this sequel, we are still waiting on the third part of the trilogy, though the movie has a pretty solid ending. It wasn’t until after I watched the movie and looked up some details that I saw it was intended as the second part of a trilogy. While the movie is still a little too heavy, it is still just as good as the first, so I will give it an A- as well.
Written: 24 Dec 2017
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital