How to Train Your Dragon 2: A Review (Spoiler Alert)

Last night, in an attempt to preserve what little is left of my social life with most of my friends gone for the summer break, I rounded up a few people and we all went to go watch the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon. All in all, it was a wildly successful night, as the movie was FANTASTIC and we also learned that marshmallows are some of the best treats you can bring to a movie theater. Combined with popcorn and something cool to drink, if you stuff as much as you can in your face before the movie starts, you are so pumped up! when the movie starts. It was rad.

However, not only were the company and the snacks top notch, but the movie was pretty good overall. If I used a rating system (which would be highly subjective and full of flaws as I am but a human being and not an algorithm [although those are created by humans and also subject to humans flaws and biases]) I would give it a 4/5 stars.

And now, this would be the part where those of you who do not wish to read spoilers of the movie (which I recognize and have therefore put in warnings for you darling people) would want to leave. Please come back and read the rest of this, if you would. I would greatly appreciate that. Thanks so much. You're fantastic. I hope you enjoy the movie when you get around to seeing it. Bye!

And now, for those of you who've either already seen the movie or don't care about spoilers, let's get down to business. (To defeat the Huns!)

HTTYD2 was a coming-of-age-ish? sequel to the original Dreamworks movie that aired a few years back. The original was fantastic, so when I heard that they were planning on making a sequel, I was both thrilled and slightly worried (my usual response to sequels to great movies). However, this did not disappoint.

First off, and I feel this deserves a good mention, the movie has dragons. It's about dragons. Several of the main characters are dragons. I, personally, LOVE dragons and think that everything can be improved with a judicious application of dragons. This, however, was one movie where I didn't sit back and think... "You know what could make this 1000 times cooler? DRAGONS." I had dragons flying around to my heart's content. Another thing I really liked was that there wasn't any particular type of dragon, but that they were varied in shape and size and color and had as much as an individual personality as they could afford to give them. (Now, if only Hollywood could put that same amount of effort in with the people in its movies, life would be great. Look, if you can do it with dragons, you can do it with people.)

Another thing that Dreamworks does really well is tell a good story, and that's what this movie did. It told a wonderfully compelling story of a young adult using his dragon not for war, like you'd think most Vikings would, but for peace. We need more stories about peace-keepers, human and dragon, and this was a good one. Hiccup is one of my favorite characters not just for his wry dialogue, but for his strength of character, and he didn't disappoint. There weren't any major plotholes that left me questioning or losing my suspended disbelief during the movie, and even the magic system put in place by the first movie stayed consistent during this second movie, even while being expanded and showing us that things are different now.

Now, for my favorite parts of movies: the relationships between characters. One thing that I really liked about the movie was that the focus was not on Hiccup's romantic relationship with Astrid (although it clearly existed and there was a strong bond between them), but on Hiccup's relationship with his not-quite-so-dead-mother and his father. We find out that Hiccup inherited many of his peculiarities from his mother, which allowed to a quick relationship to form between them, and the scene where Stoick and Valka are reunited and finally reconciled is sweet and charming. When Hiccup finally takes his place as the leader of the clan, we can see that the relationship between him and the people he's responsible for will be a good one. And lastly, the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is one that, while tested, never waivers.

BUT, every great movie has its flaws. One of the biggest (and most disappointing) is the lack of detail that was drawn to minor characters during this movie. While in the first movie, Hiccup's friends, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut were so well developed, with distinctive personalities separate from each other. But in this movie, to me at least, it felt like they were just reduced for caricatures of their personalities and tropes added on. Astrid is still was awesome and skilled as she was years ago, but that's almost overshadowed by the fact that she's Hiccup's girlfriend and betrothed. Ruffnut, the only other girl not currently in a relationship, is the focus of a love triangle between Snotlout and Fishlegs, who do more and more ridiculous things in a futile attempt to get her attention, while her attention is focused on the new boy, Eret. And while it makes sense, as you always want the main focus to be on the main characters, these characters played such an integral role in the last movie, it's sad to feel like they're underutilized.

Another (major) problem I had with this movie is that it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. There are only three female characters in this movie, but two out of the three of them are pretty close and could conceivably have a conversation that doesn't revolve around a male. However, none of the three girls (Valka, Astrid, and Ruffnut) actually interact with each other one on one throughout the whole course of the movie. Which is a little confusing, as Valka being suddenly not dead would seem a good chance to have a conversation. But it doesn't happen, and that's sad, and easily preventable. Surely the franchise that can create such great stories and characters can have some of them interact in a manner outside of the men they are surrounded by? This, more than the minor character thing, is what prevents this movie from getting five stars (from my highly subjective rating system).

So, there you have it. My review of How to Train Your Dragon 2. I hope you enjoyed it, and that you go and watch it, because it's definitely a great movie worth watching. Oh, and while you're watching, pay attention to Hiccup's hair. Near the beginning, Astrid absently braids a few tiny braids into his hair, and they stay there the whole movie. It's kind of super cute.