How to Train Your Dragon 2

This review may contain spoilers!

This film was a beautifully crafted piece of cinema with an unfortunate tendency to fall flat when it came to good storytelling. I would give How to Train Your Dragon 2 a 7/10.

This is one of the best looking animated films this year, the detail in this animation is so immaculate that it becomes hauntingly real. I also had a distinctive love for the music in this film, which really was quite beautiful and managed to stray from a stereotypical animated film score. The main plot of this film was brilliant to watch, and you became very immersed in the different factions that were created from this story telling.

Jay Baruchel, who voiced Hiccup, did a wonderful job revisiting this character; basically this is the character Baruchel was born for and I'll be sad to see him confined to minor roles and comedy films when this franchise ends. America Ferrera, who voiced Astrid, matched Baruchel's performance and then some, you don't get a lot of female protagonists that are depicted this well in animated films and it's brilliant to see a character as strong and ambitious as Astrid. Djimon Hounsou, who voiced Drago, gave a great performance, the sheer malice of this character was staggering and, while porrly written in places, Hounsou gave him such presence that I found myself enjoying this particular villain.

I have to give two favourite performances for this film because really you can't have one without the other, this movie was dominated by the characters of Stoick and Valka, voiced by Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett respectively. There is a whole new side to Stoick in this film, he still has a strong dominant force over Hiccup but he becomes this sweet gentle family man as the film progresses. Valka on the other hand is eccentric and wild, she's incredibly thrilling and has a brilliant backstory. I don't mind admitting that the reunion of these two characters was a tearful one and one of the best scenes of the film.

I have to say this entire film, while it had a good central plot, lacked a lot of good detail and had some terrible pacing. The entire first act of the film was very slow and a lot of character interaction and backstory. Furthermore the love conflict between Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Eret was just a waste of time and only served to make the film longer as the subplot itself was ultimately dismissed at the end of the film. Drago's backstory is only touched upon and isn't really explored, though this is forgivable if a third film will go into this some more. The death of Stoick is rather redundant as the separation between Hiccup and Toothless is only temporary and no one really mourns him for long. The viking themed death has become a plot device layered stereotype recently and it's boring, no more setting boats on fire with arrows please! Ultimately Hiccup doesn't change much as a character except for the fact he decides to be the chief of his village, basically he only obeys his father's wishes after his father dies. The entire second act of the film is very reminscent of the Lion King and it didn't feel very original but rather a desperate bid to pull on the heartstrings further when it wasn't necessary.

Craig Ferguson, who voiced Gobber, was constantly ruined just as he was getting good, he'd have wonderful quotes that were constantly ruined with a deadpan joke. Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig, who voiced Snotlout, Fishlegs and Ruffnut, were all a part of the love conflict and I think the film would have been better without them. T.J. Miller, who voiced Tuffnut, had very little screen presence and really did not need to be included in the main cast. Kit Harrington, who voiced Eret, had a great debut that was tainted when he got caught in the love conflict, then was set up to be a big redeeming hero only that never really happened; finally the film ended on Hiccup giving Stoick's dragon to Eret which was one of the worst plot points of the film.