Day 21 - 01/21/2019

  Sequels are infamous for being inferior to their predecessors. Studios tend to take advantage on the success of the first episode to make some easy money out of an already established franchise. Fortunately, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the opposite of that. Following the story where they last stopped at with Hiccup and Toothless, the crew of dragons shows a beautiful world on air and a completely new challenge. 

​

  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless (Randy Thom) adventure together away from the dragon-friendly island of Berk. Together, they find a whole new world of wild dragons, mysterious dragon riders and humans that take advantage of these creatures the once anti-dragons Berk citizens used to be. Soon, Hiccup's desire to reconcile peace with these antagonist and close-minded foes speak louder than his wish get justice for the dragons, making his task harder than it looks as he's the only one that unravel the war that's about to start. 

 

  How to Train Your Dragon 2 is entertaining by many factors, one of them being between the classic clash between two antagonists, one more radical than the other, where the more pacifist is forced to protect oneself. When untangling the secrets of his family, the story gets even more involving and appealing to all audiences. The moments of love coming from the relatives are comforting and the dragon-loving humans make every dragon scene feel like a regular day with the common family and their pet. The subtleties of most characters are on point and even without much screen time, each one of them are easily comprehensible and quite empathetic. 

​

  The final war scene is undeniably the biggest letdown. With over 20 minutes of battles that are not pleasing or innovating, the film has one sleeper moment that doesn't really have much impact to the plot's progression. Taking lessons from successful war scenes, many coming from the fantasy genre such as Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, it is clearly visible how slow buildup and war strategies are two of the main factors that come into play. Unfortunately, How to Train Your Dragon 2 has none of those. To wrap up the criticism, Drago, similar to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Kingpin, is a big tough man with unreasonable desires and questionable motivations that are only revealed towards the very end is underwhelming to say the least, as Dean DeBlois clearly wants to make a cold and insensitive villain.

​

  As a matter of fact, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a set in the right direction. It adds up to the first installment and at the same time brings a freshness to the story. With all this in mind, 7.4 out of 10 stones seems fitting for this dragon tale.