Several of us ICRT Movie Crew (TM) members managed to snag tickets to the Taiwan sneak preview of Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon 2, and I’m pleased to be able to offer you this review before the movie becomes widely available! The main parts of this review will be spoiler-free, but there may be a bit of spoilery stuff near the end.

Obviously, this is a direct sequel to the wildly popular first movie, which introduced us to Hiccup, Toothless, and the other fine vikings and dragons of the village of Berk and its surroundings. Number 2 takes places five years after the events of the original, and we get to see Hiccup, Astrid, Stoick, and all the rest a little older and more mature (well, some of them at any rate). We start off seeing how the village and its inhabitants have changed over the past five years, as the humans have learned to live with their new dragon pets/pals. Of course, older, more experienced, and better equipped he may be, Hiccup is still Hiccup, and he soon finds himself trying to stop a threat that endangers his village, and both the human and dragons that live there.

Now, as a Dreamworks film, the animation quality is obviously top-notch. We saw it in 3D, which I feel is best used for completely computer-animated movies like this, where the technology can be used to best effect and really immerse you in the world of the movie. There was a slight hiccup (ha ha) with the 3D alignment near the beginning of the showing we saw, but whoever was manning the booth noticed it and fixed it fairly quickly.

I personally feel that one of the best things about the original How to Train Your Dragon was how expressive all the characters are, and number two keeps up this great tradition. Even from the beginning, you know exactly what emotions the humans, dragons, and even the sheep are experiencing at any given moment. The movie has many laughs in it without any of the humor feeling forced, another one of its strengths. But aside from the humor, there are also several touching moments that get the audience right in the feels. I freely admit that there were a few instances of manly sniffling at key points of the film.

The story was quite good. Like the first, at the heart of the film is a voyage of self-discovery, overcoming your doubts, and fighting for what you believe in. It sees character growth not just in Hiccup, but in Toothless as well. Not only that, the villain of the story also serves as a dark mirror to their experiences, so we see what they might have become. The sequel also follows its predecessor’s example in bookending the movie with repeated narration/lines/images, giving some continuity in storytelling between the two films.

But now let’s get to the most important part of the film: the dragons!

Toothless there has every right to be smug. The dragons in all their shapes, sizes, and coloration are once again the true stars of the show. As with every such sequel, we see new and fantastic dragon species throughout the film, but we don’t get the detailed introductions to the vast majority of them like we did in the first movie. That’s perfectly fine, it’s more than enough to see them, well…to see them being dragons! No matter what the human characters are doing at any given time, make sure you keep an eye on any dragons in the background, because they are always doing something dragon-y, and almost always in a very cute fashion.

SPOILER WARNING (Highlight to read)
My one real criticism with the movie was some lazy storytelling when it came to the villain and his backstory. Sure, his motivations are (kinda) explained, but his methods are just sort of hand-waved aside. Maybe he can cow individual normal dragons to obey his will, but how in the heck did he ever get a proto-alpha to listen to him?!
/END SPOILERS

All in all, this was an excellent movie, and may well be my favorite of the year thus far. I don’t think I’ve been so utterly delighted by a movie in a very long time!

Grade: A+