How to Train Your Dragon 2 Revisited or: A Sequel that Succeeds on Multiple Levels and Exceeds the Original in Certain Areas (Film Analysis)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was a very anticipated film for me back in the summer of 2014.  I went so far as to avoid all trailers and spoilers so as not to sully the experience, including avoiding looking at McDonald's cartons that had pictures of what Hiccup and friends looked like as young adults.  Sounds crazy, definitely kind of crazy, but that's just how hyped and determined I was to see this film with a fresh mind.  I had seen and loved the first film and watched both seasons of its TV series DreamWorks Dragons that had aired at the time.  This wasn't just a sequel to a previous film for me, but rather a continuation of a story I had become genuinely invested in.

Note: This is my second review of How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Here's my original review from 2015, written back when the film first released.

At the time, the original review was the longest I'd ever written.  My opening paragraph boldly claimed that How to Train Your Dragon 2 succeeded in being better in every way to the original; "with rich animation, fantastic pacing, wonderful music, a beautifully animated world with a life of its own, and a new, mature story to back it all up!"  I stand by many of these statements.  The film certainly has rich, gorgeous visuals brought to life in the most breathtaking of ways, builds upon the previous soundtrack in a new, delightful manner and contains a new, mature story to back it all up.  Yet hype has a way of making one blind to the overarching faults and missteps a story can have.

Revisiting the film all these years later—back to back after the original without the rose-colored glasses on—and How to Train Your Dragon 2’s more glaring issues became apparent.  Irrelevant characters, contrived story elements, and a very generic, forgettable villain are the highlight faults within the film.  The first film has its faults as well, yet the faults in the sequel are more numerous and disruptive.  That said, How to Train Your Dragon 2 still remains a great film and magnificent work of animation, just maybe not as much as I originally hyped it to be.

Five years have passed, and a lot has changed since the first film’s events.  Dragons and Vikings now live in (relative) complete harmony on Berk.  Instead of fighting dragons, the Berk Vikings now ride them and play a sporting activity called Dragon Racing—though contrary to its name, it does not involve racing but rather catching sheep and throwing them into wooden holes to get points (with the participants and cheering onlookers all wearing colorful face paint).  Their leader, Stoick the Vast, has made a complete one-eighty for the dragons—embracing them as their own kin and getting zealously into cheering the Dragon Racers, enthusiastically cheering Astrid while calling her his future daughter in law.  The village has adapted to the dragons’s incorporation, building a giant housing for them with a cave-like interior and custom stables, feeding stations across Berk, and even fire prevention precautions for the accidental sneeze that burns a house.  Gobber has even switched from being a weapons blacksmith to a saddle builder and dragon dentist, making saddles and metal teeth for both Vikings and their dragon companions.

Hiccup, the bringer of such harmony, is not around to participate in the sporting event—rather, he’s off with his loyal dragon Toothless exploring the world outside of Berk.  It's here the film shows off its first, big flying experience.  The animation has taken an incredible leap in quality since the original, beautifully showcased as Toothless and Hiccup soar through the clouds spinning rapidly as one with the air and wind.  The growth these two have experienced is showcased when Hiccup purposefully detaches and drops off of Toothless, reminiscent to their near-death experience in the first film’s Test Drive scene.  Yet Hiccup’s been advancing in his inventors and reveals a pair of base-jumping wings, allowing him to glide in the air along with Toothless who fires small firebolts underneath Hiccup—letting the heat push the Viking upward.  It’s all magical for Hiccup until the clouds clear and those pesky giant rock pillars spring out of nowhere—Toothless, fortunately, coming to his rescue last second, avoiding injury.

The soundtrack playing here is Jónsi's Where No One Goes, a beautiful song with lyrics that I find past 2014 me gushes about ideally: “Where No One Goes is a lovely song, perfectly encompassing the tone of the How to Train Your Dragon series.  It captures the feeling of the film’s majestic flying scenes; the feeling of freedom, of soaring through the clouds and skies.  The song’s Nordic tone fits ideally with the film’s Viking setting, even incorporating pieces of the previous film’s soundtrack (namely Test Drive which, in itself, is an amazing masterpiece of music).  It’s a beautiful piece of music, fitting for a beautiful scene in an overall beautiful movie.”

The pair are mapping out the world—explorers discovering new things, new dragons, and new lands while being free and happy.  Yet not all is fun and games, such as when dragon trappers show up and steal Astrid's dragon—though Hiccup’s deadpan sense of humor definitely makes it more fun than it could be; “Just give us back our dragon and we'll go, Strange-Hostile-Person-Whom-We've-Never-Met.”  This strange hostile person is named Eret (Kit Harington), who is trapping and delivering dragons to the film's main antagonist Drago Bludvist (Djimon Hounsou).

The award for most irrelevant character and waste of filler in a How to Train Your Dragon film goes to Eret.  Even hyped-up me five years ago noted how pointless this character was and how he ends up taking away from other previously established characters that could have used additional development and/or screen time.  This characters entire character arc, that's right, he gets an arc, is simply a retread of the original film’s themes—guy traps dragons, viewing them as beasts, ends up getting saved by one, sees the beauty and goodness within them, teams up with dragons to help fight the big bad.  Now, there is a point to Eret’s character—to showcase Hiccup’s ability to sway people to his peaceful mindset.  Yet this point is highly unnecessary to emphasize seeing as Hiccup's already displayed such ability in the first film.

And then there's Drago.  I compare him to Mickey Rourke's all-too-forgettable character in Iron Man 2.  He’s not as bad as Ivan Vanko, but merely comparing them as similar should show my unfavorable impression of the antagonist.  He doesn't start off this way, however, actually having some rather effective buildup thanks to Stoick’s past history with him:

Stoick: Years ago, there was a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. Into our midst came a stranger from a strange land, covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin. He carried no weapon and spoke softly, saying that he, Drago Bludvist, was a man of the people, devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. He claimed that he alone could control the dragons and he alone could keep us safe, if we chose to bow down and follow him.

The group laughs

Stoick: Aye. We laughed, too... Until he wrapped himself in his cloak and cried out, "Then see how well you do without me!".  The rooftop suddenly burst into flames, and from it, armored dragons descended, burning the hall to the ground. I… was the only one to escape.

Stoick’s descriptors of soft-spoken and weaponless conjures the imagery of a sinister, intimidating being capable of striking fear and terror through their presence alone and what destruction it brings—someone that can match Hiccup in taming ability and intelligence yet uses it for nefarious purposes.  Yet when Drago actually makes his formal appearance, there is no menace or intimidation enveloping him—only a loud, angry man with a knack for being stereotypically dastardly and almost comically cliché.  There's a scene where Drago gives Hiccup this big speech about his motives and goal to liberate the world of the dragon menace; “You see, I know what it is to live in fear. To see my village burned, my family taken. But even as a boy, left with nothing, I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons and liberate the people of this world.”  Yet Hiccup immediately calls him out on this bull****, and Drago immediately drops all pretense and admits he's right:

Hiccup: Then why a dragon army?

Drago: Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons.

Hiccup: Or maybe you need dragons to conquer people. To control those who follow you... and to get rid of those who won’t.

Drago: (Laughs) Clever boy.

With no signs of charisma or a single charm bone in his body, it’s baffling how exactly Drago amassed such a dragon army.  Given his large physical bulk, I can understand intimidating men under his control, but dragons?  Particularly the monstrously large and powerful Bewilderbeast, who rivals, if not surpasses the Red Death in size, strength, and ability—having the ability to fire a powerful burst of ice from its mouth and hypnotize dragons to obey it.  How exactly a crude barbarian like Drago could tame such a beast, let alone gain its absolute loyalty…well, it just doesn’t add up aside from contrived plot convenience.

Drago, at least, does lead to some interesting ideas, such as putting Hiccup’s pacifistic ideology to the test.  Hiccup becomes determined that he can change Drago’s mind—reason with him, show how wonderful dragons are and that they can all live in peace and harmony together.  The approach makes sense from Hiccup’s standpoint—after all, his ideology has effectively worked on Berk for the better.  Yet Stoick disagrees with Hiccup's idea, displaying great wisdom and experience that seemed lacking in the first film; “Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with.”

Stoick may be a stubborn man, but his heart is in the right place—meaning Hiccup’s reasonable beliefs were bound to get through to him eventually.  Drago, on the other hand, is a cruel and malicious person—one only seeking self-betterment by gaining power and control over others.  The scenario flips their previous dynamic from the first film in a refreshing manner, giving Stoick his time to shine as a great leader while displaying Hiccup’s room for further growth and experience.  Hiccup, unfortunately, learns the hard way that his father is correct—very unfortunately, but I'll get to that later.

The film’s major sub-plot involves Hiccup coming across a mysterious dragon shaman he mistakes as Drago, who turns out to be his long-lost mother Valka (though it would have been very interesting if Drago was a codename for Hiccup’s mother, who could have been a complex, well-intentioned extremist fighting for dragon rights by trying to destroy the "bad" humans—thereby conflicting with Hiccups harmonious ideas.  Feels like a big missed opportunity).  Valka is pretty much the Viking equivalent of a hippie, having been against fighting the dragons and ultimately left the village to be with them, believing Stoick could not change. 

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is by far one of the best-looking animated features of the decade, with absolutely stunning visuals and animation.  It's clear that a ton of effort was placed into making this film as gorgeous eye candy as it could possibly be.  I cannot gush enough about how magnificent this film looks.  Take the scene where Hiccup is surrounded by a bunch of dragons under the protection of Valka's own Bewilderbeast.  Hiccup shows off some advanced taming techniques by pulling out a sword that ignites on fire using stored gas from a Zippleback—then spread the remaining gas around and creating flame circles from the chemical reaction.  The light show mesmerizes the creatures and the audience, pacifying them as his mother watches in the background.  Valka then shows off her own skills, using various rattles inside a hooked cane to orchestrate the dragons to ignite their mouth in flames without actually firing.  The flames start off a bright blue glow before becoming fiery red, creating an ominous, yet mystical vibe to the meeting.

Valka then brings Hiccup and Toothless to her Bewilderbeast’s lair where a spectacle of hundreds of different dragons are seen flying through the air in this gorgeous landscape that looks like a preserved time zone of prehistoric times with its plants and vegetation.  There are so many different elements to look at within every frame, particularly the multitude of unique dragons soring around in this utopia.  The film treats the audience to another visually gorgeous flight sequence as Hiccup and Valka travel with the dragon heard to go fishing.  The Bewilderbeast appears from under the sea, spewing out hundreds of fish into the air for the dragons to catch.  It's a great bonding scene between Hiccup and his mother, and a beautiful one at that.  In an area with a powerful upward gust, Valka playfully jumps from gliding dragon to dragon much to Hiccup’s amazement.  The music playing during this sequence is called Flying with Mother and it has this wondrous sound to it—a wintery, Scandinavian atmosphere ideally fitting with the scene’s wonderous, icy scenery.

Oh, and then there are the battle sequences.  When Drago comes attacking, looking to take over all the dragons Valka has been protecting, it leads to a massive-scale, epic battle between his forces and Valka, Hiccup, and Stoick’s side.  This is something out of a Lord of the Rings type movie—armies amounting for battle, boas firing, dragons diving in firing blasts,  a kaiju-style battle between Drago’s Alpha Bewilderbeast and Valka’s, Astrid and the other younger Vikings surprise attacking Drago’s troops, Drago vs Valka and Stoick, etc.  There’s an insane amount of effort placed into this battle sequence and it is phenomenal.

It does, however, lead to what I would consider one of the darker moments in an animated film aimed at families and younger audiences.  Drago's Alpha ends up defeating and killing Valka’s Alpha, taking control of all the dragons including Toothless, who is commanded to go and kill Hiccup.  What follows is an incredibly dark scene where Stoick gets killed by Toothless while defending Hiccup, causing Hiccup to lash out in irrational despair at Toothless for something the poor dragon had no control over.  

What makes the scene so twisted is having the protagonist's loyal, friendly, lovable companion, as well as the mascot of the series, murder the protagonist’s beloved father.  It’s like if Pikachu was shown killing Ash’s mom—it’s just really twisted and messed up.  To the film’s credit, it does handle the situation well, with Hiccup getting a pep talk from Valka and going to snap Toothless out of the Bewilderbeast’s control.  It’s a very potent scene that, for a moment, almost makes it seem like Drago is about to become an interesting character:

Drago: He is not yours anymore. He belongs to the Alpha! But, please, oh great Dragon Master, try to take him. He will not miss a second time.

Hiccup: It wasn't your fault, bud. They made you do it. You’d never hurt him. You’d never hurt me!

(Hiccup puts his hand on Toothless's snout. His eyes widen and narrow as he mentally struggles against the Alpha.)

Drago: (Fascinated) How are you doing that?

Hiccup: Please. You are my best friend, bud.

Toothless appears to almost break free, but the Alpha concentrates harder and Toothless's eyes narrow again.

Hiccup: My best friend.

Toothless breaks from the Alpha's control. His eyes widen and he smiles at Hiccup, whimpering happily

Hiccup: Atta boy, that's it! I'm here!

The film concludes with another epic battle between Hiccup and Toothless vs Drago and the Bewilderbeast.  Hiccup comes to realize that he can't solve everything with pacifism and knows that he must fight this battle to save his village.  Using strategy and ingenuity the duo is able to get the upper hand on Drago and the Alpha, yet it's still not enough as they get encased in an icy blast.  Yet in probably one of the most amusingly anime sequences of the series, Toothless—for better terms of the word—uses his love for Hiccup to evolve Pokémon-style into his Mega Form and challenges the Bewilderbeast for control as the Alpha.  Toothless viciously and ferociously blasts the far larger dragon in the face with bolts of blue fire—the force breaking the Bewilderbeast’s spell on the other dragons who join Toothless in an epic barrage of attacks that breaks off one of its tusks and drives it back into the sea dragging Drago with him.  Toothless ends up becoming the dragon herd’s Alpha and Hiccup accepts and takes over his father’s role as chief of the village.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 succeeds on multiple levels and even exceeds the original in certain areas.  At the same time, it finds fault with its main antagonist, some contrived story elements, and its pacing regarding unnecessary filler.  It succeeds beautifully in a massive jump in animation and an explosion of visuals.  The sound takes from the original and gives it its own unique wintery spin.  It also expands the How to Train Your Dragon series with new advancements, character development, and world-building.  The sequel does not try to surpass the original in innovation and novelty but seeks to build upon its predecessor’s strengths that both complements and effectively progresses the story.  I’ve seen Hidden World and while I enjoyed it, it felt a huge step down in quality compared to the first two.  Its animation is largely the same as 2’s (a lower budget most likely from the slightly underwhelming ticket sales of 2) though it lacks in jaw-dropping visuals pieces.  It recycles a lot of the series's previously told stories and introduces a main antagonist that’s both more interesting than the previous two yet also somehow more stock villainous and bland.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a more satisfying conclusion to the series, and remains one of the best animated, and non-animated films of the decade.