How to Train Your Dragon 2

Man oh man...

It might be one tight Oscar race for animated films this year. For starters, I think there are some strong ones down the pipeline.

But more importantly, we already have The LEGO Movie and now we have How To Train Your Dragon 2. I personally know which one I would choose (although I admit it's a fairly narrow margin), but I'll be interested to see which way the Oscars lean.

In recent years, the Oscars' Best Animated Feature award has often gone to Pixar films without much of a contest, and for good reason. But ever since Brave stole the crown in a completely inappropriate upset over Wreck-it Ralph a couple years ago, it's been clear that Pixar wasn't putting out the quality that they used to. Disney Animation Studios was where all the gems were coming from and it seemed like they might be the new kings.

Fast forward to 2014 and Disney is still riding on Frozen's win/box office obliteration, but haven't had a hand in either of the awesome animated films so far this year. DreamWorks has often been like the slower younger sibling to Pixar...always putting out films that were one step behind of whatever Pixar put out that year. They've certainly given us some iconic franchises (that they subsequently milked to death) with Shrek and Ice Age, but there is a certain reverence to How To Train Your Dragon which I recently watched for the first time and loved. It's animation was technologically brilliant, it's characters instantly memorable, and it's story was mature. As much as DreamWorks has driven their other franchises into the ground, it's clear that HTTYD holds a special place (at least for now) given that it took four years for a sequel. They wanted to take their time, get it right, and try to match the quality of the original.

They very easily succeeded.

Game of Thrones don't have s**t on these dragons!

*Dragons in images may be bigger than they
appear*

Many animated sequels feel like they are stretching for stories that aren't there and often try to expand the world in a way that either fails miserably, that the audience doesn't care about, or a combination of both. Magically, as if it's not even trying, HTTYD2 accomplishes this within its first 10 minutes. Immediately you are sucked back into this highly imaginative world like you never left. Granted I just saw the first film, but it was remarkable at how well and swiftly the film establishes itself as a completely separate story from the first one. It's less a direct sequel and more of a standalone film set in the same world with the same characters. Not to say that the events from the first one didn't impact this one because they absolutely do, but much like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were entirely separate films, so to are these movie pairs. Except trade bats for dragons.

Once again, the animation is borderline jaw-dropping and there were more than a few times where a certain reflection or behavior of a character's hair was eerily lifelike. Clearly the characters are cartoonish, with big heads, over pronounced features, etc, but they still look real as hell. The movie is absolutely gorgeous when it's on the back of dragons. Distant vistas might as well be real life stills, clouds look better than the real thing, and the sense of motion is nothing short of magical. Every once in a while I speak about movie magic and HTTYD2 serves it up in doses whenever we are following Hiccup and Toothless through the sky. Gives me chills just remembering it.

This. This is the face of death!

HTTYD2 also succeeds in regards to its story, specifically its ability to craft one that we connect to and that is emotional. This is complimented by the superb original score (probably the best of the year so far) and soundtrack, along with the writing, and the producers' choice to not hold back on some of the more mature elements. Of course I won't give anything away, but there are aspects to the film that aren't only for kids.

Unfortunately, many of the pitfalls of the first film are left unaddressed in this one, which affects my final score slightly more than I would have liked. The story, while fantastically told, is a bit clichéd and I think that overall it's pretty predictable. Many of the side characters (other than Hiccup, Toothless, Stoick, and Valka) are pretty useless other than for comedic relief. The villain, voiced by Djimon Hounsou) was also disappointing except for the times where he went crazy. He was built up so much in the beginning that I felt his cruelty/evilness was underdeveloped. Also, going back to my point about comedic relief, which is probably my biggest issue with the film, is that there simply isn't any. Whereas I laugh my head off in other animated features (including this year's LEGO Movie), I maybe only laughed once in HTTYD2 and that was at something that Toothless did. The side characters and jokes they are given are repetitive, but worse, they aren't funny in the first place. It really puts a damper on the movie when you're really into an action scene and some lame quip intended for laughs comes along without so much as a chuckle. But ultimately, these are somewhat minor complaints and really all they do is hold the movie back from being perfect. But at this rate, I'm sure that DreamWorks is happy with "close to perfect".

One of the better scenes of the year thus far

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is an example, that ALL of Hollywood should take note on, of what happens when some love and care, but most importantly, TIME, is put into making a worthwhile sequel. Rather than cranking out sequel after sequel, each suffering from declining quality, DreamWorks respected the property that they had and only made a sequel when they knew it could fly higher than the first and it ended up paying off in spades with regards to the quality of the film.

Much like its characters soaring, twirling, and dancing through the sunny clouds, so to does How to Train Your Dragon 2 right into the limited annals of animated sequels that were better than their predecessors.

CONS:

• Attempts at humor are unsuccessful. Almost painfully so
• From a big picture perspective, the story is clichéd and predictable
• The side cast is just as useless as they were in the first film
• Hounsou's villain isn't as evil/ruthless as we are initially led to believe

PROS:

• Some of the most gorgeous animation I have ever seen. Pixar, take note. The bar has been raised
• The scenes in the clouds or when we are on the backs of dragons are true movie magic. For a child, they will become lifelong memories
• Fittingly expands the universe and stands alone as its own film while telling a worthwhile story. This is largely how sequels should be made
• Much like the first film, HTTYD2 doesn't shy away from some of the more mature elements. For as clichéd as the story is, it is told VERY well
• Great action sequences
• There is a reason that some of the characters are our favorites. Toothless and Hiccup in particular are iconic. There is great chemistry there and Jay Baruchel has really made Hiccup his own character
• All of the other voice actors do a superb job, Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett especially
• There is an epic feeling of scope to this sequel that was somewhat lacking in the first film. There is real purpose here
• Fantastic original score and soundtrack that truly capture the moods of the moment
• One hell of a fun time at the theaters

Rath's Review Score: 9/10