A fine, brave, funny and heartfelt sequel, fully worthy of its predecessor.

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2014)

Animated movies are not immune from the dread cinematic curse of sequelitis. Often, the desire to bring in bigger bucks at the box office results in the successive installments of a franchise fading into mediocrity. Of course, Pixar has bucked that trend with its quite spectacular Toy Story trilogy, in which each individual film stands proudly as one of the finest the medium has ever produced. But few other animation studios have managed to create sequels of comparable quality to their original big hits - until now. How To Train Your Dragon 2 is an unqualified delight, a sequel with just as much heart, ambition and sweeping emotion as its predecessor.
A few years after the adventures of the first film, the once anti-dragon Viking village of Berk is now fully integrated with dragons. Hiccup (voiced by Baruchel) explores the high seas with his trusty dragon companion Toothless, partly to avoid his dad Stoick's (Butler) constant attempts to mould him into Berk's next leader. In the course of his explorations, Hiccup stumbles upon the icy hideaway of a mysterious dragon-rider (Blanchett) - one who has spent years trying to keep the majestic beasts safe from the bloodthirsty Drago Bludvist (Hounsou) and his nefarious plans to build a dragon army.
Anyone who was charmed by the endlessly charming How To Train Your Dragon would approach this sequel with excitement - but also some apprehension. The first film was such a pleasant, perfect little surprise: something genuinely heartfelt, emotionally powerful and raucously funny - the kind of film we would, frankly, expect from Pixar and not from DreamWorks. It was anchored on a story at once full of innocence and depth, as a boy struggled to find his way and his voice in a world in which he doesn't belong. What story is there left to tell, one might worry, now that Hiccup has successfully bucked Viking tradition and settled more comfortably into his own skin?
Plenty, as it turns out. How To Train Your Dragon 2 takes as its premise the intriguing - and very realistic - notion that growing up is a process that never ends. People evolve, as the problems and possibilities in their lives do. Just because Hiccup and Toothless found a happy ending in the first film doesn't mean their lives will be perfect from here on out. Instead, it all gets increasingly complicated, as it tends to do when one gets older and the world more complex. As Hiccup tries to evade his political responsibilities, he's called upon to open up his heart again when he realises that the aforementioned dragon-rider is none other than his long-lost mother Valka (a plot twist revealed way in advance in trailers for the film).
This is actually where the film really triumphs: in allowing its characters to grow, age and mature, just as they would in real life, it unearths great insights about its characters and the human condition. There's Hiccup's relationship with his dad: much improved from years ago, but still based on Stoick never quite hearing what Hiccup has to say for himself. The almost heartbreakingly tender relationship between Hiccup and Valka is also masterfully developed: we realise that his affinity for dragons is what gave her her life's mission, which helps to soothe away much of the pain and loss stemming from her absence. Even Hiccup's ongoing love story with Astrid (Ferrera) is given room to breathe: we can easily see why they're still a great match, now that they're a few years older and no longer engaging in playground teasing and flirting.
At the heart of the film is also its brave, bold decision to tell a story that confronts the pain and tragedy of loss, head-on, with no fairy-tale happy ending as we've come to expect of all animated (and many Hollywood) films. In Valka and Stoick's reunion, you can see the years of misery that stretch between them, hardly scrubbed away by a bittersweet moment in which they share a song from their past. Later on in the film comes a moment of quite spectacular drama and tension, one that has the potential to break Hiccup in two, or to turn him against his best friend Toothless. It will shock audiences, and perhaps shatter them emotionally, but its bold, emotional truth is part of what makes How To Train Your Dragon 2 such a worthy successor in the franchise.
That's not to say the film is an exercise in melodramatic doom and gloom; it isn't. There's plenty of humour and sheer, unbridled joy to be found alongside its humanity - whether Hiccup is soaring through the clouds with Toothless by his side, or his buddies Snotlout (Hill) and Fishlegs (Mintz-Plasse) are vying stupidly for the affections of a largely unreceptive Ruffnut (Wiig). It's also, quite literally, a sight to behold: battle and aerial scenes, many with the heaving, swirling ocean as a backdrop, are gorgeously animated. It's easy to get the sense that this really is a full-fledged world, one that Hiccup and his audience are only just beginning to map out.
If there's anything that brings How To Train Your Dragon 2 down, it's the film's villain. Drago is a frustratingly two-dimensional character in an impressively three-dimensional world, one who snarls and stomps through his scenes with much menace but hardly any depth. It makes the final act of the film - packed as it is with action sequences and stand-offs - feel a little empty.
All in all, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a fantastic example of how a story - even one geared to appeal to children - can deepen, mature and grow. It's every bit as entertaining for the kids (Toothless remains the best animated pet-kitten/puppy/dragon hybrid ever), but also allows its audiences to experience fresh challenges, joys and heartbreaks with these characters we already know and are now given the opportunity to love all the more.