A sequel that is as good as the original

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2017)

Five years have passed since the events of the first film and the people in the Viking village of Berk now live in peace with dragons. Hiccup has been told by his father that it is time for him to take over as village chief; however he doesn't feel ready. He wants to continue mapping undiscovered parts of the world with the help of his dragon Toothless. On one such flight they find a burnt village; it is a village of dragon catchers who are working for Drago Bludvist who wants them for his dragon army. His father tells him that Drago is a violent warlord who poses an imminent threat; Hiccup believes that he can talk to Drago and persuade him to live in peace. While trying to find Drago he encounters the mysterious 'Dragon Rider' who turns out to be someone surprisingly close to him that everybody thought had died years before. She lives with dragons in their vast, remote nest. Astrid and Hiccup's other friends try to help him find Drago but are captured and soon Drago is attacking the dragon nest with tragic consequences. He then sets off to attack Berk; Hiccup and his friends will have their toughest struggle yet if they are to keep the world safe for both humans and dragons.
I enjoyed the original 'How to Train Your Dragon' far more than I expected so was very pleased that this sequel managed to live up to the original. While watching the original probably isn't absolutely essential I think one should try to watch it before this as it introduces the key characters and their situation; this would probably lose a lot of its depth without that prior knowledge. I was not surprised to read that director Dean DeBlois was inspired by 'The Empire Strikes Back' as this film is considerably darker than the original, especially in the middle section where a major character is killed. There are some clichÃ©s but that didn't bother me to much as the story was good. As before the animation is top notch; the many flight sequences are particularly spectacular. As well as action and tragedy there is of course a decent amount of comedy which is funny without being too goofy. Overall I heartily recommend this to anybody who enjoyed the original and look forward to seeing the third film in the trilogy when in eventually gets made.