Lacks the Fiery Energy of the Original. Still, A Worthy Sequel in More Ways Than One.

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2014)

In the summer of 2010, DreamWorks Animation released their finest feature in the form of How To Train Your Dragon, which surprised everyone with its remarkable balance between story & animation elements and remains a rollicking adventure for all ages. Surfacing 4 years later amidst enormous hype is How To Train Your Dragon 2 and how does it fare in comparison to its predecessor? Let's find out.
Set 5 years after the events of the first film, How To Train Your Dragon 2 continues the expedition of Hiccup & his pet dragon, Toothless, as they embark on a new journey to discover & map unexplored lands & territories. But when they come across a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons & meet the mysterious Dragon Rider, Hiccup soon realizes that a larger conflict brewing between humans & dragons and finds himself at the centre of it.
Although there is no denying that unlike most sequels, How To Train Your Dragon 2 never tries to play it safe, takes the road-less-travelled, tries many new things in the process, pushes its story to uncharted places & I really admire what the filmmakers were trying to do but in the end, it comes out slightly undercooked thanks to its unpolished script that could've been benefited from a little more refinement.
Like its predecessor, the animation is absolutely dazzling, the dragons are vividly imagined, designed & rendered, the camera-work is expertly handled and John Powell's score wonderfully supports the entire narrative. But unlike the last film, the humour this time feels unnecessarily forced at some stages, the new characters aren't developed at all & everything that made the previous film a genre classic doesn't blend as well this time.
On an overall scale, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is an exciting follow-up to DreamWorks Animation's finest feature that has a certain amount of freshness & originality of its own, is finely directed & lively scored and despite its shortcomings, most of which arose due to my really high expectations from it, this fun-filled adventure somehow manages to deliver an entertainment that's worth your time & money.