Struggles a little early in the film and also with smaller character detail and emotion, but develops into a thrilling, exciting story with good danger and scares

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2014)

What I originally watched a few years ago as a fun Dreamworks animation with comedy, a moral message and cool dragons seems to have decided it is now going to be a trilogy and, in its attempt to make itself more than just a fun DVD to be put on for the children as a standalone but to instead be a franchise player, the second film takes a darker tone. It isn't one that is evident from the very start where we have minor characters involved in dragon races and Hiccup out avoiding responsibility, but it is not long until a plot involving dragon hunters and an enemy raising an army of dragon to capture and enslave other dragons. Gradually we get into a fairly dramatic plot that produces a lot of thrills, scares and probably tears before we get to the end of the film.
It is a bridging film in the trilogy and as such it also bridges age- range as it reaches out to the audience that was four years younger when the first came out, tries to please the new younger audience coming in and also tries to make sure the adults are entertained too. In some ways it doesn't really manage this where in others it does. One of the ways it seems weaker is in the comedy; there are some laughs early on but soon the comedy is put to one side apart from a few hit and miss jokes along the way. It is also worth noting that for very young children, the action and its consequences may be too intense even if they are brilliantly done – for all Toothless' cuteness, some of the larger dragons are genuinely imposing and there are some dramatic scenes that will upset. That said, for the most part the action is thrilling and it is just a shame that it is so franticly edited so that it is dizzying at times. It does have a feel of danger and tension though and it is hard not to be moved by some of the plot.
It is done with broad, thick strokes though; the film doesn't leave you with much doubt when you are supposed to have tears in your eyes, when to laugh and when to do a bit of both with relief that all is well after all. I guess part of this is a kids film but some of the dialogue seemed a bit forced and generally the delivery of smaller emotional moments lack realism and finesse – which is a shame because the much bigger moments are generally very well done indeed. Unfortunately for the cast these smaller moments put a lot of pressure on them, and it doesn't always work. I didn't care for Baruchel too much early in the film as he seemed unnatural but as it went on he was better with his material. Butler, Ferguson and Ferrera all did pretty good work although I really have no idea what Blanchett was doing – her character was pretty thin and the accent was terrible (all of them). Hounsou's voice helps his character have a lot of presence, which is needed considering how little detail there is to him; meanwhile Harington was a decent find in a role that teased about his impressive physique.
HTTYD2 is not a perfect film but it is a very good one. It struggles with the broad, heavy strokes that it uses when it has smaller moments to detail, and also has a few misfires moving from being a comedy to be something more serious, but once it gets into the guts of its narrative it delivers a real ride of excitement and action and emotion that is worth seeing.