Somehow, Dreamworks has made a film that tops the original and all Dreamworks films before it.

Rating: 9/10 (21 June 2014)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the sequel to the classic Dreamworks animated movie How to Train Your Dragon. It continues the story of Hiccup, but this time, he's leading up towards adulthood. He's also traveling and trying to find new land. While on an adventure, he comes across dragon hunters, who are building an evil dragon army. It's up to Hiccup and his friends to stop them. I know it doesn't sound much; part of it is because I can't give a good synopsis for the life of me, but this movie takes everything that the first How to Train Your Dragon had and makes it better. And this is coming from a guy who thinks that How to Train Your Dragon DreamWorks' best work. Although it's not anymore. Now, DreamWorks' best work is How to Train Your Dragon 2. I realize that I do a terrible job telling the stories of movies, but trust me; the story here is really good. Not only does it expand the mythology of the world and stories of the characters, but it creates a plot that is much darker than the original. The setup is excellent, the pacing is perfect, and the conflict between the characters is fantastic, which brings me to how well developed these characters are. Almost all of the characters in this movie are relatable in some way. DreamWorks does a great job with these characters. The CGI animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Every shot is beautiful from the worlds to the character models to the animation itself. There were a lot of breathtaking visuals in this movie, including some shots that looked live action. It was a sight to behold. Something that both the first movie and this movie have are, no surprise, dragons. I love the dragons. All of them have great designs, personalities, and bring a lot of comedy to the movie. Most of the laughs that came from this movie were from the dragons acting like your common household pet. It's adorable and hilarious at the same time. One of this movie's greatest strengths is the heart. There are some genuinely emotional scenes in this movie. Some are very sweet, some are very sad, but no matter what the case, it will get you emotional and probably make you draw a tear or two. I didn't cry in this movie, but I completely understand if someone does. Something that really surprised me in this movie were the action scenes. I knew they were going to be good, but I didn't expect them to be awesome. This movie had some exciting, exhilarating, fast paced action scenes that had my heart pounding and a smile gradually grow on my face. The action was so fun to watch. If I had one complaint, I'd say I think the villain is a little on the generic side, at first mainly. As the movie goes on, he becomes more menacing and ends up as a great villain. However, at first, I thought he was a little weak. He does have that generic villain eye scar thing though. Overall, I think this movie is amazing. A combination of beautiful animation, great characters, fun action, lots of heart, and every other good thing I mentioned makes for a great experience. I was having trouble deciding if I liked this or X-Men Days of Future Past more, but I decided on this because this is the only movie of the year where I wanted to see it again right after I left the theater. And if a movie can pull that off, it's deserving of being a favorite of the year.