Watchable but disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2014)

Hiccup tries to stop a war with a bad guy named Drago who wants to control all dragons. Hiccup also finds out his mom isn't dead, she's just terrible. The first half is light and enjoyable. Second half descends into darkness with the senseless killing of Stoick. What, because Hiccup's deadbeat mom is back it's okay to kill off his dad? How depressing! For me, the movie never recovers from this huge downer. The animation is pretty and even better than the first movie. The returning characters are all likable, although Hiccup grates on my nerves at times. But I felt that way about him in the first one, as well. I didn't care for the mom at all. Less said about that the better. Also the whole preachy peace message is undermined by all the violence and the fact that peace is only achieved at the end by having superior firepower. Mixed messages much? If you liked How to Train Your Dragon you'll probably like this. But be ready for it to have some flaws that might bother some more than others.