{"id":12063,"date":"2025-06-11T07:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12063"},"modified":"2025-06-15T22:28:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T02:28:51","slug":"how-to-train-your-dragon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/06\/11\/how-to-train-your-dragon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Train Your Dragon 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/strong> (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century Fox\/Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (adventure action, some mild rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Dean DeBlois\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dean DeBlois\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Powell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Roger Deakins (visual consultant)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 14, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Kit Harington, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $177M (US)\/$618.9M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Rare is the kid\u2019s movie that makes intelligent points about such weighty matters as war, conflict resolution and active environmentalism instead of condescending to its young views. Even rarer is the sequel that soars higher than its predecessor. How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/strong> accomplishes both effortlessly with panache.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0As you know, I\u2019m not the biggest proponent of computer-animation. Even Pixar\u2019s efforts have grown somewhat tedious with all their cash-grab titles. How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/strong> is an exception. Amazingly detailed and colorfully vibrant, it could very well nab the Best Animated Film award at next year\u2019s Oscar ceremony based solely on its aesthetics. At the very least, visual consultant Roger Deakins should receive some kind of special honor. Look at the way he renders life during the time of the Vikings. Everything from the village to the people that reside there to the natural surroundings (the forest, ocean, mountains and skies) is pure visual splendor. And the dragons that come in all shapes, sizes and colors \u2026. WOW! The flying scenes are tremendous. When they breathe fire, it\u2019s awesome. I actually regret not seeing How to Train Your Dragon 2 <\/strong>in 3D and you all know how I usually feel about that. That\u2019s saying something.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie opens five years after the original with young hero Hiccup (Baruchel, This Is the End) almost a grown man (he\u2019s 20). His friendship with Astrid (Ferrera, Ugly Betty) has blossomed into a romance. His village of Berk is now a peaceful place where men and dragons co-exist harmoniously. The creatures are now domesticated pets and companions. Owning one is like having a dog. They even love having their tummies rubbed. If it was up to Hiccup, he\u2019d spend his life having adventures with his pet dragon Toothless, exploring undiscovered lands and mapping them out. However, his father Stoick the Vast (Butler, 300) wants Hiccup to succeed him as village chieftain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One day, Hiccup and Astrid have an ugly encounter with a dragon trapper named Eret (Harington, Game of Thrones). He works for Drago Bludvist (Hounsou, Blood Diamond), an insane warrior bent on capturing all dragons in existence and creating his own army.\u00a0 Hiccup returns home to tell his father what\u2019s transpiring and that he\u2019d like to try and reason with Drago himself. Stoick forbids it, but his independent-minded son flies off anyway. En route to see the madman, he\u2019s captured by a masked dragon rider, later revealed to be his long-lost mother Valka (Blanchett, the Lord of the Rings trilogy). She left home while he was still a baby after disagreeing with her husband over how to handle the dragon problem. She\u2019s a staunch protector of the creatures, finding and bringing them to live on her island sanctuary. A family reunion is quickly followed by a fierce invasion by Drago and his men. Even worse, he has a secret weapon that will tip the scales in his favor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/strong> works on several levels. It\u2019s a rousing action-adventure picture that\u2019s sure to delight kids of all ages in attendance. It\u2019s a funny comedy with the dog-like behavior of the dragons. When Toothless attacks and slurps his owner, it brings to mind Dino greeting Fred Flintstone at the door when he comes home from work. It also teaches a few lessons about preserving endangered species. It may get a touch heavy-handed with its stance on war and weapons of mass destruction. At one point, Valka says, \u201cGood dragons under the control of bad people do bad things\u201d. The analogy will be obvious to parents watching with their children. It\u2019s only a small patch of turbulence in an otherwise smooth ride.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The voice talents do a great job. Butler roars like a lion and Hounsou projects tangible malevolence. Baruchel is the perfect choice for the role with his distinctive pubescent voice. He perfectly conveys a young man on the verge of adulthood and the uncertainty that accompanies it. Blanchett proves that her talent extends to the types of roles where she\u2019s heard and not seen. The storyline is a solid one too. The two Dragon movies are based on the series of books by Cressida Cowell and I can only assume that she\u2019s pleased with both adaptations. How to Train Your Dragon 2<\/strong> flies high without crashing and burning. It\u2019s a treat for all the senses, but the eyes definitely have it. It\u2019s truly a sight to behold. It\u2019s a definite must-see and the perfect way for the kiddies to kick off summer now that school\u2019s out.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (adventure action, some mild rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Dean DeBlois\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Dean DeBlois\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Powell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Roger Deakins (visual consultant)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 14, 2014 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Kit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/How-to-Train-Your-Dragon-2-.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12074,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063\/revisions\/12074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}