I want to go on record here, right now, and say that at present I prefer Dreamworks to Disney Pixar. Yes, Pixar have had some great films, probably more than Dreamworks, but there's something about the way they handle themselves and the way they portray their characters that makes me wanna root for the guys at Dreamworks.
Oh, and in case you couldn't tell from the title and the opening, this is about How to Train Your Dragon 2.
It's a movie which really demonstrates my point: Hiccup is not larger than life. Yes, he rides dragons; yes, he has a cool fire-sword; yes, he is pretty much the embodiment of awesome when we first see him in his introduction. But then he's chatting with Astrid and it's the same old Hiccup from the first movie, five years on and hardly changed. Those daddy issues are still there, as is his gangly awkwardness. He's still that little nerdy guy who wouldn't kill a dragon, and Astrid pretty much calls him out on it.
That said, this is a movie all about change. The line, "Some minds can't be changed!" is echoed throughout the film, and it proves to be the catalyst for a surprisingly dark sequel involving bigger battles and more dragons than its predecessor, albeit with more heart. The simultaneous plot threads - that of Drago Bludvist's fanatical obsession with controlling all dragons, and Hiccup trying to find out about the other dragon riders he's been hearing about - are woven together well, if a little loosely-joined when they collide almost coincidentally in the middle. This is the main problem: it feels like it's still finding its feet as a movie for most of the runtime.
It's hard to know what I can and can't talk about without shouting spoilers - I may have to do another, spoileriffic review after this, just so I can talk about it as clearly as I need to. But the basic premise of the two storylines is: Hiccup is off looking for other dragon riders and dealing with more family issues on one side, while on the other Astrid and co. try to take out Drago before he can attack Berk. It switches between the two rapidly, trying to fill you in on both sides of the story as they develop, but it ends up leaving one side feeling too slow while the other feels too fast, I felt like they'd put Hiccup in the wrong place.
But then the first big battle starts and it all comes together. Dragons are great for long, swooping following shots and Dreamworks has gone even bigger with this movie. The panoramic fight scenes are a joy to behold, bigger and faster than the final fight in the original, but still easy to follow and clear as far as storytelling goes. The introduction of alpha dragons was a neat idea, especially since the queen dragons of the first one - it feels like a sort of next logical step, although it is one of those things that leaves you wondering why they bother with queen dragons in the first place.
And then... well, damn. It goes all Empire Strikes Back on us, taking a turn for the hella dark. I can't go too into it, save to say there are some heart-wrenching bits and some really inspiring bits, and then it all gets good again (there's another epic battle at the end, it's great!) but for the second half of the middle we get one of the saddest parts I've seen in an animated movie in a long time. It gives HTTYD2 more depth and suspense than the first movie, an almost Joss Whedon-esque level of "anyone can die" but without half a television series to make it more emotional (except maybe. I haven't watched many episodes of Dragons: Riders of Berk).
It all cheers up again (as I said, big battle!), but there's still that tone of darkness to it as they reach the final battle, everything still seems hopeless. But there are bright spots which leave you smiling, and the epic climax is pretty darn awesome.
Anyway, bad points, bad points. There were, I admit, a couple of things which irked me about this movie. First off, there was a lack of interaction between the established characters. Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins were pushed aside for the most part to make way for the new characters. Which I get, you have to flesh out new arrivals and give people a reason to cheer for them or boo them, and you have to have those new elements to take the story in a new direction. But it took something away from the film, that it didn't really have the previous heroes really interacting with anyone. They were made much shallower as characters for this movie; you'd think five in-world years of development would have given them some more character, not less.
Second, I felt like it made too much of a point setting Drago up as a foil for Hiccup. A lot of what he's been through has been the same as Hiccup, though taken from a different angle, and he's controlling his dragons through completely opposite means to the riders of Berk. But I felt like the not-so-different-after-all thing was hammered home a bit too much, especially since most of their similarities were superficial at best. Drago wasn't characterised much beyond "the bad guy" so we didn't get a chance this movie to see exactly how close to Hiccup he came, which I think is a shame. If they were going for that story, they needed to go all the way.
Still, I'm making these out to be bigger problems than they are. The soundtrack is amazing, big and orchestral for the most part as opposed to the original's bagpipes and folksy feel, and the criticisms are noticeable but don't detract from what is an exciting and at times emotional story. I feel like Dreamworks needed to pick one line and stick with it, they were spinning one too many plates this time. But they've still made a very good movie, more expansive and amazing than their first but unable to beat its simple story. It is, however, the most heart-wrenching of the two, so bring tissues.
Adieu!
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