Hey Youtubers it's Charlie and this is going to be my review of How to Train Your Dragon
2.
I think it's only a coincidence that Kit Harington is in the movie and Game of Thrones finale
is this weekend but it made the movie extra fun to watch.
Since most of you probably haven't seen the movie I'm going to start with my non-spoilery
review then I'll get into specific top 5 moments and talk about where the sequels are going.
That's right, they're talking about doing four movies instead of just three.
If you're finding me for the first time, since it's the summer movie season I'm doing weekly
reviews of the big stuff I'm really excited about.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
Next up is 22 Jump Street and Transformers.
It's like a whole summer of sequels, and normally that's not good news.
A lot of sequels in the past have just turned up the explosions to eleven at the expense
of the characters.
But one of my favorite things about How To Train Your Dragon was how it changed the characters.
Especially toothless, Hiccups nightfury.
Going into the movie I knew they'd be doing two more movies, so I kept wondering how the
story would set those up.
I'll talk more about that during spoilers.
Like I said, Kit Harington joined the cast, Cate Blanchett and Djimon Honsou.
Of all the newcomers Cate Blanchett really stood out but that's not really fair, Kit
Harington does a lot better when you can see him and Djimon Honsou's character, the villain
isn't quite up to Turbo Wreck It Ralph standards.
In case you didn't know the movies are based on books written by Cressida Cowell.
Dreamworks liked the first movie so much they asked the movie writer Dean DeBlois to write
the sequel.
And he said yes only on the condition that he could do a trilogy.
He specifically cited Star Wars the original Trilogy as inspiration.
So if this feels like Empire Strikes Back with all the ice and Hoth and missing limbs,
that's why.
Which makes me wonder now if the third film will feel like Return of The Jedi?
I totally don't mind if it's an overt homage.
The Empire Strikes Back of the How To Train Your Dragon takes that idea of trying to understand
your enemies and takes it to a much darker place.
The story definitely got a lot darker than the first movie but I would have like to learn
more about Djimon Hansou's character.
Drago Bludvist.
The movie is only about an hour and forty minutes long, so it almost feels short enough
to be a tv movie.
I don't know if any of you have seen it, but there is a tv show based on the first movie
called Dragon Riders of Berk, it only stars a couple people from the movies, most of the
main cast members aren't in it.
The other big improvement in the sequel is the animation.
Because the technology evolves so fast and this is one of Dreamworks biggest movies they
really went all out.
It's like at E3 this week when they were showing off demos of Dragon Age Inquisition with crazy
awesome graphics cards on huge screens.
The images are so rich with detail it kind of melts your face a little.
It gave them the ability to make Toothless move in some really fun new ways.
The dragons are some of the biggest actors in the movie and their performance is completely
dependent on the animation.
And I thought they did an awesome job.
After you go see the movie though, make sure to watch the Game of Thrones finale on Sunday
for an extra special treat.
It's just fun seeing Kit Harington on two things with dragons.
So time to get into spoilers, careful if you haven't seen the movie yet but I'm going to
do my top 5 moments and then talk about the sequels.
Here we go, Number 5 - Hiccup Is Building a Map
This is going to serve as the device that takes them through the future sequels.
It's like in Pirates of the Caribbean 3 when they yanked out that map at the end.
Hiccup is going to continue to chart the known world.
They even said it in the movie, with Dragons around, the world just got a whole lot bigger.
Technically it should have been that Dragons allow them to travel farther, so the world
is getting smaller.
But you get the idea, their world before the first movie was just that little island of
Berk and now they're going further and further out and meeting all these new characters.
Number 4 - The Alpha Sanctuary
Definitely the coolest new location in the movie.
I know I said the writer was inspired by the Star Wars Trilogy, but I also saw a lot of
Star Trek Wrath of Kahn when they entered the cave.
He meets his mother and they travel to Hoth, the ice planet.
But she takes him inside her secret garden cave like Carol Marcus in Wrath of Kahn.
I totally love it when animated movies and cartoons can pay homage to big science fiction
movies and it doesn't feel cheesy.
The animation inside the cave made my face melt a little.
Especially that reveal moment when Hiccup sees all the dragons for the first time and
they're all flying in formation around the ice pillar.
Meeting the Alpha was pretty amazing too.
It felt like a big step up from the mega dragon of the first movie.
Number 3 - Hiccup Starts to Learn More Dragonlore
There were a ton of new things the movie taught us about dragons and controlling dragons.
It seems like his mother Cate Blanchett's character is going to be teaching him all
of the new things.
I also got a flash of Game of Thrones from Season 3 with the Control Rod Daenerys got
that controlled the unsullied army.
Hiccups mom and Drago both had those Dragon control staffs which presumably Hiccup will
learn to use too.
There were a few big questions I had about those.
If Drago was doing the same thing as Hiccup's Mom, why couldn't she command the evil alpha
like Drago?
Part of the story was about bonding with dragons on a really deep level rather than just ordering
them around like mindless zombies.
The movie didn't make it clear why Drago was the only one able to control his alpha.
Number 2 - Hiccups Mom and Dad are Reunited
I should have seen that this was writing on the wall for Gerard Butler's character dying.
At least he got to dance with her one last time.
Even though you'd expect Hiccup and his relationship with Toothless or even Astrid to be the core
emotional moment of the film.
I felt like his parents singing and dancing together was the most cry worthy scene.
How dare you make me cry Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett.
They were both really good singers.
I didn't think they needed to add Craig Ferguson's character in that scene.
I didn't think they needed jokes to break the tension
and my Number 1 moment - Toothless Saves Hiccup From the Alpha
I always thought the dragons behaved more like Dogs than any other animal, so it totally
made sense the way they incorporated pack mentality.
Like you have an alpha that has a level of social control over the weaker dragons but
another dragon or dog, can come along and challenge for control.
Enter Toothless.
I loved the way they paid off the bits about dragonlore and toothless's new abilities.
Remember, they told us he's the same age as hiccup, so of course he's going to be developing
new abilities as he matures.
The one big bummer was that we didn't see any other night furies.
But now it's your turn, let me know what your favorite moment was and where do you want
them to go in the sequels.
Just going on the Star Wars metaphor, they'd have to go to a forest or a jungle.
I think what we'll see is a new colony of Night Furies, it's like during Kung Fu Panda
3 where they found all the other Pandas.
Which is kind of funny, because that was Dreamworks last big animated franchise.
So of course they'd do that plot again.
Only in this case Toothless thinks he's the only Panda left or Night Fury, however you
want to think about it.
But the things that really stood out to me as teasers for the sequels were Hiccups mom
teaching him new things about dragons, Hiccup charting the big map and Toothless being the
last Night Fury.
So, like I said, Game of Thrones with more Kit Harington this sunday.
My next movie review will probably be 22 Jump Street but at least Transformers.
Be sure to subscribe to get everything.
And feel free to leave me suggestions for movies to do!
Right now click here for my review of Fault In Our Stars and click here for my review
of Maleficent.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight.
High Fives!