How to Train Your Dragon 2 - The Review.

The first, How to kill your Dragon movie, is a classic and one of the best animated movies of all time.  The story of  boy from a dragon-infested village,who could not bear to kill the "pests" as his kinsmen did gleefully. And ends up being, best mates with the deadliest  of them- The dreaded Night Fury. It proved that Dreamworks could compete with Pixar, in the "crayon" world that the latter had dominated since the turn of the millennium.

As a classic, one always felt a sequel would need something really special to meet its predecessor's  lofty standards.  Sadly, it didn't.

The film is written and directed by Dean DeBlois, and stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson,America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig with the addition of Kit Harington,Cate Blanchett and Djimon Hounsou (Wikipedia).

The story, huffed and puffed and tried to be too many things, but ended up short. 

The animation is mind-blowing as usual. The characters exhibiting life-like movement and facial expressions.

The movie starts five years from the last iteration. Citizens of Berke and the Dragons have truly become compadre. Hiccup and his Night Fury, Toothless shared a special bond. And go on mapping expeditions. Astrid follows suit and along the way, they meet a group of Dragon catchers. After the melee, they discover the existence of a feared Dragon trainer named Drago who is also assembling a dragon army. Hiccup and Astrid run back to Berk to warn the others. Stoick, Hiccup's father  and his protege disagree on the proper approach. Hiccup wants dialogue with Drago despite his father warning that Drago can't be reasoned with. The warning falls on deaf ears. Hiccup flies off with Toothless, with Astrid following, till they reach, first - Eret, Drago's dragon trapper. Then Hiccup flies off again after his father finds him on Erets ship. While in the air, a mysterious Dragon rider accosts him and takes him to a hidden dragon lair. The mysterious dragon rider is later revealed to be his mother. The entire family later unites against Drago's invasion.

It is truly hard to find a story that could improve on the first movie.  But should not excuse the sequel's lack of trying. Majority of the story was spent, advertising the depth of the 3D computer animation.A dismal imitation of the original. Kids' stuff.

5/10