How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was a lot more engaging than I was expecting; I couldn't turn away for most of the movie. The story is simple, but it's told well; the characters are interesting; and the graphics may not be flawless, but they are impressive.

I should've gone to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 in theaters. I'm pretty sure that I was planning to after seeing the trailer, but then when it came to the discount theater I decided I didn't really need to pay to see it on the big screen. Once I actually started watching the movie, I immediately regretted *that* decision. I think it is actually still playing at the theater, but I wasn't about to watch it later just to see it at the theater. I think the colors and the vastness of things would've played better, though.

I pretty much forgot everything that happened in the first movie, but I think they reminded us well enough. Jay Baruchel's voice was a little distracting, but luckily Hiccup didn't hog all the screen time, so there were other characters to be interested in. I found Cate Blanchett's transformation into an animated character to be a little creepy as well, though. Having the kids grow up a little was a good idea. They were supposed to be about 20, but they didn't seem quite that old to me. The title seems pretty unoriginal, but I guess they can get the most marketability out of the old one if they basically keep the title the same.

The paint on the dragons and riders in the beginning was cool, and I liked all the new stuff they could do, like Hiccup's fire sword and Toothless glowing blue at the end. Toothless is a weird name, though. Another reason to be glad there were also other characters. I was glad that Eret turned out to be a good guy. I feel like Drago's alpha didn't really want to be violent, and once he saw that the other dragons were rebelling, he should've fought back against Drago. 

Valka's outfit was cool. I liked what they did with her kind of having gone feral. The dragons are interesting, too. They're not really fantastical and pretty; they're more reptilian or dinosaur-like, which I guess would be more realistic. I liked that they had all different classes of dragons, and they had unique ways of fighting. I wasn't expecting them to kill Stoick. That was pretty much the saddest thing ever. What is it with animated movies always killing off the dad? Valka was just reunited with him, and now she lost him again. I guess it was always her choice to stay away, though. Kind of weird that Hiccup never had a mom, and now he has his mom back but now he doesn't have a dad. And it was sad that Stoick's dragon lost his rider, too.

The way they set it up was kind of weird. It almost made it seem like Stoick had to pass on so Hiccup could become the new chief, and do it his way. I don't think Hiccup should have to be the chief if he doesn't want to, though. It seemed like there was a lot of bureaucracy involved in that. I'm sure Hiccup would be a good leader, but maybe he could be an advisor or something. There's got to be someone else there who would be equally capable of leading, maybe even someone a bit older. Maybe in the next one, Hiccup will be older and have kids and stuff. That would be interesting.