How to Train Your Dragon 2 is one of the best animated movies I have ever seen. It serves the audience very well as a prequel, has a great heartfelt story, and has a kick-a** soundtrack and visuals! All of this is wrapped up in a sequel that dare-I-say is better than its predecessor.
First of all, a strength - or weakness depending on your outlook on the movie - is that the movie doesn't need to take a lot of time establishing itself as a sequel. It gives you a summary of the entire first movie in the first five minutes of the film. And it's done really well! A quick summary, with an awesome dragon-racing scene on top of it that introduces each of the characters in clever ways without relying too much on the audience's previous knowledge of the series. It really hits all the necessary marks for a franchise trying to build a universe. Very clever and very quick!
The story in this movie, though similar to How to Train Your Dragon, is still amazing and gives you an even bigger scope of the world and of the lore within this world. The story centers around Hiccup, obviously, on his quest to explore new lands on his never ending quest to find new species of dragons. During one of his travels, however, he finds a band of dragon trappers who serve under a powerful dragon "tamer". He quickly discovers that this dragon tamer is taking dragons in order to create an all-powerful dragon army. Though the premise is different from the first film, a lot of the mystery behind this movie are very kin to what the previous movie had though in slightly different forms. I never felt this to be a problem though. The first film had a great story with it really only starting to ramp up during the last act of the movie. In How to Train Your Dragon 2, however, the whole film is an upward slope to a great and satisfying climax that had me clenching my teeth the entire time! Overall, the story maybe even better than the first film's, though slightly too fast and repetitive from the first.
The visuals are even better in this film than in the previous one. The characters are all bright, flowing and expressive, and all have a unique appearance that set them apart from each other. You can especially tell the quality of the animation in the characters' hair and eye movements as the hair flows in the wind or stands up in the cold and the eyes constantly show emotion when they move! The soundtrack is also spectacular in the film! From the Scandinavian sounding orchestras or the huge choirs of singers and percussive instruments, the score always fits the emotion of the characters and the lush scenery perfectly. Whether it be a vibrant dragon sanctuary to an icy battlefield, the sounds always fit the mood of the situation perfectly.
Overall, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is, again, not just one of the best animated movies I have seen, but one of the best movies I have ever seen. Period. It has a fantastic story, amazing atmosphere, and spot-on story. How to Train Your Dragon 2 was amazing.
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