When Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.
More emotional, exhilarating and expansive than the original. DreamWorks finally has a franchise to match its ambition.
Disappointingly shorn of emotional resonance this time, How To Train Your Dragon 2 still offers reasonable family entertainment, although many of its pleasures are oddly peripheral.
It's attractive enough, though it's skating a little too close to the generic and bland.
The voiceless Toothless, however, remains a wonder. Imbued by the animators with the unconditional love and loyalty of a pet pooch (in a neat touch he’s often to be seen running around the background of shots chasing sticks), he’s the heart and soul of a movie that can occasionally feel a little mechanical.
At times terrifying and too tough for tinies, this is nevertheless a triumphant sequel that puts its faith in Hiccup and Toothless to find a way through dark times for man and dragon. Until we all get our own dragon to go flying with, the result is a story sufficiently thrilling to have us all airborne.
Flies close to perfection.
Writer-director DeBlois strikes just the right balance between knockabout comedy, action and heart-tweaking family drama.
Minor gripes aside, there’s more than enough here to delight fans and maybe even snare some newcomers.
The result is a thrilling, heartwarming, beautifully crafted animated epic that leaves you wanting more.
As before, the animation is impressively swoopy and not a little scary.
Perfectly adequate as light entertainment, nevertheless it fails to excite or surprise the way its predecessor did.
General release. Check local listings for show times.