• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 |OT| Don't watch the trailers!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Yamauchi

Banned
Wow, that was a good flick. Enjoyed it more than the first.

It was short, but as a parent I really appreciated that point.
 
wow cate blanchett was fantastic in here. they did a really good job with the parents in this series.

also i really liked toothless' animation in this film. immensely cute expressions.

might be an even better cartoon sequel than toy story 2. might be...that one had a far stronger villain though.
 
Absolutely incredible movie.

The original is one of my fave movies ever, period, and this one was just as good if not better.

The characters are so good in this movie, I can just watch them talk to each other for long periods of time.

I'll write up a full review later but right now I'm just way too hyped. I'm also incredibly excited about Defenders of Berk. Riders was a very solid series and I'm very eager to watch the next season...I had no idea it was even out, let alone complete!

I'm surprised none of the villains from Riders of Berk made it to the movie, considering how season 1 ended.
 

linkboy

Member
Here I am trying to avoid anything to do with this movie until I get back from my deployment and what does fucking AFN do, run the fucking trailer and I couldn't get to the power button in time to turn it off without seeing the big spoiler.

Fuck You AFN.
 
Loved the film!

But I have to say, I really don't get the lore behind the Nightfurys. I mean, apparently they're mega deadly and awesome and no one had ever gotten a good look at em in our Main Village ... but they were nearly wiped out somehow and Hiccups
mom has been around them long enough to know their growth cycles and anatomy (meaning they must have been hunted down by someone or something over the course of the past 20 years) ... and big bad guy CLEARLY has killed some in his day seeing how his cloak and armor are made from Nightfury hide (yet no one til Hiccup on Berk had landed one before ... and they seemed to love killing Dragons).

And seeing how Toothless is our only window into what Nightfurys are ... and he's the most special snowflake of a dragon along with apparently being the strongest now ... I have to wonder how ALL OTHER Nightfurys are wiped out. :/

Before watching the movie I was really hoping the mother's dragon would be like a different "breed" of Nightfury. I mean, it's clear that they modeled it on the Chris Sander's style.
 
Holy absolute fucking shit that delivered. Easily one of the best sequels I've ever seen. I'd put it over the first one, if simply just because of the tone. I liked the more adventure film aspect of this one and felt like it wasn't just more of the same.

And that soundtrack. Whooaaa.
 
I need to go see it again next week. I enjoyed it, but I was having a bad day that day (due to unrelated events), and I feel like I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.
 
Great great GREAT movie. Fan freaking tastic.
Loved every minute of it.
That third act was so amazing.
Wow.
Will type full impressions later.
 

hengyu

Member
Great movie. I don't think the soundtrack tied in with the events as well as it did in the first film, and it's generally inferior to the first film, but it was still pretty awesome.

The first film is still one of my favourite movies of all time.
 

A-V-B

Member
That was fun.

Not as solid as the first, but a general good time.

The animation was killer. The people's faces and movement seemed really lifelike this time. Bonus to Dreamworks on that.
 

Osahi

Member
Got my ticket for the avant-premiere tonight. (It officially releases here july 2nd, but some theaters have screenings this weekend for whatever reason).

Psyched. Just rewatched the first one on blu ray (was able to pick up the 3D version for cheap), and realized (again) what a great flick it is. Loved it in the theatre, loved it again now. And damn, the 3D is great in this one. Especially in the flight scènes.
 

Feep

Banned
Shocked at the hyper positive impressions. The dialogue felt clumsy, the villain was extremely underdeveloped...felt like they were just trying to cram in too much. Hit many of the same story beats from the first movie. "Bewilderbeast".

Toothless basically had two Goku powerups.

Still decent, but nowhere near the first, IMO.
 
Shocked at the hyper positive impressions. The dialogue felt clumsy, the villain was extremely underdeveloped...felt like they were just trying to cram in too much. Hit many of the same story beats from the first movie. "Bewilderbeast".

Toothless basically had two Goku powerups.

Still decent, but nowhere near the first, IMO.
Have you seen the Speed Racer and Pacific Rim threads?
 
Caught it yesterday. Really enjoyed it.

On par with the first.

The scene where
Hiccup's mother touches his face and looks upon him after all this time away was this subtle thing that probably hit me the hardest.
 

Grakl

Member
Caught it yesterday. Really enjoyed it.

On par with the first.

The scene where
Hiccup's mother touches his face and looks upon him after all this time away was this subtle thing that probably hit me the hardest.

that was a really good scene

also, I love the costume design for the "mysterious feral person", it's perfect imo
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
Cool film. Watching it wasn't as good an experience as watching the first because I already knew it was good and what should I expect, but I still had fun.
 

Ri'Orius

Member
I really loved the first 90% of the movie, but the ending failed to bring it all together IMO. The biggest thing I wanted explained was
how did Drago Bloodfist control his Alpha?

And ultimately I wanted Hiccup's friendship/trust-oriented dragontaming to triumph over Drago's (presumed) fear- and power-oriented dragontaming, which kinda happened when Toothless snapped out of the Alpha's control, but the day wasn't saved until Toothless inexplicably defeated the Alpha in straight-up combat.

I dunno, maybe if Toothless vs Alpha had been a better fight I'd've enjoyed it, but Toothless just going pew-pew a couple times didn't do it for me. The first movie had a very well-choreographed fight with its giant dragon, but here it felt like they ran out of ideas by the time the final battle came.

Also,
I didn't want Hiccup to become the chief. Hiccup does his own thing. He's an explorer and an inventor. Yeah, he's awesome, but being chief isn't just "who's the coolest guy in camp?" I was rooting for Astrid to get the nod.

EDIT: That came off too negative. I did love most of the film. Tons of cute scenes, great throwbacks to the first
(Toothless happily eating the regurgitated fish)
, great character interactions and developments.

But at the same time, I felt like they were building towards an ending that didn't come together for me, which has a way of souring the whole experience for me. /shrug
 

Scarecrow

Member
While watching the movie, I suspected there was going to be a
tragic scene, but I was hoping for something truly unexpected. Like killing off either Hiccup or Toothless.
 

Grakl

Member
I really loved the first 90% of the movie, but the ending failed to bring it all together IMO. The biggest thing I wanted explained was
how did Drago Bloodfist control his Alpha?

And ultimately I wanted Hiccup's friendship/trust-oriented dragontaming to triumph over Drago's (presumed) fear- and power-oriented dragontaming, which kinda happened when Toothless snapped out of the Alpha's control, but the day wasn't saved until Toothless inexplicably defeated the Alpha in straight-up combat.

I dunno, maybe if Toothless vs Alpha had been a better fight I'd've enjoyed it, but Toothless just going pew-pew a couple times didn't do it for me. The first movie had a very well-choreographed fight with its giant dragon, but here it felt like they ran out of ideas by the time the final battle came.

Also,
I didn't want Hiccup to become the chief. Hiccup does his own thing. He's an explorer and an inventor. Yeah, he's awesome, but being chief isn't just "who's the coolest guy in camp?" I was rooting for Astrid to get the nod.

for the ending scene:

an alpha just plain couldn't fight a dragon like toothless, who shoots huge bolts pretty much instantly and could dodge any of the alpha's shots without any problem. the fight made sense to me, at least.
 
I really loved the first 90% of the movie, but the ending failed to bring it all together IMO. The biggest thing I wanted explained was
how did Drago Bloodfist control his Alpha?

And ultimately I wanted Hiccup's friendship/trust-oriented dragontaming to triumph over Drago's (presumed) fear- and power-oriented dragontaming, which kinda happened when Toothless snapped out of the Alpha's control, but the day wasn't saved until Toothless inexplicably defeated the Alpha in straight-up combat.

I dunno, maybe if Toothless vs Alpha had been a better fight I'd've enjoyed it, but Toothless just going pew-pew a couple times didn't do it for me. The first movie had a very well-choreographed fight with its giant dragon, but here it felt like they ran out of ideas by the time the final battle came.

Also,
I didn't want Hiccup to become the chief. Hiccup does his own thing. He's an explorer and an inventor. Yeah, he's awesome, but being chief isn't just "who's the coolest guy in camp?" I was rooting for Astrid to get the nod.

Thats definitely a valid point. I was a little disappointed that
Hiccup wasnt able to tame the alpha the way he was able to befriend all the other dragons, and that Drago and the Alpha just retreat.

Drago definitely could have been fleshed out more, from his motivations to how he was able to control the alpha in the first place. I mean you can see that dragonhide is fire proof and how he was able to scare and dominate Hookfang was probably how he got the alpha, but it would have been nice if they expanded upon that.

I also think that
his mom will be doing most of the "Chief" stuff while Hiccup will continue to explore and invent like normal.

for the ending scene:

an alpha just plain couldn't fight a dragon like toothless, who shoots huge bolts pretty much instantly and could dodge any of the alpha's shots without any problem. the fight made sense to me, at least.

Not to mention that
the alpha was bombarded by fireballs from 1000s of dragons all at once. Thats pretty tough to handle.
 

TomShoe

Banned
They should've ended the movie when
Toothless killed Stoick and they had the emotional viking funeral
. That would've made for one hell of a trilogy,
Hobbit
-style.
 

Grakl

Member
They should've ended the movie when
Toothless killed Stoick and they had the emotional viking funeral
. That would've made for one hell of a trilogy,
Hobbit
-style.

that is exactly what I thought -- my boyfriend said he woulda been pissed though, hah
 
They should've ended the movie when
Toothless killed Stoick and they had the emotional viking funeral
. That would've made for one hell of a trilogy,
Hobbit
-style.

I really thought thats what wouldve happened as well, because of how "final" that moment felt. I would have been really pissed but thankfully it didnt happen.
 

TomShoe

Banned
Too grim for kids though.

Yeah I figured. I'm just a sucker for tragic endings. The movie
Flight
, now that was good ending. Besides, I don't think they would've had enough story left to fill 90 minutes unless they turned the quest into an epic journey of some sort. It's possible, but a sequel's probably in the works anyway, like
Kung Fu Panda 3-6
and
Madagascar 4
.
 

Soonri

Member
Watched the movie today. I had a hype mountain all ready for it after watching the first one, but the theater having a fire alarm malfunction kind of anchored that train lol.

I'm a little disappointed that Drago was so shallow of a villain. His motivation for ruling dragons seemed a bit assumed too - like no one helped him get over his fear of dragons? Even Stoick needed his father to bash a boulder with his head, lol. Maybe since the primary audience is kids they just needed a villain who was just bad? And I know this is a kids movie, but that black Alpha flat out GORED the white Alpha and no results from it lol

I wish we'd gotten more time with how Hiccup's friends have grown. I know they got more time in the show (which I've never watched), but I didn't feel like they were different at all in personalities except for maybe Astrid. I was also hoping for her to be chief despite her bluff to Drago completely backfiring.

The plot with Hiccup's family reuniting was really touching. Some genuinely touching moments with Valka and Hiccup and Valka and Stoick. Stoick taking Toothless's plasma bolt (or whatever they are) hit an emotional high for me, and the followup with Hiccup being confused and angry and in denial was really well done. Again though, Toothless's plasma bolt doesn't even scar Stoick when it makes wooden buildings explode in fire, lol.

I see it's been mentioned here already, but Toothless straight up fighting the black Bewilderbeast was ridiculous. He shot him like twenty times!! And I laughed out loud in the theater when Toothless went Godzilla when breaking out of the ice. Maybe if you take care of dragons their shot limit goes away? I think that little point has been thrown out by now though.

Really enjoyed it a lot. The flight scenes were still great, even if the music wasn't quite as epic as in the first because flying on a dragon was a bigger deal than in this movie. Apparently there was a stinger at the end? I didn't see it because everyone got shuffled out to get a free ticket for another movie as an apology for the delay, which is cool even though the only reason I went to that particular theater was because a showing was four bucks, lol.
 

Osahi

Member
I enjoyed it, but walked away with the feeling it didn't soar to the same heights as the first one. First one was a real adventure movie, with a really great evolving plot, where characters really grew. And the flight scènes where amazing.

Now the shiny new stuff is a bit gone. The tone is darker, which I'm okay with. (The director referenced the Star Wars trilogy as inspiration. And yeah, hickup even has a
lightsaberish thing now
. That inspiration, and the fact it's a trilogy might even explain the critisism I read hear about:

The lackluster ending. Drago just running of. The Alpha defeated in a 'stupid' way. I guess the real confrontation will come in the next movie

The highlight of the film is offcourse the emotional heart it had. Those scènes are the best Dreamworks ever did, and are right on par with the best drama from Pixar
 
The lackluster ending. Drago just running of. The Alpha defeated in a 'stupid' way. I guess the real confrontation will come in the next movie

God, I hope not.
He sucks and I figured it was implied that he drowned. I mean ... he was ON the Alpha and that thing was no where near friendly land ... and it went underwater cause it was scared off by wut-ever-the-fuck toothless is now. The whole difference seemed to be that Hiccups way would allow for a relationship where the dragon WANTS you to be alive where as controlling them with fear means it makes zero sense for that thing to come up for air just to keep this guy alive.

Also, I could see Hiccup handing the raids over to Astrid after it becomes clear that Chiefing aint for him. They already talked about it in the film, that she would have to take Toothless on rides because he wouldn't have the time and it never really seemed like he latched onto the role. He seemed far more interested in his mom's plan to explore and learn as much as they could about dragons. So I could see the next Movie being set 3-5 years later with them being married and Hiccup passing on the title to her so that he can do his thing.
 
Shocked at the hyper positive impressions. The dialogue felt clumsy, the villain was extremely underdeveloped...felt like they were just trying to cram in too much. Hit many of the same story beats from the first movie. "Bewilderbeast".

Toothless basically had two Goku powerups.

Still decent, but nowhere near the first, IMO.

Dialogue was just fine to me and the villain wasnt a major enough point of the story for me to really mind, ala Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. Bland villain, but the story didnt exactly thrive off him.
 

Osahi

Member
God, I hope not.
He sucks and I figured it was implied that he drowned. I mean ... he was ON the Alpha and that thing was no where near friendly land ... and it went underwater cause it was scared off by wut-ever-the-fuck toothless is now. The whole difference seemed to be that Hiccups way would allow for a relationship where the dragon WANTS you to be alive where as controlling them with fear means it makes zero sense for that thing to come up for air just to keep this guy alive.

Also, I could see Hiccup handing the raids over to Astrid after it becomes clear that Chiefing aint for him. They already talked about it in the film, that she would have to take Toothless on rides because he wouldn't have the time and it never really seemed like he latched onto the role. He seemed far more interested in his mom's plan to explore and learn as much as they could about dragons. So I could see the next Movie being set 3-5 years later with them being married and Hiccup passing on the title to her so that he can do his thing.

Well, I left with the feeling
Drago is still alive. As we haven't seen his body, or him really dying. If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage
. Knowing it is a trilogy, it wouldn't suprise me even.

They should've ended the film with the Stoic burial though, as suggested here. Would be a real Empire Strikes Back-ending, which Dragon 2 obviously took many cues from anyway. Guess it would've been to depressing.

About the next film:

Will probably be about how Hickup has to adjust to his new role as chief, and probably as a father too. Would be nice, as he doesn't have a real arc in this one, which is in hindsight the biggest thing the film fails compared to the previous one

(But I did really enjoy it)
 
Wow, its a good thing I didnt watch the trailers till today. They spoiled the
mother
part.

About the movie, its probably just as good as the first one, maybe a little less. Either way, I enjoyed it. There wasnt much wow factor to this like the first one, other than the stepped up visuals and animation, though. Also, I would've liked to seen what happened to
Drago after loosing. I feel a bit disappointed that they just let Drago off with no show consequences. They are either setting up for another Drago war or they had no idea how to kill of a human villain, which makes sense considering the first film had giant hive dragon queen.

I was a bit shocked at
Stoic's death. Really expected them to go the happy family route but this was a bold choice. More so that Toothless did it.

I liked that they gave a lil nod to Godzilla during
the Drago Alpha battle. The alpha even has a quick small Godzilla roar sound as he went down. Also the obvious, tail spines lighting up couldnt even be a bigger allusion to Godzilla.


Oh and Im hoping the next movie goes a bit more ambitious, maybe
Hiccup traveling their world and finding out why Toothless is the last of his kind.
 
It was good but I feel like it could have been great. I think there were a couple missteps and missed opportunities in the story itself, but everything else was ace. The animation, art design, music, acting was all fantastic once again.

As for the story,
what did Berk really gain this time around? After the first movie, everything about society as they knew it had been changed. This time there wasn't actually much change besides Hiccup becoming chief, his mom being a new resident and Toothless becoming the alpha. Also, they introduced this awesome huge new dragon and then killed it off 30 minutes later. I was also hoping to see more nightfuries.
Maybe they are saving it for the third movie.
 
Well. We have one more film coming.

I am already pretty hyped with where they could take the series from here.

Two, if the rumors are to be believed.
Loved the film!

But I have to say, I really don't get the lore behind the Nightfurys. I mean, apparently they're mega deadly and awesome and no one had ever gotten a good look at em in our Main Village ... but they were nearly wiped out somehow and Hiccups
mom has been around them long enough to know their growth cycles and anatomy (meaning they must have been hunted down by someone or something over the course of the past 20 years) ... and big bad guy CLEARLY has killed some in his day seeing how his cloak and armor are made from Nightfury hide (yet no one til Hiccup on Berk had landed one before ... and they seemed to love killing Dragons).

So you noticed that as well? I was thinking,
"you just said how rare they are and yet you seem to know how to tell how old he is. Odd."
 

Laekon

Member
Maybe it was the mood I was in when I saw this but I didn't think it was a good movie. Between the poor story of the villain and the main character's inability to just say something it was just weak.
 
One scene I think is not getting enough love is
When Astrid and Hiccup are talking on the Cliff. EASILY the best romance I've seen in a children's movie. It's not even close.
 
One scene I think is not getting enough love is
When Astrid and Hiccup are talking on the Cliff. EASILY the best romance I've seen in a children's movie. It's not even close.

Yep. Completely natural and well-written. And VA'd. The entire film largely felt that way to me though, but that was probably one of the best character interactions in the movie.

but the Stoick and Valka stuff fucking ruined me and buried me
 
Yep. Completely natural and well-written. And VA'd. The entire film largely felt that way to me though, but that was probably one of the best character interactions in the movie.

but the Stoick and Valka stuff fucking ruined me and buried me
Oh man, when they were dancing to the song I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. :(

The part where Stoick is running up the hill I almost couldn't watch.

I'll really miss the guy. I teared up at the Viking funeral.
 
Oh man, when they were dancing to the song I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. :(

The part where Stoick is running up the hill I almost couldn't watch.

I'll really miss the guy. I teared up at the Viking funeral.

Most of the movie was me fighting off tears. I was in a theater full of children and my throat felt like it was going to burst due to the resistance I was driving into it. I'm definitely easily moved, but something about the story and characters here is just fantastic, and on top of that you have Powell's exceptional score with one of the best new movie themes in quite some time, and uncommonly wonderful cinematography.

There were several shots that stood out to me as... unexpected. In a good way. Shots that made this animated movie feel more than that. Such as
that shot of Hiccup with Stoick's burning ship in the background
, you could feel Roger Deakins' influence there and the lighting really made Hiccup look startlingly realistic.
 
I liked the movie, but overall I had a few issues

Toothless was still adorable, which is half of why I like HTTYD, so yay
Astrid's character feels like it fell int a hole. She was just Hiccup's girlfriend for the most part.

Stoic's death was good, and would've made a good ending

Speaking of which, that ending felt like an anticlimax. First, the Toothless and Alpha fight was pretty good, but more Toothless flying would've been really nice to see

And it pisses me off that the attack that finally scares away the alpha is from all the dragons. And it was because Toothless was the alpha. Doesn't it destroy the point, Toothless being the alpha and controlling the dragons, the one thing Hiccup and Toothless were against and tried to resist, being the thing to drive the alpha off?

Drago felt underdeveloped. I've just seen too many villains with amazing intros and them being insane conquerors, but ending up freaking out, being scared, and acting cowardly when the hero fights back

Overall, the movie was good, but it never hit the heights the first did

I think part of my dissatisfaction comes from having read the books now, and growing in love with the book's sense of humor. Half of me wanted
Alvin
or someone like him to be the villain. I fell in love with the oddball sense of humor in the books, the way Hiccup most certainly is a complete and utter failure in his ability to do most thing, along with Fishlegs, not just a supposed person who's uselss. I love the fact that Toothless has 0 teeth, and is merely be a garden or common dragon
as thought by everyone for most of the books
who is a brat and screws everything up, and Fishleg's dragon is a vegetarian, etc. I prefer the book's mythos more, the background to it's characters. I like how it's the oddest abilities, such as only being decent at
swordfighting, being left handed, etc. that somehow helps Hiccup survive.
It's funny how Fishlegs is allergic to next to everything. I also really like how Hiccup's love interest in the book
always fully retains her character, and it's hardly emphasized that they're in love at all

I understand this is completely unfair to the movies, but the books just raised my expectations too much
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
One scene I think is not getting enough love is
When Astrid and Hiccup are talking on the Cliff. EASILY the best romance I've seen in a children's movie. It's not even close.

That scene felt incredibly awkward in the Brazilian dub :(
 
I think part of my dissatisfaction comes from having read the books now, and growing in love with the book's sense of humor. Half of me wanted
Alvin
or someone like him to be the villain.

I take it you haven't watched the TV series then.

Though what I wanted from the movie was a continuation of sorts of that story since they spent two seasons working on it and
then it's like those two years just never happened
.
 

Korten

Banned
Just saw it two days ago, but hadn't posted yet.

Really liked it, I personally like it a lot better than the first one, and I loved the first. :)

Stoic. :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom