How To Train Your Dragon 2

There are so few examples in fiction of places that I desperately wish I could be. I wish I could be an Earth Bender in the world of Avatar. I wish I could be a Jedi in Star Wars. I wish I could be Spider-Man. But honestly, that's it. And it's only to a silly extent, my inner child trying to come back to life.

But seriously, honestly. I don't think there's a single movie universe that makes me desperately want to live there as much as How To Train Your Dragon. I want a dragon so badly.

The original How To Train Your Dragon was a beautiful movie that suffered from some unfortunately generic narrative, a blunt script, and a pretty predictable plot. I wanted to love it, but felt myself having problems with it. Even so, I had to admit it was a gorgeous looking movie, with tons of awesome flight sequences that managed to really give the sensation of flying on a dragon. It was really amazingly animated and beautifully designed. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 improves on this already beautiful design, letting us now experience Berk and all of its lovable characters as young adults. The animation style is stepped up perfectly, showing the advancements in technology without at all sacrificing the fun style and beautiful artwork. It makes its world feel organic, enormous, and best of all, graspable. It really made me wish I could be a part of this world, flying around on my own dragon, being best friends with my own night fury. 

But best of all is the wonderful improvement to the script. Which is strange, because at first glance the story is actually less original sounding than the first. Instead of the traditional "boy and his dog" story with a dragon, we find the dragon riders of Berk fighting an enemy who looks to conquer all dragons and use them for his own evil purposes. Even though the story sounds forgettable and predictable, the movie is anything but, having many twists and turns that shock me, had me laughing, crying, and dare I say it, very much surprised me. It's a bit darker than it's prequel counterpart, but not by all that much, enough to appreciate its older audience without sacrificing its heart and its roots (although it's known that these movies don't follow the books at all for the most part). 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a beautiful movie, packed with heart, love, fun, laughs, tears, and joy. It succeeds at improving in every way over its already very powerful prequel, and manages to make its story perfectly matured without the sacrifice of the magic. Between this film and The LEGO Movie, it's a tough choice for best animated picture so far this year. 

Rank - 5/5