How to Train Your Dragon 2, I’m surprised to say, is a flick I rather enjoyed more than the previous movie in this series. It’s slightly more advanced plot-wise and had a number of legit emotional punches, both sweet and sad. I’ve never seen the show that spun off from the original film (Dragonriders of Burk) so I can’t say if this is a continuation of that story (though the hero has a lightsaber of sorts out of nowhere so maybe that’s from that show). It’s a great looking film and has some good acting and it doesn’t trade as much on Jay Baruchel-is-funny-as-a-viking jokes… I just wish the main viking girl had more screen time since she’s more interesting than the hero (in my opinion). Toothless the dragon is still pretty great. Overall, a better film and a good animated film that is a lot more mature than I expected it to be.

Score: 87