To call it spectacular is too mild a word. This is perfection in every way. A lot more thrilling and exhilarating than the original. The animation is AMAZING. Definitely aimed at a more mature audience.

Rarely a sequel is better than the first one, but here it is. The graphics are stunning, but more importantly the story deals with difficult questions. While the first movie was about trust and friendship, How to train your dragon 2 is about dealing with the death of relatives, becoming mature and being able to take responsibilities. It's a big step for a teenager becoming mature and this movie deals with it brilliantly. Yes it's an animated movie, but adults will like it as much as children. One to watch for the whole family. An epic movie.

Now this is how a sequel is done. For a while, I haven't seen a sequel to animated movie that is not only good, but better than the original. Until now. "How to Train Your Dragon 2" is the perfect description of a movie that conquers the first film and keep in mind, the original movie was probably the best animated movie DreamWorks has ever put out. This movie continues the story like a good sequel should and also ups the story, characters and animation in the process. I even think this is one of the best animated movies ever made and have so much to say about it.Five years have passed since the last film and the Viking village of Berk has evolved. The island now lives with their former nemesis, the dragons, in harmony and have even turned many of their former weapons of war into items of use for the dragons like turning giant torches into feeding stations. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless have been exploring and mapping islands outside of Berk in hopes of finding other dragon riders. He instead discovers dragon trappers who are seeking revenge after their fort was destroyed and solidified by ice. Led by Eret (Kit Harington), he reveals that the warlord Drago Bludvist (Djimon Hounsou) is raising an army full of dragons in hopes of conquering the world. After warning his father, the chieftain Stoik (Gerard Butler), the island of Berk is put in a secure state to protect the dragons in preparation for a war. Hiccup, believing the war can be avoided, leaves the island with his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera) in hopes to talk with Drago and prevent the battle not knowing that they aren't the only ones protecting dragons. I could tell you what happens next, but I'd rather not spoil the movie.While the last film was directed by "Lilo and Stitch" directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, this film is rather written and directed by DeBlois himself who plans to turn the series into a trilogy. He claims he mostly got inspiration from "The Empire Strikes Back" and it clearly shows. The film does what a sequel should do. The film expands the world, introduces more new characters including more species of dragons and also the fun. The story is what I love about this film the most. It ups the emotion, heart and comedy from the previous movie while also taking the movie in a more darker and serious tone. One particular scene near the end of the film was so powerful that I actually did get a little teary eyed which is a very high compliment. The animation is some of the best put to film. With help from visual consultant Roger Deakins, the animation was so beautiful and even at times very realistic. There was one shot in the film involving glaciers that looked so realistic that I initially thought it was filmed on a camera. The character are again, fantastic. They evolve like characters should, while keeping their charm that we liked about them from the previous movie. The new characters are also fantastic with the villain Drago Bludvist being a genuinely unlikeable villain while having a believable backstory to explain his actions. My favorite character is still Toothless who can be both cute and funny at times while also being epic and awesome in others. I can go on forever praising this movie, but I'd rather not."How to Train Your Dragon 2" is one the best animated sequels ever made. This is a film that has everything I expect to a sequel. A story that is as good if not better than the original, some breathtakingly real animation, and fantastic memorable characters. It's really a fantastic movie and I'm pretty excited to see where the story goes next. There are many reasons why DreamWorks is considered one of the best animation studios in the business and this is most certainly one of them.

I'm going to be honest here and say that this chapter wasn't anywhere near as good as the first one, but then again that is generally what you get when you come to sequels. Maybe it had something to do with me being distracted, or maybe it was just that they were simply trying to cash in on the success of the first movie that they decided to head into sequel (and now trilogy) territory. Well, that sometimes works, and the movies were actually based on a series of books, but that does not necessarily mean that they actually follow the books all that closely (apparently they don't).Anyway, the film takes place five years after the previous film, and as we know from the end of the previous film all of the dragons moved in with the villagers and they are now part and parcel of their life. However, as Hiccup is out exploring he is attacked by some pirates, or more precisely dragon hunters, and discovers that there is this rather nefarious person out hunting all the dragons to create an army of dragons riders. Being the rather idealistic person that he is, Hiccup then decides to try and locate this fellow and attempt to convince him to have a change of heart (which we all know is going to fail abysmally).I guess this is in part a coming of age story, but then again the first movie was like that as well with Hiccup training to become a warrior, but instead of following the ways of the villagers, heading out on his own and actually changing the village for the better. This is the story that continues here, particularly since we learn that he doesn't have a mother (and even though it was never explicitly stated in the first movie, the lack of an older female figure in his life suggested that he may not have one). Of course, we also have his rather good heart, and his belief that he can change somebody through reasoning and a well founded argument – only to discover that unfortunately doesn't work.Yet even though it felt weaker than the first film, I still quite liked it. The film expanded the world somewhat, and we also discovered that there are many more varieties of dragons than what was introduced in the first film – including the gargantuan dragon who has the ability to control all other dragons in its vicinity. Of course, we have our antagonist, whose goals aren't that particularly clear, though we do know that he seems to have a chip on his shoulder with regards to dragons.In the end, even though I didn't find this anywhere near as good as the first one, it was still a really fun movie to watch, and I admit that in the end I did enjoy it.