Saw How to Train Your Dragon 2, another kid's movie. I saw the original some time ago, so I've sort of lost track of the details of what happened. Anyway, it picks up shortly after the first film (I think) with Hiccup now 20 and growing stubble, exploring the known world on dragon-back and being pressured to be more chief-ly because his dad isn't getting any younger. All this fun comes to an end however on the discovery of a rival chief who is amassing a dragon army and who claims that "he alone" can protect humans from the dragon threat (this film came out in 2014, btw.)
The film is fairly rollicking and more emotional than I'd thought it would be. There's a lot of family dynamics going on which resonates nicely with a theme of succession and overthrow. I don't want to give too much away, but the low-stakes "Hiccup, you should be chief now" struggle is mirrored with a similar hierarchy struggle in the dragon world. Anyway, that's all background stuff. The film is not one for deep thoughts on human life.
I enjoyed the spectacle of the movie. I wasn't able to feel clever by picking up on Themes or Messages, but the film is always spectacular to look at. I have a hard time understanding the film's attitude towards dragons. They're treated as pets, but also as spirit animals. Toothless is missing a rear wing just as Hiccup is missing a foot. But then, what am I supposed to think about the humans being at war with the dragons in the first film? I don't think they work as a metaphor for anything really - it's just really about fantasy dragons.
But the dragons have some excellently silly character design and there's a ton of disabled representation to be had (at least three characters sport some pretty snazzy prosthetics.) The film is very nice and winning. Not terribly funny, but it works well as a fantasy drama, so okay. The visuals are really what I'm here for and those held up. Good character and set design and some good plotting too. Well done, all around.
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