I did not plan on going to a movie this month, but I had enough Scene points for a free one, and a few friends wanted to go, so I went.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 was the most emotionally overwhelming film I have scene in a long time. I loved it. I loved all of it (except for one scene near the end that ripped my entire soul out and will never ever allow me to forgive the writers, EVER). The cinematography was beautiful, the animation was smooth, the characters were well built, it was just all-around GOOD.
The shots they made were breathtaking. Being a dragon-training movie, there are plenty of sky shots. One of my favorites was when Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) jumps off Toothless the first time. The shots of the clouds, and then landscape is just gorgeous! Just beautiful, loved it. Another of my favorite scenes is during the Alpha dragon battle. There's a shot where Hiccup and Toothless are soaring high above the giant dragon, but you don't really see them. Instead, you see the battle behind them from a bird's eye view. All you can see of them is a blurred silhouette. It was the kind of shot that made my heart jump out of my chest for a moment. Beautiful.
This was probably one of the best sequels I've seen, too. Most writers take note of the enjoyed humour of a film and then focus on that when making the sequel. HTTYD2 definitely had a lot of jokes, but I don't think they focused on the humour more than they did the plot. My favorite joke was when the female twin, Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig), first sees the captain of the dragon trappers, Eret (Kit Harington), she reacts any way a normal female would; she swoons. What makes her reaction funny is that she doesn't hide it from him. She says her thoughts of him out loud, in front of her peers, and even to Eret's face! And the focus the give him in the film while she's looking at him is brilliant! At one point (possibly more than that), they do a close-up shot of his biceps flexing. I just absolutely loved it haha!
They did such a good job with this movie. I'd recommend it to anyone. One last thing I'd like to mention, I really enjoyed the little bit of detail they added to Hiccup and Astrid's (America Ferrera) relationship. The first scene that has Hiccup in it, there's a small braid at the back of his neck. Later in the scene, when Astrid joins him, as she's talking to him she braids another bit of hair beside that one. He never unbraids either of them throughout the entire film. I don't know about you, but I just think that is the sweetest thing, and it says a lot about their relationship.
I give How To Train Your Dragon 2 an 9 out of 10.
