The thrilling second chapter of the epic How To Train Your Dragon trilogy brings back the world Hiccup and Toothless five years later. While Astrid, Snotlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island’s new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.
The state of big-budget animated films these days is a strange one, as I feel that movies like Frozen are trying to imitate the Dreamworks-style Shrek model of storytelling, whereas movies like How to Train Your Dragon, from Dreamworks, feel closer to the Disney films of yore that everyone holds up as nostalgic classics. How to Train Your Dragon 2 looks to be striking the perfect balance of comedy and action without doing the whole winking-at-itself thing, packed full of meta-humour. The first How to Train Your Dragon remains a favourite animated film from recent years, and from this trailer, I’d say its sequel looks likewise fantastic. Here’s hoping!
How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes out June 20, 2014.