How to Train a Dragon 2
The movie is quite a lot worse than the first one, despite the fact that it looks a lot better (I watched the two films back to back). The first movie promotes understanding, non-violence and diplomacy. Given the amount of wars waging around the world right now, I thought that that message, even if it was a bit crudely done in the film, was really important. And, I thought watching the main character and his dragon form a relationship was really fun.
The second film deviates from this message drastically, and, for reasons I don't completely understand, changes the message from one where non-violence is not only an end in itself, but is also effective, to one where violence is the only answer (because some megalomaniacs are insane and can't be reasoned with). And, additionally, unlike movies like the Hunger Games, or even Harry Potter, the horrors of warfare are not really present at all in the film. Like many other movies where horrific violence occurs, most of it is whitewashed, and everyone is super happy to win at the end, despite the tremendous losses they suffered.
The animation in the second film is still top notch (it looks quite a bit better than Inside Out, for example) and the characters are mostly interesting (though there are a lot of stereotypes that it would have been better they didn't use). And Toothless, the main dragon, is as cute as ever.
3/5
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