How to Train Your Dragon 2

[Dacey]

Eric, it's right here in this thread. Vi posted it above.

Although since you've gone this long avoiding spoilers, it might be best to just wait until the movie comes out at this point.

[Karizma]

I don't think there can be a bigger and more die-hard How To Train Your Dragon 1 and 2 fan than me!
Perhaps that's why I know just the place where you can get hold of all the latest trailers, trivia etc etc... Just have a look at this http://www.schoolofdragons.com/how-to-t ... on/httyd-2 page.

Well, who would ever have imagined DreamWorks would actually release the entire first five minutes of the movie?

[Dacey]

I saw the full trailer for this before Godzilla, having held off from watching it online.

Let's just say that while I thought it looked terrific, I feel like I've seen way too much of it now.

[Ben]

True of most trailers these days...

(BTW Buzz, Star Wars was planned as 9 films, a trilogy of trilogies if you will, after the first one grossed so much. Well, at least according to Georgie, although we know that isn't always the case, the little prankster... But that's for another thread.)

[Buzz Bumble]

Trailers have almost always shown you the best bits of the movie and told most of the plot.


The original rough storyline for Star Wars was thought to be able to be covered by 9 or 12 movies, but George Lucas has altered the ideas and squashed the storyline down along the way and the Saga is now complete with six movies, hence the "happily ever after" ending of Return of the Jedi. The original idea (or at least one of them) for the third trilogy was for Luke to go off and find his sister (who wasn't Leia), so that together they could defeat the Emperor. The Saga of six movies also works best as the story of Anakin Skywalker - from (near) birth to his death and redemption.

Adding more movies to the Saga makes absolutely no real sense and is really just a money grubbing exercise that could easily have been done with more spin-off movies set in the Star Wars universe that weren't "episodes" of the Saga ... as they are already planning to do in the "off years" between the new Trilogies movies and the Star Wars Rebels animated TV series. (Woo-hoo! Almost back on topic. )

[ShyViolet]

"DreamWorks Dragons" to debut on Netflix:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/en ... story.html

[Switchblade Sister]

Looks like the writer/director of lilo and stitch, How to train your dragon, and now Httyd 2 has a hit on his hands. Dean Dublois is the best, by far, director dream works animation has ever had. No one else even comes close.

[Dacey]

Quick word of advice, everyone: Do NOT read reviews for this movie. At all. You WILL have it spoiled for you.

And, yes, that includes the reviews that begin paragraphs with the sentence "Without giving anything away..."

[ShyViolet]

So far 92 on RT: yay!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/mobile/m/ ... _dragon_2/

[Vernadyn]

John Powell's score is out on iTunes and Amazon digital (the CD comes out next week). The track list probably has spoilers (not having seen the movie, I don't know how spoiler-y they really are), but the music is utterly spectacular. It's loud, rambunctious, bombastic, emotionally affecting and (dare I say) epic. So far, only one of the new themes is as memorable to me as the best themes from the first film, but Powell takes all themes, old and new, and launches them to glorious heights. Lots of great choir work and energetic brass writing to admire. I hope the movie lives up to this score!

[ShyViolet]

Saw it today and really enjoyed it, although, as Dacey said, the trailer did spoil some things. In many ways darker and more complex than the first, plus the flying scenes were in my opinion much better here (plus there were more of them) Well-paced and beautifully animated, especially Hiccup's expressions--truly breathtaking. Despite the trailer showing too much there were some things I totally didn't expect, which made the movie all that much better.

However, as good as this movie was, I prefer the first--it just had a more primal pull that I can't quite explain, and even with the more conventional plot there were some scenes that just took my breath away. This movie had some of that, but not as much as the first. But altogether definitely worth seeing. A hit for DreamWorks! *

*They really need it too. At the beginning of the Penguin trailer I actually heard someone groan: "Oh no." Not too many laughs for Home either.

[Vernadyn]

I liked some things better about this one, but there were also things I liked better about the first one. At this point, I do think I liked the first one a little better as well. For some reason, many of the "big" emotional scenes, while well done, didn't get to me as much as some of the subtler scenes. I noticed that some of the better parts of the score were unfortunately partially obscured by the sound effects.

At the beginning of the Penguin trailer I actually heard someone groan: "Oh no."

I heard a groan during the Penguin trailer as well. From a 8 or 9 year old kid.

[Dan]

Got to see the film today and really liked it. A bit on the fence about which of the two is better, but I really enjoyed the scenes of Hiccup and Stoick reconnecting with Valka. I feel those scenes were so good and emotional that it really stuck with me throughout. The song and dance Stoick and Valka have was quite beautiful.

I kinda wished DeBlois did a little more explaining Fishlegs and Snotlout pining for Ruffnut. In particular how Tuffnut felt about the whole thing.

[James]

AV review is up, along with too much editorializing about DreamWorks!

http://animatedviews.com/2014/how-to-tr ... on-2-film/

Quick note on spoiler-y trailers: I can't remember where I read this but theatre owners are pushing to have the maximum length of trailers changed from 2.5 minutes to just 2 minutes, partly to make them less spoiler-prone.

[Dacey]

Saw this today...

Wow, wow, wow, just wow. I'm aware I may sound like a fanboy just gushing when I say this, but this may have been one of the greatest animated movies I've seen...ever. And yes, it's that good.

Now go see it already if you haven't.