The first How to Train Your Dragon movie was a neat surprise, a funny and spirited fantasy with a crazy setting. It also made a bundle in 2010 — so it’s time for a sequel. Say this for How to Train Your Dragon 2: It’s not as good as the first one, but they certainly didn’t just mimic the original movie. We take off in a whole different direction here.
For one thing, the characters have actually aged. The adolescent heroes from the first film are now 20 years old, and facing different sorts of challenges. Our main character is still Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), the nerdy son of a great Viking leader (Gerard Butler). Hiccup discovered how to live in peace with dragons, and now he and his dragon pal are busy exploring the uncharted northern lands of this primitive era.