Disagree. HTTYD 2 did everything better than the first.
Explain your reasons. Saying "Disagree" is as explanatory as just saying "No, You".
To be frank, randomly diffuse statements without any real inherent critical content seems to be this person's stock in trade.
...Man, this page is one rant about long, pointless stretches of nothing happening while we (theoretically) ooh and ahh at the scenery away from being a word-for-word summary of my opinions on the movie.
I mean, I think I liked the good more than you did, but I agree that the bad was the result of artistic compromise in the name of trend-chasing.
Thanks for the accordance. Though, which parts did you find boring? I can't say I found the film boring, though there were some parts that were a bit more obvious towards the "look how pretty this is".
If I had more room, I'd talk more about what I did like. I liked the cool scene of Hiccup first meeting his mom and the Dragon Sanctuary tour. Eret's arc was a nice subplot. I didn't like how Astrid, my favorite character from the last film, didn't have much role in this own (and her redesign looks weird), this film's certainly not a "Ruined Forever" sequel that diminishes my viewing of the first film.
Honestly, most of the parts where Hiccup and his mum are hanging out. I really wanted the film to do more with their relationship, and with her and Stoick, than it did, and it always feels (I've got young cousins I babysit, see) like the long sequences of them hanging out looking at dragons or flying around are directly obstructing my gettin' more of that.
I realize that I might not be in the majority here, but that's a bit of a peeve of mine. I prefer if those kinds of shots are meant to create a mood and serve the film, rather than just existing to be pretty.
Perhaps that might be a consequence of how Drago basically takes over the story in the last third, leaving Valka with nothing to do except lose her fight with him and give Hiccup a pep talk. So her closure with Stoick and Hic is rushed and thus the film doesn't do much with the problem of her abandoning her family for years, which gives some viewers trouble with sympathizing with her.
You want answers. Here you go.
The comic relief characters served a purpose of, oh I don't know, making sure that people who watched HTTYD 1 weren't alienated by the increased maturity of HTTYD 2.
Speaking of which, the increased maturity is already enough to raise HTTYD 2 above the first for me.
Drago didn't hijack the plot. Everything was building up to his big entrance. What? Haven't seen a human villain before? Are you too accustomed to the black-morality villain that is the Red Death in the first movie?
And about forcing two different halves together... At least HTTYD 2 had two different halves that was welded together fantastically. Unlike the HTTYD 1 which was completely light-hearted.
HTTYD 1 was just full of pretentious, arrogant action and fake maturity. Hiccup loses a leg? He forgets about it a minute later. Hiccup abused by his tribe? He forgives them so that HTTYD 1 can end on a completely happy note. Violence is not the answer? Well it's time to kill the Red Death and let Astrid use that stupid "punch-and-kiss" gag of hers.
By the way, Astrid in HTTYD 1 was not a positive female role model. She was just another "jerk-turned-lover" without personality. And her punch-and-kiss gag is stupid. Glad that HTTYD 2 actually got rid of that idiotic gag.
Just a speculation, but could fall under Fridge Brilliance - Drago wasn't killed because the Bewilderbeast retreated. Why did Hiccup let the Bewilderbeast retreat? First of all - it's endangered and killing it is reducing the species' population. Second - it retreated and Hiccup wants to try and give it another chance at a new life (at least that's what I make of it).
It was just tough luck that Drago was on-board.
Where did you get the fact that Drago's mooks are just mercenaries who do stuff for pay? You're making that up.
And regarding why the mooks weren't on Berk for the climax - they were sailing, not riding dragons. Drago was the only one riding a dragon. That's how he got there way before his henchmen.
A direct fireball does kill or severely wound in this movie, and people actually die from it - which is another reason for why HTTYD 2 is the better movie.
In HTTYD 1, I didn't see any Viking die from fire blasts. Major flaw, if you ask me.
Also, Drago wasn't hit hundreds of times. He was just blasted once and it stuck him on the fake arm - which knocked it off. Again, you pulled something out of nowhere.
Yeah, HTTYD 1 didn't try to be great. And it wasn't. It was mediocre.
HTTYD 2, on the other hand, strived for greatness and it achieved it.
What I meant by Drago hijacking the plot is that the second half of the movie is largely focused on Hiccup and Stoik reuniting with Valka. The central arc is about Hiccup accepting that he's in line to be the chief, Valka mirroring him by having chosen to run away with dragons rather than return, and what Stoick became with her judgement to guide him. These were the parts of the film that I liked, but Drago had little to do with them. Just when it seems like the family was reunited and are going to learn how to work together, Drago suddenly appears at the Sanctuary and then Hiccup and Valka's relationship stops mattering from that point. It's hijacking if it flattens all the other subplots in the process.
I know what the comic relief characters were for. But they weren't very funny. I can't believe a monstrous ice dragon is a threat if it's being fooled by a soccer sheep, or that a poignant funeral mattered if the very next scene is "haha baby dragons". The teen Vikings were competent and skilled when fighting the Red Death, but here they just provide alleged laughs and little significant.
If Drago's army was taking slower to get to Berk, why didn't he wait for them? Why did he travel at their speed when attacking the sanctuary? Why didn't they then end up at Berk a few hours late and so start another battle?
If Drago only managed to be scraped once from a gigantic storm of hundreds of fire blasts, then those dragons have quite horrible aim. And the heat from all of those must be immense. A mere miss would be enough to roast him alive. But only Stoick is made to die.
There's too much for one comment to answer everything else, but overall I don't really mind or care if you like this film; I like parts of it. I respect the increased maturity it was aiming for. But I don't think it was executed very well. Stoick's death doesn't equal increased maturity to me; it's a theme done better in The Lion King. So I'd rather that you understand the reasons for my and others dissent rather than mass-commenting on all of a film's reviews twice trying to defeat everybody.
@ Tuckerscreator
Drago was a villain that was cleverly written as the antitheses for all the Haddock family members. Unlike Stoick, he is a cruel leader that does not tolerate failure and weakness. Unlike Valka, while he does recognize the value of dragons, he uses them for his own twisted ends. And unlike Hiccup, Drago let his fears consume him and turn him into a monster.
Like Hiccup, Drago's ability to control dragons was rejected and mocked. Like Hiccup and Valka, Drago had a creative (though twisted) idea that was shunned and laughed at. Like Stoick, Drago started out as wanting to solve the dragon crisis. But when Drago was rejected and mocked, that's when he turned bad. His emergence in the present is the mistakes of the past returning to haunt the future. To Hiccup, Stoick and Valka, Drago's emergence is like a haunting reminder of what they could've become if they crossed the line.
So you see, Drago doesn't just hijack the plot.
The comic relief characters weren't very funny in HTTYD 1 either. Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut? They were jerks and karma houdinis in HTTYD 1. Why we were supposed to root for them at the climax, I don't know.
The Evil Bewilderbeast wasn't being fooled by the flying sheep, it was distracted. The point of the flying sheep was to annoy and distract the Bewilderbeast from a quickly-approaching Hiccup.
True that a poignant funeral was ruined by baby dragons, but I didn't really care that much for Stoick. And it's not like HTTYD 1 didn't do the same thing either.
Remember what I said about some of the flaws in HTTYD 1? Hiccup forgets his leg the minute he sees dragons accepted in town. He forgets years of abuse so that HTTYD 1 can end on a happy note as he and Toothless take off into the sky.
"If Drago's army was taking slower to get to Berk, why didn't he wait for them?" Because Drago got overconfident. He did just kill Valka's Bewilderbeast and enslaved all of the Sanctuary's dragons with his own Bewilderbeast. Added to the fact that with his own dragons, he probably thought he stood more than enough chance to take down Berk.
"Why didn't they then end up at Berk a few hours late and so start another battle?" The majority of us just come to the consensus that after Drago retreated from Berk, he went to his army and cancelled the assault. I mean, who would be crazy enough to try attacking again?
"If Drago only managed to be scraped once from a gigantic storm of hundreds of fire blasts, then those dragons have quite horrible aim." One, the dragons were focusing on the Bewilderbeast, not Drago. Two, Drago has a fire-proof cape, fire-proof armour, and some cover to hide behind. And three, there have been lots of characters dodging fireballs and none of them seem to get singed or burned much.
"But only Stoick is made to die." From a direct and full-powered Night Fury blast to the chest.
If you don't think HTTYD 2 was executed well, I'll grudgingly accept it (or at least try to).
But I very well say the same thing about HTTYD 1. It wasn't executed well at all and a lot of the time the story felt bland and forced.
By the way, in my opinion, The Lion King and Mufasa are so overrated.
One last thing.
"So I'd rather that you understand the reasons for my and others dissent rather than mass-commenting on all of a film's reviews twice trying to defeat everybody."
Oh, I do try and understand, but a lot of people seem to ignore the flaws that HTTYD 1 contains.
The reason why I comment twice on a review is to elaborate on my points - which I admit I just spat out on the first time round.
That's because the first time I commented, I was pissed that the majority of people seem to place HTTYD 1 on an untouchable pedestal.
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Trying Too Hard
The one word to describe this film? Paradoxical. This film wants to be a fun experience with lots of thrills and silly moments. It wants to be a great, important masterpiece which will make you think and learn something truthful. And it wants to make a ton of money and please please PLEASE get a 90+ score on Rotten Tomatoes just like the first one. The result is lots of dissonant clashing.
The foundation for the "great" stuff is scenes like the complex, nuanced character of Valka, the arc of Hiccup learning to become a chief, and the many slow scenes to build up character and environment. And Hiccup's moralizing speeches. My gosh, his moralizing, as subtle as a 90s green special. As for the "fun" stuff, it's in ill-fitting comic relief, evil black-robed villains of evilness, and overlooking the narrative's moral questions whenever it's convenient. The comic relief characters serve no purpose to the plot, Drago hijacks the plot in the last third, and the movie tops itself too early in the great dragon vs dragon battle that it forgets to make the climax... well, a climax.
You can almost hear the filmmakers sweating to force both halves together. Is Valka and Stoick's dance of love getting too deep? Quick, make Gobber do something goofy! Everyone's too happy in this reunited family; here comes Evil McBaddy Bad-Bad to make things sad again! Drago is totally irreconcilable, hence he must be dealt with extreme prejudice and... left to go free? That poor Red Death dragon, never reasoned with. His mooks are just mercs who do this for pay, yet they'll get killed by the dozens when they invade the sanctuary, then suddenly disappear at Berk so we don't have to see Vikings actually being Vikings. Sometimes a direct hit fireball will kill you, sometimes hundreds of them just blows off your fake arm.
So much of what this film tried was done better in other movies. When Frozen had comic relief characters amidst deep themes, it integrated both and made the funny guy essential. When Blood Diamond had a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight, it was intense because there was a real risk of death involved. And the first HTTYD film didn't try to be great, it just tried to tell a good story with characters. This film sacrificed character for comedy, plot for theme, and accomplished neither.