Audience Response to How to Train your Dragon 2

Photo Courtesy – School of Dragons

One of the most anticipated movies this summer - How to Train your Dragon 2 - is finally out and making a big splash. Scoring more than 90% on the Rotten Tomatometer is one thing and wooing audiences quite another, as many a critically acclaimed flick has proved. But the response to the second installment of the planned dragons and Vikings trilogy has been pleasantly welcoming. In fact, the movie is on its way to becoming a runaway hit!

So what did How To Train Your Dragon 2 do to get it right the second time? Here’s what some viewers thought about the movie.

A lot of adults don’t really like syrupy children’s movies. DreamWorks non-fans were floored by the fact that a movie from the DWA stable could have such gripping action and all those dazzling 3-D pyrotechnics.

Unlike their normal fare, DreamWorks has managed to avoid its usual formulaic set pieces and come up with a mature romance that leaves most viewers (and adults) smiling through moist eyes. Stoick and Valka are a married couple reunited after 20 years and “For the Dancing and the Dreaming” is a moving ode to love and longing. Even the most jaded viewers couldn’t help but be touched by this renewal of lovers’ vows after a long parting.

While the movie is primarily aimed at audiences below 15, you don’t really have to be a child to enjoy it. A lot of teens loved it and so did most of the adults who watched it. HTTYD 2 certainly doesn’t talk down to its viewers!

Fans of the franchise loved the strong female characters – something animated movies aren’t really known for. Valka is a reclusive vigilante on a mission to protect dragons from evil humans; Astrid is an expert dragon rider and resourceful fighter and is Hiccup’s equal in every sense. Valka and Astrid might be the only significant female characters in the movie but they end up dominating the canvas.

Viewers are confronted by some pleasant and not-so-pleasant surprises (spoiler alert!) – Valka turns out to be none other than Hiccup’s long-lost mother; Gobber comes out of the closet and Toothless is tricked into killing Stoick.

Those looking for a movie with a heart, but put off by maudlin tearjerkers are sure to find HTTYD 2 pretty moving. The father-son relationship between Stoick and Hiccup is sensitively brought forth in all its nuances without giving way to clichés. Stoick is the alpha male whose pride as a Viking chief demands that his son prove his fighting credentials. Between him and the nerdy Hiccup exists a wide gulf that can only be bridged with love and tolerance and they do manage to bridge it in the end.

All in all, How to Train your Dragon packs a punch that leaves audiences reeling but gasping for more.

How to Train Your Dragon – Where the Book and the Movie Diverge

Hiccup is an unpopular teenage nerd who finds it hard to fit in with the rest of the clan, the warlike Vikings whose world seems to revolve around nothing but dragons. Being the son of the clan chief makes it harder for the future hero to live up to his people’s expectations and, until the fateful encounter with Toothless, has a well-earned reputation for making a right royal mess of things. And that’s the point at which How to Train your Dragon the movie departs from the book it is based upon. 

Here’s a brief overview of the differences and similarities between the book and the movie.

How to Train Your Dragon – The Similarities

Everyone who’s read the book series and watched the movie says that the only connection is that the storylines of both have to do with Vikings and dragons and the complicated relationship between the two species. But there’s a slight exaggeration here. While the book and the movie are quite radically different, several important characters that appear in the book have been retained in the movie version, albeit in a slightly tweaked form. Characters such as Hiccup, Toothless, Stoick, Nadder and Gronckle appear inboth versions and remain fundamentally unchanged.Also, the end result of all the action in How to Train Your Dragon – book and movie – is quite similar. The Vikings and the dragons eventually learn to overcome their mutual distrust and co-exist in harmony.

How to Train Your Dragon – The Differences

Film adaptations of books often take great liberties with the text and that’s particularly true in this case. The relationship between the Vikings and the dragons is a case in point. The Vikings in the book treat the dragons as hard-working pets that go out and hunt for their owners. Their high intelligence makes them slightly uncooperative, difficult to control and unwilling to obey their masters without a struggle. How to Train Your Dragon the movie portrays the relationship between the two species as openly antagonistic – Viking youth are trained to repel dragon attacks and hunt down these fearsome fire-breathing creatures.

Besides, there are characters that appear for the first time in the movie – Astrid and Ruffnut for instance. The romantic angle is non-existent in the book, though Hiccup’s best friend is a sword fighter aptly named Camicazi. Some of the major characters have been eliminated in the movie – Hiccup’s mother Valhallarama and Snotlout’s sidekick Dogsbreath the Duhbrain. All in all, the movie is a radical departure from the book series.

How to Train Your Dragon –The Verdict on the Movie

Audiences voted with their feet for this one, making the movie a critical and commercial success, with a sequel How to Train your Dragon 2 in the pipeline. The movie was fantastic in terms of storyline and character development. Kids loved it because it’s a story about how the power of friendship can replace unjust old traditions with sensible and fair new ones – a sentiment most of us sympathize with.

The Buzz Surrounding the Latest How to Train Your Dragon Game – School of Dragons

There have been excited murmurs for a while, but now there’s endless talk among the How to Train Your Dragon fan base about the latest HTTYD game – School of Dragons! With the release of the teaser to the sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and all the buzz that’s been surrounding the game, it is probably time to take a look at what all the talk is about and if it is worth all the attention.

School of Dragons–A Quick Summary

As the official website describes the game, “School of Dragons holds a world of creativity and exploration packed with endless quests and adventures that enables kids to raise, bond and train their dragons.” The description certainly sounds promising! What it also highlights are two important aspects of this How to Train Your Dragon game:

1. Endless fun as kids play with their favorite movie characters and raise and train dragons.
2. The game is a mix of education and fun.

School of Dragons – What it Really Offers

True to its description, the game does recreate, and impressively well at that, the Isle of Berk from the movie. For all the kids who loved the movie, it’s an absolute delight to play with the characters they saw and loved on screen. And, what’s more, kids can create their Viking avatars and get their very own dragon to raise and train!

In order to raise their dragons, players need to fish. Fishing is an important skill because this is what you need to feed your dragon. Vikings also learn to fly their dragons at the Flight School. Another exciting feature of this role-playing game is racing. Players get to compete with each other and race their dragons to get to the finish line first. That certainly sounds like an adrenalin rush the little Vikings are sure to love!

Along with all the best features from the movie, this How to Train Your Dragon game takes the gaming experience a notch higher with the educational content it offers kids. There are exciting science quests that players can go on to learn interesting science facts. The scientific method is certainly an integral part of the School of Dragons.

School of Dragons – The Verdict

While exploring the School of Dragons, it is hard not to get excited about raising your dragon and then racing with it. Since the game is aimed at kids aged 8 – 12, the educational content that has been woven into the game comes as a boon for parents. This How to Train Your Dragon game strives to arrive at the right balance of learning and fun, and succeeds! A look at various online forums speaks volumes about how well kids have taken to this game.

The buzz around School of Dragons has certainly been positive and fans of the hit DreamWorks animated movie have enjoyed this online How to Train Your Dragon game! There’s also talk of exciting new game features that the team is working on. From the looks of it, there’s much to look forward to. Happy playing!