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.

Female Characters in How to Train your Dragon 2

 

Photo Courtesy - School of Dragons

If you loved the heart-warming animation flick How to Train your Dragon (2010), you’re definitely looking forward to its sequel, the second installment of the planned Viking-dragon trilogy. According to reports, most of the characters from the original are set to reprise their memorable roles in the second movie, but you’ll also see a few new faces. Here’s a quick look at the important female characters you can expect to see in How to Train your Dragon 2, both old and new.

Astrid

Astrid Hofferson is a teenage girl and a top student at the Dragon Training Academy, which she attends along with Hiccup and other young Vikings. She’s tough, good looking and completely unimpressed by Hiccup’s secret shenanigans with Toothless. Soon, however, she becomes a fellow conspirator in Hiccup’s plan to bring peace between the Vikings and the dragons and secretly develops a crush on the nerdy son of the Viking chief. This spunky chick is a natural at dragon slaying and has plenty of physical strength and cunning required for the job. 

Surprisingly, Astrid does not appear in the book series, though she seems to be loosely based on Camicazi, an important female character in the books. When you see her next, she’ll be 20 years old, Hiccup’s longtime girlfriend and one of the main protagonists in How to Train your Dragon 2. There’s a definite reversal of roles when it comes to Astrid and Hiccup. Astrid is the active and aggressive fighter, while Hiccup is the sensitive thinker who feels things more strongly than others. Like her personality, Astrid’s appearance too has undergone a process of refinement in the sequel. Her hair seems to be sleeker and her outfit trendier, though her shoulder pads and trusty battle axe appear to be unchanged.

Valka

We finally get to meet Hiccup’s long lost mother in How to Train your Dragon 2, though she’s mentioned several times in the prequel. We first see Valka as she saves kidnapped dragons from the evil Eret and hides them in a secret Arctic cave. Her life is spent among dragons; she knows their ways and is privy to their secrets. Valka has a well-earned reputation for being crazy – she prefers the company of dragons to that of humans and has even learned to communicate with them in non-verbal ways. In the war between dragons and Vikings, Valka certainly knows whose side she’s on – her sympathies lie with the fire-breathing monsters and she finds it hard to trust humans. Hiccup admires her tremendously and looks up to her, although he doesn’t always understand her. Valka and her son share a love for dragons and both are expert dragon riders. 

Both Astrid and Valka are important characters in How to Train your Dragon 2, a crucial to the evolution of the plot.