By JARROD POTTER
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett
ON THE subject of training dragons, this might be your best source text yet.
Our returning hero from the first instalment, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has grown a bit older, but is still reckless in his own way alongside the village’s first tamed dragon and his best friend – Toothless.
The burden of responsibility has started to bear down on the one-legged hero as village chief Stoic (Gerard Butler) wants his son to take over the title as head Viking.
The inevitable reintroduction of Hiccup’s estranged mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) pushed the plot along, but she didn’t add a huge amount to the film beside a bit of maternal motivation.
Bit of love, bit of loss, bit of redemption; it’s a Shakespearian plot but it is equally as fun.
It’s not a mindless wander through children’s cinema either – consequences are real and aren’t wiped away with a shrug of the shoulders or a change of environment. If children are ever going to unsheathe the cotton-wool/bubble-wrap their Generation X parents have lovingly but illogically placed around them, this is the type of film we need more often.
As you’d expect in a film about dragons, the visuals soar to another level. The fight scenes are spectacular and immersive in a sense that most CGI films fail to accomplish.
This is the new archetype for a ‘family movie’ – as there’s enough in it for everyone to enjoy. Parents won’t feel like they’ve been dragged along to HTTYD2 and children will fly around the house for weeks shooting fireballs (hopefully not real ones).
