A few years after the events of the first movie, Hiccup and his village are drawn into a battle against a conqueror who knows how to trap and control dragons.

A sequel just as ambitious as the first entry. We follow Hiccup as he transitions into adulthood and its responsibilities and challenges at the same time as his mother (wonderfully voiced by Cate Blanchett) makes a dramatic comeback. Emotional and dark at times, but there’s also a rich adventure at breakneck pace with loads of 3D thrills and many new colorful dragons.

Funny and exciting confrontations between the mysterious conqueror, the village and Hiccup’s mother.

2014-U.S. Animated. 102 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by Dean DeBlois. Music: John Powell. Voices of Jay Baruchel (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III), Cate Blanchett (Valka), Gerard Butler (Stoick the Vast), Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington.

Trivia: Co-executive produced by DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Followed by How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).

Golden Globe: Best Animated Feature Film. 

Last word: “I was asked by Jeffrey Katzenberg to start coming up with ideas while we were still doing the final sound mix on the first film. I have a very distinct memory of fleshing out the first outline in a little notebook, sitting at a picnic table that overlooks a baseball field at Skywalker Ranch. There I kind of knew the building blocks of it […] To me the next act of this trilogy was always going to be Hiccup defining himself against the very powerful force of two domineering parents, in a way.” (DeBlois, Collider)