It’s pretty safe to say that the 2010 animated fantasy film How to Train Your Dragon surprised us all. The film, based on the books by Cressida Cowell, told the story of a young viking named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), who befriended a dragon even though his whole culture says they are fearsome beasts. It could have been cloying, it could have been saccharine, but it was instead an emotionally affecting, action-packed thrill with a great sense of humor and some honest to goodness consequences. Hiccup lost a leg by the end of his first movie. That sure as hell never happens to Captain America.
With How to Train Your Dragon 2 opening next weekend, we got to thinking about the leftover questions from the first film, the questions raised by the marketing for the sequel, and the future of this franchise and dragon movies as a whole. What we came up with was Our Five Questions about How to Train Your Dragon 2. Check ’em out, and let’s see if we get any answers when How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes out on June 13, 2014.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
How to Train Your Dragon 2: Our 5 Questions
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Will Hiccup EVER Finish Training This Dragon?
At the end of How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup's dragon Toothless seemed pretty well trained. Turns out there's more to learn in How to Train Your Dragon 2, but come on... how long does this take? We appreciate they have to stay fresh with regular training but when is Hiccup finally going to get it right? Could the third movie just be called, And That's How I Trained My Dragon?
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No, Seriously, Why Are There Scottish Vikings?
Vikings tend to hail from Scandinavia, so why are do so many of them have Scottish accents in the How to Train Your Dragon movies? And how come those Scottish vikings have kids with American accents? It's a little thing but it distracts us for every second of these otherwise great movies.
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Did the Trailer HAVE to Give Away the Twist?
The trailers for How to Train Your Dragon 2 reveal that Hiccup's mother, Valka, is not only alive but has also been training dragons herself all these many years. Director Dean DeBlois told CraveOnline the movie draws out the mystery for quite a while, and that the trailers essentially spoiled the movie. Was that really necessary? Wouldn't audiences want to see this movie anyway, without the promise of Hiccup's mother's return?
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When Are We Going to Get a Good Live-Action Dragon Movie?
We realize there aren't any live dragons around, and that animation is perhaps the perfect medium to bring these fantastic beasts to the big screen, but come on, Hollywood... We haven't had an unequivocably "great" dragon movie since Dragonslayer in 1981. That's over 30 years ago. Dragonheart came close, but sheesh, that's almost 20 years old now. And The Hobbit doesn't have nearly enough dragon for us. Make it happen, okay?
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How Depressing is This Franchise Going to Get?
In case you haven't noticed, dragons don't exist anymore. The How to Train Your Dragon franchise has planned since the beginning to explain why that is. Is How to Train Your Dragon 3 going to be a total bummer, or will they find a way to cop out and keep Toothless's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids alive somehow?
