: ★★★★½ (9/10) Recommended if you like : The Iron Giant , Spider-Verse , Princess Mononoke (for its nuanced take on human-animal conflict).
Valka serves as a mirror to Hiccup. Like him, she sympathized with dragons long before it was acceptable. However, where Hiccup stayed to change his world, Valka fled to save herself and the dragons she loved. She represents what Hiccup could become if he abandons his people. Her reunion with Stoick is one of the film’s highlights, featuring a poignant musical reprise of a Viking song, "For the Dancing and the Dreaming." It is a scene of quiet, awkward, and profound love, showcasing that it is never too late to reconnect. How to Train Your Dragon 2
The film is the longest film produced by DreamWorks Animation to date, with a runtime of 1 hour and 41 minutes. : ★★★★½ (9/10) Recommended if you like :
The most discussed—and devastating—moment in How to Train Your Dragon 2 occurs in the third act. Stoick the Vast finally reunites with Valka after twenty years. For a brief, beautiful moment, the family is whole. Then, in a shocking turn, Drago’s enslaved Alpha commands Toothless (who is momentarily under its spell) to fire a plasma blast. Stoick pushes Hiccup out of the way and takes the blast himself. Stoick dies in Valka’s arms. However, where Hiccup stayed to change his world,
Drago is the antithesis of Hiccup. Where Hiccup uses empathy and understanding, Drago uses fear and chains. He has assembled an army and captured his own vicious Alpha—a monstrous, armored Bewilderbeast that enslaves other dragons through psychic domination. Drago does not want to kill dragons; he wants to weaponize them to conquer the world.