How To Train Your Dragon 2

Starring: Voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett
Directed by Dean DeBlois
Rating: ***

The allure of How To Train Your Dragon 2 can be better appreciated if you watch it with the young ones. The fascination in their eyes at the spectacle of colourful, gliding dragons, their feeling of thrill at the dragon races to catch the sheep, the “awws” at the sight of the cute dragon Toothless (reminding them of their own pets, perhaps), their spontaneous tears at its imprisonment by dra­gon-trappers and the sheer delight when it triumphs against all odds—all of it helps you connect better with your inner child. It’s also indicative of why this computer animation film franchisee holds such a sway over the audience. Yes, it’s technology at its most fascinating and eye-­popping. The plot—about the triumph of good over evil—is straight, simple, unsurprising and easily unde­rstood. But what lifts the film is the uncluttered, clear-eyed story-­telling at its most pure and organic. One that pushes the emotional buttons in just the right measure. One that reaches out to both the young and the old.

Moving ahead from the prequel, the world here in Part 2 “gets lot more bigger” for young Hiccup, Astrid and the other Vikings (as well as the dragons) of the village of Berk. It means more adventures but also more dangers and conflicts, involving dragon-trapper Eret and the insane, power-hungry villain Drago.

The characters, even the minute ones, are no cardboard cutouts, but are well-rounded and throb with complexities. Also, much of the movie is sombre, weighty and extremely pertinent, politically speaking. After last week’s documentary The World Before Her, here’s another totally unrela­ted film that talks of a similar issue—how mass hypnosis and brainwashing tears people apart, rather than bring them together. How, in the face of a large-scale indoctrination, even the most reasonable talk against war and violence can get marginalised and be dismissed and denigrated as irresponsible. How even the good dragons can become evil under the influence of the bad ones. But the key is within them (and, in turn, us), on how they defy the evil forces to wrest back the “control” of their inner selves. Most of all, the film is about our families, parents and legacies. It’s about individuals in search of themselves which makes them skirt the worldly responsibilities, like how Hiccup doesn’t want to stand in his father Stoick’s shoes. It’s about how we may run away or remain separated from our par­ents but eventually become like them. Like how Hiccup inherits traits from his long-lost mot­her Valka. It’s a film about losses and regr­ets but also about continuities, about the inescapable circle of life.