How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Viking teenager Hiccup (voice by Jay Baruchel) returns with his dragon pal Toothless, this time forced to deal with a wicked warlord (Djimon Hounsou) who is recruiting an army of dragons to feed his lust for conquest and destruction. The first movie back in 2010 was a delightful surprise; this sequel, not so much. With around 100 minutes of movie strung out over 25 minutes worth of plot, writer-director Dean DeBlois resorts to cribbing elements from other movies—the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars saga, Pirates of the Caribbean, Japanese monster movies and so on. The first movie satisfied itself with cribbing the Aesop fable about Androcles and the lion, and it was more fun that way. DeBlois also overdoes the 3-D flying scenes, as if he simply can't think of any other way to kill the time.