"Those who kill without reason, CANNOT be reasoned with" is such an underrated and hard line from Stoick. I LOVE how this movie matures and subverts the "we can always talk things out peacefully" trope by acknowledging that some assholes just want to see the world kneel or burn.
Yeah it's a hard lesson to teach, and line to walk. A lot of movies stop at "everyone deserves compassion," which is TRUE and a very important thing to learn that many people lose sight of. However, you sometimes need to protect people from someone else and decisions have to be made. Thus the quote: "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." I think there is a lot of narrative possibilities there that movies don't explore as much as they could.
18:12 Valka isn't conflicted because she doesn't want to go back to Berk. She's conflicted because of the love and patience Stoick is showing. It makes her feel even worse about herself and the decision she made to stay away. It hits home even more how wrong she's been for abandoning her family, and for giving up on Berk.
Exactly. Her passion isn't necessarily traveling the world to help dragons, it's just to help dragons. She stayed away from Berk because she didn't believe that Stoick could change. Stoick coming around does make her feel guilty, but it also gives her the ability to have her family and help dragons in a way that wasn't possible before.
Also she was scared about the reaction her dragons would cause in Berk since there seemed no end to the conflict when she was taken. But now Berkians and dragons live in peace. So there’s no danger to her dragons she cares for. She can have her human and dragon families.
Plus, Valka's also probably feeling some uncertainty as to how well she herself could re-adapt to living among humans again. Valka's been a literal hermit for 20 years. At this point, she's probably somewhere around her 50s, so a little under half her life has been spent with extremely little human contact (and probably only with dragon hunters who want to kill her). The only real company she HAS had are dragons. And while dragons are wonderful creatures, they aren't humans. They don't behave the same way. Living among them for so long, Valka's more than likely picked up a few "draconic" habits herself. To an extent, she'd have to relearn how to be around humans again. It's understandable for that thought to be rather daunting.
The saddest part about Stoik dying is that Hiccup was behaving just like him. Every bit the stubborn bastard his dad is, refusing to listen and believing he's the one with all of the answers.
What I really like is the difference between hiccup and his mother. His mother said she "couldn't" kill a dragon, in the first movie hiccup said he "wouldn't". Hiccup's answer implies that, if he wanted to kill a dragon, he could. Valka's answer implies she can't physically do it. That is what makes hiccup a great leader. He can do bad things but chooses not to.
Its not even implied that he could, he crippled and captured toothless in the first movie. A couple thrusts of a knife and it was over, toothless knew it too.
3:35 he doesn't need to dodge, toothless is firing blasts just ahead of Hiccup creating lift for him to keep gliding, you can even see the blast waves causing the lift.
Fun Fact: It's stated in the addons to the movie that Astrid braids Hiccup's hair when she's nervous. You can see her do it at the start of the movie when they meet up, and you can see the various braids he has in his hair, too.
In the first film Stoick wouldn't listen to Hiccup even though Hiccup knew better. Here, it's reversed. Hiccup doesn't listen even though Stoick knows better. And each time that lack of communication costs.
What I love about stoic in the first part of this movie is it’s not that he’s forgotten the lessons from the first movie it’s that he’s implementing them in the wrong way
@@KingsBard not just that one thing I love about the correlation between the first and second movie, is in the first movie when there was danger Stoic didn’t listen to hiccup about it, and it led to hiccup almost dying, and in the second movie, you have stoic warning, hiccup about danger and hiccup not listening, And that leads to stoic actually dying
19:00 I never took it that she wanted to travel the world and free dragons or anything like that, in fact it seem that they were preatyy settle in that location. What I unnderstood was that she loved the dragons but believed that dragons and viking could never coexist so she removed herself from the situation. If she could gi back to her family and people and still keep her bond to her beloved dragons, I don't see what she wouldn't want to.
Maybe Alicia thinks/blinded by the idea of freedom for this life HAS to come at the traded cost of not having a family instead of having both. When Stoic finds Val again, She goes on about her not going back because she thought Berk would never change, yet now that she knows it has, she has no actual reason to not to go back. Unfortunenlty, that somehow got misconstrued to her as Val not wanting to be tied down. Either that or she thinks a wife/mother wanting to be with her family is a bad idea, which I doubt.
Also, even if it were about liberating the dragons, she could still do that (possibly even better) as the wife of a Viking Chieftan. Does anyone, after seeing his growth and their reunion, really think that Stoick wouldn't support her in her efforts and provide resources to her campaign? As a man, I'd definitely want as much for my wife, especially since she's proven for 20 years that she can handle it and even make it back home safely all on her own. 🤷♂️
may the valkyries welcome you, and lead you through odins great battlefield may they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the dephts of valhalla and know that you have taken your rightful place at the table of kings
A lot of people seem to think the breastplate is like a bra but armour, no it covers the whole torso its not a weird thing its just armour men and women wear them alike. Also Valka chose to go back because the reason she stayed away to begin with were the fact that the berkians and dragons were fighting but since they arent anymore and the evidence is right in front of her she chose to return.
19:20 I feel that she stayed away because she couldn’t connect her love for dragons and her love for her family and felt she had to choose one over the other and left because she feared her love for dragons was a threat to her family, but now she can satisfy both her love of family and dragons, so she is willing to return to a Berk which has become a place where dragons and humans live in peace. And now, should she choose to go out saving dragons, she can have a loving home to return to as well!
I think my favorite instant is when Stoik pauses in the song, waiting for Velka to answer. And when she doesn't after the second time he starts to turn, accepting that the spark was seemingly gone.
My personal favorite facts about this movie are these two: One, Eret is voiced by Kit Harrington, the actor for Jon Snow in Game of Thrones. There's a TV ad for this movie of Kit Harrington reading the movie's script with Toothless doing funny things behind him. Two, Drago's staff that he swings around is modeled after a bullhook, which is a weapon that was historically used to "train" (abuse) baby elephants so that the elephants continue to follow the orders of their owner when they are full grown.
19:45 Yeah, you can really tell that if Valka was around, he would’ve been SUCH a better parent to hiccup than how he was at the beginning of the series. He didn’t know what he was doing without her, and thats probably why giving hiccup the breastplate-helmet was so important to him
Toothless having a place in our hearts and having main character relevance with almost no dialogue really shows the wonderful charactersion the movies have.
By the way the two tv show series on httyd explain a lot of the innovation and advances in their culture, and technology from the first movie, as a child watching that series then seeing this movie was a joy!
Alicia, I cannot stress enough, you NEED to watch the series that take place between the first movie and this one, you NEED to. Riders of Beark, Defenders of Beark, and Race to the Edge, in that order…
those three series were pretty good, i watched them purely because the movies were so good that i wanted more time with the characters, and they did a pretty good job with them, its also fun to see some of the character development that happens between the first 2 movies, especially how Hiccup and Astrid's relationship develops.
Evidently the original script had Valka/Hiccup's mom as another antagonist who refused to believe dragons and humans could coexist. So much so that she would actually attack the village to steal the dragons after learning that Hiccup was responsible for Toothless' tail injury. They decided to change it in production which is why there's that disconnect with her agreeing to go back and live with them midway through the movie.
18:21 I'd argue that she regrets leaving, but couldn't return to the Berk she remembered: one of the neverending cycle of fighting & killing dragons that Berk became. Remember how shocked she was when Hiccup told her how things changed? She was AMAZED that Stoick & her people accepted the dragons now. At this moment, I think she's acknowledging she can return NOT as the "chieftain's wife," but the premiere expert on dragons who could teach the next generation AND be with her family. And just because she goes back doesn't mean she can't return! I feel Stoick would have seen her need for freedom & allow her to come & go.
I think her not going back to Berk wasn't about her not wanting to be tied down but more in the sense that she believed it didn't change. Hiccup has been freeing dragons and exploring around while being in Berk, already something she wanted to do. And now its changed into the very home she never thought was possible, and the best part, her family will be there with her. And she wouldn't have been the wife of the chief, as Stoic was already planning to retire.
Fun fact: the HTTYD section at Universal’s upcoming park (Epic Universe) is meant to take place between this movie and the next. And they’re actually going to have dragons (drones) flying over the area.
It makes sense for Stoick to backtrack a little on his character development in the second movie because that's just how it realistically works. No one just learns a lesson once and it sticks with them for the rest of their life. Sometimes people slip back into their old habits even after having learned not to do it, because while learning a new behaviour is easy, continuing to maintain that behaviour is much harder. Plus, he hasn't completely backtracked. In the first movie he was all "you should do what I want you to do", but now in the second movie he's like "you can do what you want to do now, but in the way I want you to do it."
I think why I don’t see it weird for Velka to want to rejoin the village is that her fears were answered. She grew up in a tribe that hated and hunted down the creatures she’s grown to love. Lead by a man who she’s convinced will hate her and could never change. But now she’s seen that Stoic can change, that Berk can be a paradise for dragons. So she can come home, be with her family, and train a village to continue her mission.
Fun fact. The norse only allow trusted loved ones to touch or braid their hair. So Astrid just keeps putting those tiny braids in hiccups hair. Also if you go back to the first movie you can also see that he has the small scar on his chin, they thought ahead.
something about this movie i didn’t appreciate until later on was how the 3 alpha dragons in the movie represented and paralleled the 3 chiefs. the white alpha that fell paralleled stoick and his death, the black alpha losing his tusk paralleled drago and his missing arm, and toothless paralleled hiccup by becoming alpha at the same time hiccup became chief. i also LOVE the one scene of drago and stoick fighting as the two alphas are too in the back
2:20 In defense of Ruffnut, she's actually a really caring sister, I mean she nearly murders Snotlout multiple times over him bullying Tuffnut in Race to the Edge. And the twins seem dumb, however when it counts they always somehow find a way through, though most are problems they had caused in the first place.
you HAVE to react to the show, it takes place after the first movie but before the second one and really shows their progression to understanding and cohabitating with dragons, as well as its also just a super fun show traveling to different lands, discovering new dragons, fighting bad guys, the show is so peak
@ 2 are just shitty remakes that dont even look the same, the ones from 2019 and 2021. The one i mean is the original and first one “dreamworks dragons” that consists of 8 seasons, season 1 “riders of berk”, season 2 “defenders of berk” and season 3-8 “race to the edge” which are all part of 1 show Edit: spelling
@@bartoseku79 those are the 3 shows I was talking about, riders, defenders, and race to the edge. Riders and defenders are pretty much the same, show not sure why it’s split honestly. What other 2 are you talking about?
@@ikeking6797 theres also the Dragons: Rescue Riders from netflix, and Dragons: Rescue Riders that was streamed in hulu if i remember correctly, both look like shit and i havent even seen them
Fun fact :From my understanding and from what I heard it was originally going to be Gobber who dies but they decided to change it to Stoick dying because of the potential emotional impact.
Toothless. The baby boy. The Good Boy. Yus. Something that I think often gets missed on first watch in Valka's scenes, is that she has a sort-of nervous, almost manic energy when talking about traveling and exploring with hiccup; which contrasts rather sharply with her more calm joy when interacting with the dragons more directly. Personally, taking that together with her almost resigned demeanor when talking about Berk and people not being capable of change, kind of makes me suspect that she *does* want to live in Berk (in the same way as she currently lives in the Dragon Sanctuary), but is afraid of going back. Not least because she believed (correctly, for a very long time) that it would mean giving up her life with dragons. EDIT: To be clear, I do think that she *does* still want to explore; but I think that she would like to have Berk be her "home base", so to speak. Sorta like what Hiccup has been doing.
I understand why it's hard to listen to the dad at the start of this one, considering what was said and learned in the first. However, I believe this was the filmmakers intention. That was when they needed to listen to hiccup, but Stoic was 100% correct in how to approach the madman Drago, and this time he was ignored to consequences.
Stoick: *_“It takes more than a little fire to kill me!”_* Stoick (five minutes later): **dies by TOOTHLESS’s fire** (more accurately, plasma, but the thought's still there)
Peter Hollens (who loves reactors doing his stuff, he's usually one of the first commenters when it happens) does an *amazing* cover of the song played during the opening where Hiccup is first shown with Toothless. The video features his then 2 year old son as Hiccup. It was a video that when I was in collage and had a bad day, I'd watch it to feel better.
While I love this trilogy and consider them all a 8/10 at minimum, my biggest criticism is how the villains are all underdeveloped. That's my only real problem with it. Also Hiccup and Astrid are one of the most stable main couple I've ever seen in a series of movies. It's a rarity to see a MC and their love interest actually working well and supporting each other even when they become closer through multiple movies (so no break up or love triangles)
I disagree with the villains being underdevelopped. We know enough about them to understand why they do what they do. Drogo shows us how he personally suffered from the dragons, and tells us how it shaped him into the tyrant he became. As for the villain from the 3rd movie, we've already followed someone exactly like him in the first movie. He just made a different choice early on to be accepted.
I think they go too hard on the "Dragons are too good for us" in the last considering the villain of the first is kind of an evil dragon so who's to say there's not more
I don't think Val's decision to go back with Stoic is that strange. In the previous scenes with Hiccup, and that scene where she's reunited with Stoic, it's clear that her decision to stay away was rooted in fear. She was afraid to be rejected by Berk and especially Stoic, and that none of them could or would change. So by seeing Stoic again and learning how much things did change, that fear is gone. Now, she can reconnect with her family without fear of rejection
His mom was already settled in on that island and wasn't exactly traveling the world plus Hiccup already explained how her old home has changed so this was an opertunity to have her family back and still keep saving dragons. Also this is the best movie in the trilogy to me. I cried at the death the first time I watched it and then I cried during the song the second time because I knew what was coming.
18:29 it's less of her passion and more along the lines of how hiccup felt in the first movie, where she knows how dragons can behave and wanted to try and convince berk of how she saw them. That never happened with her, so that, mixed with her association with dragons making her out to be a traitor in her head gave her all these reasons to not come back. That all tore down when her husband proved her wrong. Now she has no reason to be away from her family, because she now sees that the people did change. It wasn't like a soul search, or her leaving her family to pursue her passions, she stayed away both out of fear and acceptance that they would never change. Couse regardless of what her passions are...she still was out of her own child's life for 2 decades, alongside her husband. If anything, her refusing would of made her a terrible mother, couse it would of ment that despite every reason she has to say no being taken care of, she still refuses to be apart of her family because she wanted to chase her dreams. So her saying she'll come back when she no longer has any reason to stay away shows that she's not a bad mom, she just didn't want to go back to a home that would treat her worse off for having a different perspective on a serious issue.
Alicia, my sweet bean "They already moved past this as characters!" Ahh yes, because my dad never did basically exactly this after telling me, "Hey, I'm gonna listen to you more." You're thinking of them too much as characters and not enough as people. People change eventually, yes, but there are gonna be stumbles all along that path to change.
Alicia i think you might be a little wrong about valka, its not that she didnt want to be at Berk, its that she hated all the constant fighting, and killing of dragons and vikings. When she was taken away by the dragon, she could have returned after she learned how to be a dragon rider, but decided to stay away because she thought Stoick and Berk would never change and keep on fighting and killing, so she decided to helped the dragons by being that dragon rider vigilante
I think the reason Valka didn't come back to Berk when she had the chance for so long, wasn't *just* because she loves the dragons too much, but also because she still thought the people of Berk were still dragon-hating barbarians. So upon learning they'd changed, she's 100% more open to bringing the dragons there.
@7:20. I mean unfortunately people do regress. Some people just have the stubborness issues and have to learn lessons multiple times, and Stoic is kinda old to be making HUGE character shifts. He may be good with Toothless and the rest of the dragons but taking away his stubborness would be too much to ask of him.
Honestly? This is where HTTYD really started to shine. The first was a perfect hit for what it was, but it was obviously written as an overdrawn prologue. (Cinderella story with proper complex issues, leading to a hopeful rise, fall, and huge rise of integrity, character, or society.) the second expands on the complexities of the overall issues, and uses established premise to kore freely throw emotional weight around. Stoic’s death is heavy, meaningful, and yet also lacking impact to the greater story. He was a superior figurehead who never actually got granted a “main character” moment. So he never comes off as “humbled” but keeps his past experiences in mind to the current topic, making him competent and reasonable. He understands the consequences, but maybe just not the exact concept of the situation. He’s sadly the most PERFECT character to die. It’s meaningful but simple, quick but impactful. And the setup to the situation defuses most amnesty through hiccup’s nature and Toothless’s situation. Everyone with a keyboard yaps about it, but the subtle complexity is brilliant. It’s why i kinda like the silent “story telling” of super Metroid. The PAYOFF is worth everything. Beginning starts with baby Metroid getting captured. You typically get wounded enough that your armour systems set off an alarm. Baby is kidnapped You deal with weeks of adventure. You find the capsule broken. You keep pushing on. The baby attacks you after subjected to experiments. At the last moment, it “hears” your armor’s alert… (the last sound mommy made before i was taken) and completely disarms and disengages. Slowly shifting to the soft coo and squeezes it made. “Mom!” “You’re here!!” “They hurt me so bad, im so sorry!” And then… the sacrifice for the hyper beam. I seriously doubt anyone appreciates… the emotional tragedy of that game.
This is my second favourite movie of all time(my number 1 is Kung Fu Panda 2). You'll always find that DreamWorks keeps its characters writing consistent throughout all it's movies
"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." Is my favorite scene in the entire trilogy. It has so many details. The way she's saying all that as if she practiced so many times how that moment would be (kind of like when you break something in your home and you spend the time before your parents come home thinking about how you're gonna tell them), the way he approaches her so slowly like he's afraid she'll puff out like a ghost and touches her face to know she's real. And of course the final line and delivery. Absolutely amazing.
I kinda like how Stoick dies so instantly. Usually they would let a character have a minute to say their last words, or have time for one last goodbye. Since he dies in the blink of an eye, its harder to accept, making Hiccups action and behavior more realistic.
Not everyone who appears reasonable can be reasoned with, it is a lesson that Hiccup needs to learn. Just because he was right about dragons doesn't mean that everyone is misunderstood. There are some awful people out there, and no matter how much you try to dissuade them, they will remain steadfast in their ways, they are stubborn because to believe what Hiccup is saying is to admit that everything he believes in is wrong. And he cannot do that. Not everyone possesses that strength and introspection and Hiccup had to lose a father for that lesson to hit home.
5:13 funny you should mention the lighting and animation upgrades. This was DreamWorks first film using their completely overhauled in-house Animation and lighting software, and they made a big deal out of it. It was pretty much a selling point for the film. There's even a video of Obama going to the studio to check their advancements in technology.
3:35 Hiccup is not dodging the explosions. Hiccup is using the hot air to raise himself higher to extent his gliding range. Hot Air rises which are coming from the explosions.
Before this movie, there was a whole animated series with lots of smaller adventures and whatnot. So if anyone felt like there was too big of a gap or something in between the first and second movie, I highly recommend giving the HTTYD series a watch.
Picking Toothless as the code word when he’s one of the main characters, and will have people talking about him no matter what, probably wasn’t the best choice.
Fun fact: when Gobber mentioned the "one other reason" that he never married, it was because he was confirmed to be homosexual by the producers of the film. They just never explicitly put it out there in the films, except for these slight hints toward it.
The "RIDERS/DEFENDERS Of Berk TV Show takes place after the first movie, and the RACE TO THE EDGE Netflix series takes place after those but before the second movie :D
The explosions beneath Hiccup weren't there to help him avoid them, but to give him a boost - warm air rises and the shock wave also rises. A bird can flap its wings and instinctively notice the air currents - Hiccup can neither do one nor the other ;-)
That's what I've been saying! All the signs are pointing towards this! Thanks for agreeing on that! Lol Please be convinced Alicia! Watch Godzilla is promise you won't be disappointed, you'll be amazed especially for MINUS ONE!
3:50 for the wing gliding Hiccup isn’t dodging toothless’s fire blasts, toothless is aiming the blasts and he’s USING them to gain altitude like a hot air balloon
Well, Hiccup in the first movie subdued the academy dragons using tricks he learned from Toothless, so it's save to assume there are similarities to all dragons that one can learn that apply to all species
Something I like about the second and third movies is that the antagonists are dark reflections of hiccup. Like hiccup could have easily became like drago if he lacked compassion. Using his knowledge of dragons in a malicious way.
I disagree. Drago is more like a dark reflection of Stoick (What stoick could have become if he didn't listen to Hiccup in HTTYD1 for example or if Huccup didn't exist). Also, Drago and Stoick share similar builds. Same with Hiccup and Grimmel. Both became the best at what they do not because of physical strength, but because of their intelligence. Grimmel is more like a dark reflection of Hiccup than Drago. Both Hiccup and Grimmel have extreme knowledge of dragons, both are genius inventors, the fact I mentioned about their builds/intelligence, etc
Toothless, I love how movie teaches people that that while people can change but their are people who refuse to change, look at drago, Hiccup gave him many chances to change but he refused
I think also the chin tattoo bit was also for the Māori tribes from New Zealand down below Australia as well since ik lot of my fam down there has em ^^
This is one of the best well done trilogies. Losing Stoick really fucking hurt lol, but it makes so much sense for the story and instantly raises the stakes and like you said it causes instant guilt in Hiccup and then instant regret for yelling at Toothless but that all sets up the finale so well!
Obligatory Codeword Mention: Toothless 2:16 Snotlout is exactly that sort of simp to not care about being buried alive if it means he might get laid. 3:25 I love the design of Hiccup's armor. Unlike the rest, his is sleek and form fitting and with a functional helmet. 3:41 Not dodging! Toothless is creating updrafts to help him stay in the air longer. 5:10 One of my favorite bits of Hiccups design in this is the little braids in his hair that Astrid gives him. It's a great bit of showing for their relationship, that one of the ways they spend time together is her putting little braids in his hair. 8:21 It's okay, the first movie doesn't actually mention what happened to her, just that she's been gone for a long time and Stoick's hat is made from one of her boob plates. 9:11 I love the way they do Ruffnut's crush on Eret. 10:49 I love the way Valka moves before she reveals herself to Hiccup. There's some real creepiness to it that you'd expect from someone who has spent nearly 20 years isolated from other humans. Also, the way she rides her dragon is so completely different from how Hiccup and the other Berkians do, which really helps add to the otherworldliness of her. 16:59 The absolute love Stoic shows for Valka is one of the highlights of the movie for me. He doesn't care that she's been gone for so long. He only cares that she's still alive and that he can bring her home now. 18:09 Their courtship song and dance is great and I want to see a version with Hiccup and Astrid doing it. 18:52 Not quite. She didn't want to go back because she never believed Berk would accept dragons. Now that she knows that they do, her big reason to stay away is gone. 27:44 My favorite thing about Hiccup getting Toothless back is Drago watching and utterly failing to comprehend what is happening. He is just so obsessed with his need to dominate, that he can't even begin to comprehend that friendship is an even stronger bond. 28:29 Not just Night Fury vibes, Alpha Night Fury vibes!
A couple things i love about Dragon 2, if you watch, Toothless and hiccup no longer have a sort of friend dynamic, they act a whole lot more like Brothers now, being sassy to each other but being there for one another, being 2 halves of a greater whole. Valka also was also a great addition to the story, as she now can teach Hiccup things that he never knew before. Also the morals of the movie, being yes, you can work things out with others, but sometimes the hurt and pain can be too deep to change so quickly, and sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done, the whole movie, Hiccup doesn't want to be chief, he tries really hard to avoid it, thinking that he cant do the things he loves to do anymore, the whole time acting like he knows everything, and since his go to of talking and reasoning has not ever backfired on him, he just thinks "hey, I can just talk to him and everything will be ok" witch, oddly enough was just Reinforced moments before when Stoic and Valka talk it out and she agrees to come home. But as Stoic kept saying and Hiccup kept ignoring, Drago didn't want to talk, nor did he care, his path was set and there was no way to change his mind, he just wanted to fight and subjugate dragons. Unfortunately it takes Stoic's sacrifice to make him see it.
TOOTHLESS While Drago is a power-hungry conqueror who wants to become unstoppable and take over the world, it’s important to understand that that’s not his entire motivation. His desire to dominate dragons is motivated by revenge for dragons slaughtering his family, burning his village and tearing off his arm when he was a boy. As a result, he was left with nothing in his childhood and lived in fear, but then he vowed to rise above that fear and make all dragons live in fear of him, just as he once lived in fear of them. So while Drago certainly took it too far, his motivation for wanting to overcome and dominate dragons is at least an *_understandable_* one.
The reason Val agreed to go home, is because it's clear that the village has changed. She wouldn't go back because of how they treated dragons, and the life she would return to. But seeing Stoic and Hiccup and their assurance, she agreed. Because it's not like she can't leave the village on journeys or trips to do what she wants and help dragons. She can also help them right there in the village, and still be with her family.
So at 10:36, Hiccup is essentially affirming to the dragons that he is a dragon himself with the display of fire and gas through his "sword", which could be aided by his armour being made of dragons (specifically Toothless's shed scales).
I remember watching this movie for the first time with my own father and BALLING my eyes out during Stoick's funeral because I had quite a close relationship with my him. And I didn't want the same thing happening to my father. I still cry at that scene, it hits really close to home for me! And I count myself extremely lucky to have a functioning relationship and love for my father because that's not something a lot of people can say and that makes me REALLY sad and feel REALLY guilty!
It was after this that I started watching the series’s that they made: the first (Dreamworks: How to Train Your Dragon) was set right after the first movie mainly involving adaptations and other tension within Berk with a lot of new dragon types popping up. The second (HTTYD: Race to The Edge) was set roughly 6 months to a year before the second movie where the riders have made a settlement in order to protect Berk and scout the greater area. Here they run into various clans and one of Drago’s lieutenants who’s the main antagonist. A good watch for both as the first is like a encyclopaedia entry series and the other is a more cohesive story with a few less info bites.
There is a TV series that takes place after the first movie It shows how Berk grew after ending the war with the dragons, it’s so wholesome and you could see every character’s development and even a bit of the history of the Vikings, and you can see the other Dragons from the book that they mentioned in the first movie It’s called “ How to Train Your Dragon Riders of Berk” There is also another one with an older hiccup called “ How to Train Your Dragon Race of the Edge”
3:36 Hiccup isn't dodging Toothless' blasts, he's using them to keep himself afloat in the air better and for longer; this works on the same principle as hot air balloons. Heat/hot air rises, so Hiccup can keep riding on the air/gliding too. Fortunately for him, he's wearing fireproof armor made from dragon scales, AND based on the fact that the flames were smaller, yellow ones and not Toothless' usual blue flames, those were some of Toothless' lower, controlled flame blasts. Otherwise , he probably could've burned Hiccup alive just by sneezing/ on accident. Good thing the armor and helmet cover Hiccup's whole body, including his face and head. Long, nerdy side-tangent, if you wanna read it. If you don't, that's ok. The reason we can't really do this type of gliding IRL is because of risks of burning and lack of a reliable way to generate that hot air as we move. Hiccup can do it bc Toothless flies/glides behind him and lets out a burst when Hiccup needs one. We would either have to carry a fuel source/engine or have one follow underneath us, but that's not feasible bc it's too awkward and unpredictable. And even if it was feasible, there's not much material that exists today that could protect us from such temperatures AND be light and flexible enough for us to wear it while gliding. Astronaut gear and airplane materials are eliminated for being too heavy and cumbersome, and paragliding/parachuting gear isn't heat-resistant enough. Unfortunately, dragon scales aren't real either.
I HIGHLY recommend watching How To Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge series. It takes place between the first and second movie and adds a lot of lore and side stories while expanding the world. You also get to see the development of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship a lot better.
2 is my favorite in the series, Stoick & Valka’s reunion and the dance live rent free in my head whenever I think of this series. How to train your dragon has a couple animated series and shorts that take place between 1&2. They are pretty good, I don’t know if you’d be interested in watching them but they show off a lot of cool dragon types and expand the world a bit more.
Aint nothin fuck me up like Stoic's death. Especially after finally reuniting with his wife and their song and dancing and loving each other... Oh man. That scene fucking KILLS ME
18:13 Valka isn't conflicted because she doesn't want to go back to Berk. She chose not to return to Berk because she had given up on convincing the village that they could coexist with the dragons. Now, seeing how Hiccup succeeded in doing what she couldn't, she feels like she made the wrong choice in stay away.
"Those who kill without reason, CANNOT be reasoned with" is such an underrated and hard line from Stoick. I LOVE how this movie matures and subverts the "we can always talk things out peacefully" trope by acknowledging that some assholes just want to see the world kneel or burn.
It's a lesson so hard not many stuff for kids teaches it. DBZ did too with Cell
@@PrixtoTNT unless its freiza lmao
Yeah it's a hard lesson to teach, and line to walk. A lot of movies stop at "everyone deserves compassion," which is TRUE and a very important thing to learn that many people lose sight of. However, you sometimes need to protect people from someone else and decisions have to be made. Thus the quote: "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." I think there is a lot of narrative possibilities there that movies don't explore as much as they could.
18:12 Valka isn't conflicted because she doesn't want to go back to Berk. She's conflicted because of the love and patience Stoick is showing. It makes her feel even worse about herself and the decision she made to stay away. It hits home even more how wrong she's been for abandoning her family, and for giving up on Berk.
Exactly. Her passion isn't necessarily traveling the world to help dragons, it's just to help dragons. She stayed away from Berk because she didn't believe that Stoick could change. Stoick coming around does make her feel guilty, but it also gives her the ability to have her family and help dragons in a way that wasn't possible before.
Also she was scared about the reaction her dragons would cause in Berk since there seemed no end to the conflict when she was taken. But now Berkians and dragons live in peace. So there’s no danger to her dragons she cares for. She can have her human and dragon families.
Plus, Valka's also probably feeling some uncertainty as to how well she herself could re-adapt to living among humans again.
Valka's been a literal hermit for 20 years. At this point, she's probably somewhere around her 50s, so a little under half her life has been spent with extremely little human contact (and probably only with dragon hunters who want to kill her).
The only real company she HAS had are dragons. And while dragons are wonderful creatures, they aren't humans. They don't behave the same way. Living among them for so long, Valka's more than likely picked up a few "draconic" habits herself.
To an extent, she'd have to relearn how to be around humans again. It's understandable for that thought to be rather daunting.
yup she was wrong, she put her own goals ahead of her responcibility to raising hiccup, shes a failure as a mother.
"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." lives rent-free in my head. It's so beautiful.😢
It’s such a sweet line.
Every single time i hear it i tear up, without fail
That _was_ a really great line.
Stoick and Valka are such a sweet couple it’s insane. You’d never expect that coming into this movie.
100%
The saddest part about Stoik dying is that Hiccup was behaving just like him. Every bit the stubborn bastard his dad is, refusing to listen and believing he's the one with all of the answers.
Omg in the first movie Gobber literally says “every bit the boar headed stubborn Viking you were”. The prophecy has come true!
What I really like is the difference between hiccup and his mother. His mother said she "couldn't" kill a dragon, in the first movie hiccup said he "wouldn't". Hiccup's answer implies that, if he wanted to kill a dragon, he could. Valka's answer implies she can't physically do it. That is what makes hiccup a great leader. He can do bad things but chooses not to.
Its not even implied that he could, he crippled and captured toothless in the first movie. A couple thrusts of a knife and it was over, toothless knew it too.
@@shadowdragon7347Adore that scene because it's basically the same scene played twice both ways
I never noticed that nuance. well, better late than never
3:35 he doesn't need to dodge, toothless is firing blasts just ahead of Hiccup creating lift for him to keep gliding, you can even see the blast waves causing the lift.
True that. Hot air rises
I believe the reason why Toothless was shooting at him in the first place was so that could happen, in order to keep Hiccup airborn
The lift is caused by the heat, not the shockwave, but yeah :)
Fun Fact: It's stated in the addons to the movie that Astrid braids Hiccup's hair when she's nervous. You can see her do it at the start of the movie when they meet up, and you can see the various braids he has in his hair, too.
That is absolutely adorable, and I love it. 😁
It's hilarious to think Hiccup could end up looking like Coolio on a day that Astrid is SUPER nervous.
In the first film Stoick wouldn't listen to Hiccup even though Hiccup knew better. Here, it's reversed. Hiccup doesn't listen even though Stoick knows better. And each time that lack of communication costs.
What I love about stoic in the first part of this movie is it’s not that he’s forgotten the lessons from the first movie it’s that he’s implementing them in the wrong way
Plus Drago being back throws his brain into immediate action mode
@@KingsBard not just that one thing I love about the correlation between the first and second movie, is in the first movie when there was danger Stoic didn’t listen to hiccup about it, and it led to hiccup almost dying, and in the second movie, you have stoic warning, hiccup about danger and hiccup not listening, And that leads to stoic actually dying
@@KingsBard so it’s an interesting correlation because it shows that him and his father have that same exact stubbornness.
19:00 I never took it that she wanted to travel the world and free dragons or anything like that, in fact it seem that they were preatyy settle in that location. What I unnderstood was that she loved the dragons but believed that dragons and viking could never coexist so she removed herself from the situation. If she could gi back to her family and people and still keep her bond to her beloved dragons, I don't see what she wouldn't want to.
Maybe Alicia thinks/blinded by the idea of freedom for this life HAS to come at the traded cost of not having a family instead of having both. When Stoic finds Val again, She goes on about her not going back because she thought Berk would never change, yet now that she knows it has, she has no actual reason to not to go back.
Unfortunenlty, that somehow got misconstrued to her as Val not wanting to be tied down.
Either that or she thinks a wife/mother wanting to be with her family is a bad idea, which I doubt.
Normal mother emotions vs feminism all in one head will cause cognitive dissonance yea.
Another point is that is she did wanna travel and stuff but she’s already had 20 years to do that so she might already be satisfied
Alicia please read this guy’s comment.
Also, even if it were about liberating the dragons, she could still do that (possibly even better) as the wife of a Viking Chieftan. Does anyone, after seeing his growth and their reunion, really think that Stoick wouldn't support her in her efforts and provide resources to her campaign? As a man, I'd definitely want as much for my wife, especially since she's proven for 20 years that she can handle it and even make it back home safely all on her own. 🤷♂️
"You're as beautiful as the day i lost you"
Stoick is a fucking king
It is memed alot, but that's because it such a perfectly poignant line 😢
"For a great man has fallen. A warrior. A father. A chieftain. A friend."
I tear up every damn time.
Also,
Toothless.
may the valkyries welcome you, and lead you through odins great battlefield
may they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the dephts of valhalla
and know that you have taken your rightful place at the table of kings
The way Hiccup snapped at Toothless after he killed Stoick just shatters my heart every time. I understand why, but it still hurts.
Yeah, and he immediately regrets doing it too...
Just like when Stoic said "you're not my son" and then instantly regretted it.@@xenoemblem7
I can’t watch that scene cuz of it.
That’s just a normal reaction. When something emotionally stressful happens, the person usually don’t think straight of what they’re saying
A lot of people seem to think the breastplate is like a bra but armour, no it covers the whole torso its not a weird thing its just armour men and women wear them alike. Also Valka chose to go back because the reason she stayed away to begin with were the fact that the berkians and dragons were fighting but since they arent anymore and the evidence is right in front of her she chose to return.
People assume that bc of how Hiccup reacted to the helmet in the first film - uncertainty and a hint of disgust
Yeah, it’s just another word for chestplate
If I remember correctly, a breastplate with boobs would actually be more protective, with how weapon strikes would glance off of the curvature more.
19:20 I feel that she stayed away because she couldn’t connect her love for dragons and her love for her family and felt she had to choose one over the other and left because she feared her love for dragons was a threat to her family, but now she can satisfy both her love of family and dragons, so she is willing to return to a Berk which has become a place where dragons and humans live in peace. And now, should she choose to go out saving dragons, she can have a loving home to return to as well!
She wanted to help dragons. When she found out her family loves dragons too, she is relieved she can do that WITH her family.
I think my favorite instant is when Stoik pauses in the song, waiting for Velka to answer. And when she doesn't after the second time he starts to turn, accepting that the spark was seemingly gone.
My personal favorite facts about this movie are these two:
One, Eret is voiced by Kit Harrington, the actor for Jon Snow in Game of Thrones. There's a TV ad for this movie of Kit Harrington reading the movie's script with Toothless doing funny things behind him.
Two, Drago's staff that he swings around is modeled after a bullhook, which is a weapon that was historically used to "train" (abuse) baby elephants so that the elephants continue to follow the orders of their owner when they are full grown.
19:45 Yeah, you can really tell that if Valka was around, he would’ve been SUCH a better parent to hiccup than how he was at the beginning of the series. He didn’t know what he was doing without her, and thats probably why giving hiccup the breastplate-helmet was so important to him
I remember when the first trailer aired in theaters for this. When Hiccup took his mask off, I swear I heard a few girls in the rows ahead swoon.
and a few men as well
Toothless having a place in our hearts and having main character relevance with almost no dialogue really shows the wonderful charactersion the movies have.
By the way the two tv show series on httyd explain a lot of the innovation and advances in their culture, and technology from the first movie, as a child watching that series then seeing this movie was a joy!
^ Just too add, a lot of Stoick development also comes from that too!
16:54 even after all the years, after all the memes with this scene; that one single line still messes me up emotionally to a whole nother level
Alicia, I cannot stress enough, you NEED to watch the series that take place between the first movie and this one, you NEED to.
Riders of Beark, Defenders of Beark, and Race to the Edge, in that order…
Yes alica watch the series
Agreed. It adds so much to the characters
I, glad she did it this way first. As long as she watches them before the third it’s fine. But that doesn’t matter too much
those three series were pretty good, i watched them purely because the movies were so good that i wanted more time with the characters, and they did a pretty good job with them, its also fun to see some of the character development that happens between the first 2 movies, especially how Hiccup and Astrid's relationship develops.
@ it made us love them all more. It also makes the end hit that much harder
Evidently the original script had Valka/Hiccup's mom as another antagonist who refused to believe dragons and humans could coexist. So much so that she would actually attack the village to steal the dragons after learning that Hiccup was responsible for Toothless' tail injury. They decided to change it in production which is why there's that disconnect with her agreeing to go back and live with them midway through the movie.
18:21 I'd argue that she regrets leaving, but couldn't return to the Berk she remembered: one of the neverending cycle of fighting & killing dragons that Berk became.
Remember how shocked she was when Hiccup told her how things changed? She was AMAZED that Stoick & her people accepted the dragons now.
At this moment, I think she's acknowledging she can return NOT as the "chieftain's wife," but the premiere expert on dragons who could teach the next generation AND be with her family.
And just because she goes back doesn't mean she can't return! I feel Stoick would have seen her need for freedom & allow her to come & go.
Stoic in this movie: *a good chief who speak facts*
Alicia: Trust Hiccup!!
Yeah I already see how the moral of the story will hit hard 😂❤
I think her not going back to Berk wasn't about her not wanting to be tied down but more in the sense that she believed it didn't change. Hiccup has been freeing dragons and exploring around while being in Berk, already something she wanted to do. And now its changed into the very home she never thought was possible, and the best part, her family will be there with her. And she wouldn't have been the wife of the chief, as Stoic was already planning to retire.
Fun fact: the HTTYD section at Universal’s upcoming park (Epic Universe) is meant to take place between this movie and the next. And they’re actually going to have dragons (drones) flying over the area.
It makes sense for Stoick to backtrack a little on his character development in the second movie because that's just how it realistically works. No one just learns a lesson once and it sticks with them for the rest of their life. Sometimes people slip back into their old habits even after having learned not to do it, because while learning a new behaviour is easy, continuing to maintain that behaviour is much harder. Plus, he hasn't completely backtracked. In the first movie he was all "you should do what I want you to do", but now in the second movie he's like "you can do what you want to do now, but in the way I want you to do it."
I think why I don’t see it weird for Velka to want to rejoin the village is that her fears were answered. She grew up in a tribe that hated and hunted down the creatures she’s grown to love. Lead by a man who she’s convinced will hate her and could never change. But now she’s seen that Stoic can change, that Berk can be a paradise for dragons. So she can come home, be with her family, and train a village to continue her mission.
Fun fact. The norse only allow trusted loved ones to touch or braid their hair. So Astrid just keeps putting those tiny braids in hiccups hair. Also if you go back to the first movie you can also see that he has the small scar on his chin, they thought ahead.
something about this movie i didn’t appreciate until later on was how the 3 alpha dragons in the movie represented and paralleled the 3 chiefs. the white alpha that fell paralleled stoick and his death, the black alpha losing his tusk paralleled drago and his missing arm, and toothless paralleled hiccup by becoming alpha at the same time hiccup became chief. i also LOVE the one scene of drago and stoick fighting as the two alphas are too in the back
2:20 In defense of Ruffnut, she's actually a really caring sister, I mean she nearly murders Snotlout multiple times over him bullying Tuffnut in Race to the Edge. And the twins seem dumb, however when it counts they always somehow find a way through, though most are problems they had caused in the first place.
“You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.” Been living in my head rent free till this day.
you HAVE to react to the show, it takes place after the first movie but before the second one and really shows their progression to understanding and cohabitating with dragons, as well as its also just a super fun show
traveling to different lands, discovering new dragons, fighting bad guys, the show is so peak
There are 3 different shows though
@ 2 are just shitty remakes that dont even look the same, the ones from 2019 and 2021. The one i mean is the original and first one “dreamworks dragons” that consists of 8 seasons, season 1 “riders of berk”, season 2 “defenders of berk” and season 3-8 “race to the edge” which are all part of 1 show
Edit: spelling
@@bartoseku79 those are the 3 shows I was talking about, riders, defenders, and race to the edge. Riders and defenders are pretty much the same, show not sure why it’s split honestly. What other 2 are you talking about?
@@ikeking6797 theres also the Dragons: Rescue Riders from netflix, and Dragons: Rescue Riders that was streamed in hulu if i remember correctly, both look like shit and i havent even seen them
You mean Race to the edge right?
I love when Toothless basically goes Super Saiyin and shows the alpha why his species is called "The unholy union of lightning and death."
“I think Drago can be turned.”
*Man’s literally unredeemable for what he did.*
Fun fact :From my understanding and from what I heard it was originally going to be Gobber who dies but they decided to change it to Stoick dying because of the potential emotional impact.
Toothless. The baby boy. The Good Boy. Yus.
Something that I think often gets missed on first watch in Valka's scenes, is that she has a sort-of nervous, almost manic energy when talking about traveling and exploring with hiccup; which contrasts rather sharply with her more calm joy when interacting with the dragons more directly.
Personally, taking that together with her almost resigned demeanor when talking about Berk and people not being capable of change, kind of makes me suspect that she *does* want to live in Berk (in the same way as she currently lives in the Dragon Sanctuary), but is afraid of going back. Not least because she believed (correctly, for a very long time) that it would mean giving up her life with dragons.
EDIT: To be clear, I do think that she *does* still want to explore; but I think that she would like to have Berk be her "home base", so to speak. Sorta like what Hiccup has been doing.
I understand why it's hard to listen to the dad at the start of this one, considering what was said and learned in the first. However, I believe this was the filmmakers intention. That was when they needed to listen to hiccup, but Stoic was 100% correct in how to approach the madman Drago, and this time he was ignored to consequences.
Stoick: *_“It takes more than a little fire to kill me!”_*
Stoick (five minutes later): **dies by TOOTHLESS’s fire** (more accurately, plasma, but the thought's still there)
Stoick in the show: "Fire again, I love the sound it makes!"
Peter Hollens (who loves reactors doing his stuff, he's usually one of the first commenters when it happens) does an *amazing* cover of the song played during the opening where Hiccup is first shown with Toothless. The video features his then 2 year old son as Hiccup. It was a video that when I was in collage and had a bad day, I'd watch it to feel better.
While I love this trilogy and consider them all a 8/10 at minimum, my biggest criticism is how the villains are all underdeveloped. That's my only real problem with it. Also Hiccup and Astrid are one of the most stable main couple I've ever seen in a series of movies. It's a rarity to see a MC and their love interest actually working well and supporting each other even when they become closer through multiple movies (so no break up or love triangles)
I disagree with the villains being underdevelopped. We know enough about them to understand why they do what they do. Drogo shows us how he personally suffered from the dragons, and tells us how it shaped him into the tyrant he became.
As for the villain from the 3rd movie, we've already followed someone exactly like him in the first movie. He just made a different choice early on to be accepted.
The Villains in the movies are underdeveloped but not in the show.
I think they go too hard on the "Dragons are too good for us" in the last considering the villain of the first is kind of an evil dragon so who's to say there's not more
Remember back when the fans saw Hiccups grown-up face in the trailer for the first time. Everyone freaked out.
I don't think Val's decision to go back with Stoic is that strange. In the previous scenes with Hiccup, and that scene where she's reunited with Stoic, it's clear that her decision to stay away was rooted in fear. She was afraid to be rejected by Berk and especially Stoic, and that none of them could or would change. So by seeing Stoic again and learning how much things did change, that fear is gone. Now, she can reconnect with her family without fear of rejection
the scene where Toothless kills Stoick and Hiccup snaps at him reminds me of that scene in Avatar where Aang burns Katara and Sokka snapped at him
His mom was already settled in on that island and wasn't exactly traveling the world plus Hiccup already explained how her old home has changed so this was an opertunity to have her family back and still keep saving dragons.
Also this is the best movie in the trilogy to me. I cried at the death the first time I watched it and then I cried during the song the second time because I knew what was coming.
My favorite how to train your dragon movie!!!
18:29 it's less of her passion and more along the lines of how hiccup felt in the first movie, where she knows how dragons can behave and wanted to try and convince berk of how she saw them.
That never happened with her, so that, mixed with her association with dragons making her out to be a traitor in her head gave her all these reasons to not come back. That all tore down when her husband proved her wrong. Now she has no reason to be away from her family, because she now sees that the people did change.
It wasn't like a soul search, or her leaving her family to pursue her passions, she stayed away both out of fear and acceptance that they would never change.
Couse regardless of what her passions are...she still was out of her own child's life for 2 decades, alongside her husband. If anything, her refusing would of made her a terrible mother, couse it would of ment that despite every reason she has to say no being taken care of, she still refuses to be apart of her family because she wanted to chase her dreams. So her saying she'll come back when she no longer has any reason to stay away shows that she's not a bad mom, she just didn't want to go back to a home that would treat her worse off for having a different perspective on a serious issue.
This is my favorite childhood movie, is great to enjoy it with you! The soundtrack in this movie just leveled up from the first, such beauty!
This trilogy is unironicaly one of the best in cinema. All of them are good
Alicia, my sweet bean
"They already moved past this as characters!"
Ahh yes, because my dad never did basically exactly this after telling me, "Hey, I'm gonna listen to you more."
You're thinking of them too much as characters and not enough as people. People change eventually, yes, but there are gonna be stumbles all along that path to change.
Alicia i think you might be a little wrong about valka, its not that she didnt want to be at Berk, its that she hated all the constant fighting, and killing of dragons and vikings. When she was taken away by the dragon, she could have returned after she learned how to be a dragon rider, but decided to stay away because she thought Stoick and Berk would never change and keep on fighting and killing, so she decided to helped the dragons by being that dragon rider vigilante
I think the reason Valka didn't come back to Berk when she had the chance for so long, wasn't *just* because she loves the dragons too much, but also because she still thought the people of Berk were still dragon-hating barbarians. So upon learning they'd changed, she's 100% more open to bringing the dragons there.
@7:20. I mean unfortunately people do regress. Some people just have the stubborness issues and have to learn lessons multiple times, and Stoic is kinda old to be making HUGE character shifts. He may be good with Toothless and the rest of the dragons but taking away his stubborness would be too much to ask of him.
Honestly? This is where HTTYD really started to shine. The first was a perfect hit for what it was, but it was obviously written as an overdrawn prologue. (Cinderella story with proper complex issues, leading to a hopeful rise, fall, and huge rise of integrity, character, or society.) the second expands on the complexities of the overall issues, and uses established premise to kore freely throw emotional weight around. Stoic’s death is heavy, meaningful, and yet also lacking impact to the greater story. He was a superior figurehead who never actually got granted a “main character” moment. So he never comes off as “humbled” but keeps his past experiences in mind to the current topic, making him competent and reasonable. He understands the consequences, but maybe just not the exact concept of the situation.
He’s sadly the most PERFECT character to die. It’s meaningful but simple, quick but impactful. And the setup to the situation defuses most amnesty through hiccup’s nature and Toothless’s situation.
Everyone with a keyboard yaps about it, but the subtle complexity is brilliant. It’s why i kinda like the silent “story telling” of super Metroid. The PAYOFF is worth everything.
Beginning starts with baby Metroid getting captured.
You typically get wounded enough that your armour systems set off an alarm.
Baby is kidnapped
You deal with weeks of adventure.
You find the capsule broken.
You keep pushing on.
The baby attacks you after subjected to experiments.
At the last moment, it “hears” your armor’s alert… (the last sound mommy made before i was taken) and completely disarms and disengages.
Slowly shifting to the soft coo and squeezes it made.
“Mom!”
“You’re here!!”
“They hurt me so bad, im so sorry!”
And then… the sacrifice for the hyper beam.
I seriously doubt anyone appreciates… the emotional tragedy of that game.
This is my second favourite movie of all time(my number 1 is Kung Fu Panda 2). You'll always find that DreamWorks keeps its characters writing consistent throughout all it's movies
Ooh, if Alicia hasn't seen those I'd love to see her reacting to the first 2 especially!
3 is gonna be so many feels, this and Kung Fu Panda are such amazing trilogies of progression combined with the feels
"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." Is my favorite scene in the entire trilogy. It has so many details. The way she's saying all that as if she practiced so many times how that moment would be (kind of like when you break something in your home and you spend the time before your parents come home thinking about how you're gonna tell them), the way he approaches her so slowly like he's afraid she'll puff out like a ghost and touches her face to know she's real. And of course the final line and delivery. Absolutely amazing.
What’s crazy is there’s literally a holiday movie a 2(Kinda 3?) shows in between this and the first movie. I freaking love Race to the Edge
29:58 Alicia being adorable again
I kinda like how Stoick dies so instantly. Usually they would let a character have a minute to say their last words, or have time for one last goodbye. Since he dies in the blink of an eye, its harder to accept, making Hiccups action and behavior more realistic.
Not everyone who appears reasonable can be reasoned with, it is a lesson that Hiccup needs to learn. Just because he was right about dragons doesn't mean that everyone is misunderstood. There are some awful people out there, and no matter how much you try to dissuade them, they will remain steadfast in their ways, they are stubborn because to believe what Hiccup is saying is to admit that everything he believes in is wrong. And he cannot do that. Not everyone possesses that strength and introspection and Hiccup had to lose a father for that lesson to hit home.
5:13 funny you should mention the lighting and animation upgrades. This was DreamWorks first film using their completely overhauled in-house Animation and lighting software, and they made a big deal out of it. It was pretty much a selling point for the film. There's even a video of Obama going to the studio to check their advancements in technology.
3:35 Hiccup is not dodging the explosions. Hiccup is using the hot air to raise himself higher to extent his gliding range. Hot Air rises which are coming from the explosions.
Before this movie, there was a whole animated series with lots of smaller adventures and whatnot. So if anyone felt like there was too big of a gap or something in between the first and second movie, I highly recommend giving the HTTYD series a watch.
18:41 Stoic plans to give the position of chief to Hiccup so he probably just wants to spend the rest of his years with her
Picking Toothless as the code word when he’s one of the main characters, and will have people talking about him no matter what, probably wasn’t the best choice.
Fun fact: when Gobber mentioned the "one other reason" that he never married, it was because he was confirmed to be homosexual by the producers of the film. They just never explicitly put it out there in the films, except for these slight hints toward it.
The "RIDERS/DEFENDERS Of Berk TV Show takes place after the first movie, and the RACE TO THE EDGE Netflix series takes place after those but before the second movie :D
since you like these movies there is a series that takes place between the 1st and 2nd movie that fills a lot of info.
The explosions beneath Hiccup weren't there to help him avoid them, but to give him a boost - warm air rises and the shock wave also rises. A bird can flap its wings and instinctively notice the air currents - Hiccup can neither do one nor the other ;-)
Speaking of kaiju, if you haven't seen Godzilla Minus One you really should. It is, without a doubt, the best Godzilla movie I've ever seen.
That's what I've been saying! All the signs are pointing towards this! Thanks for agreeing on that! Lol Please be convinced Alicia! Watch Godzilla is promise you won't be disappointed, you'll be amazed especially for MINUS ONE!
3:50 for the wing gliding Hiccup isn’t dodging toothless’s fire blasts, toothless is aiming the blasts and he’s USING them to gain altitude like a hot air balloon
Toothless
My only real nitpick on this movie was Velka knowing so much about Night Furies when there weren't any in the colony.
Otherwise solid 9/10.
Well, Hiccup in the first movie subdued the academy dragons using tricks he learned from Toothless, so it's save to assume there are similarities to all dragons that one can learn that apply to all species
Something I like about the second and third movies is that the antagonists are dark reflections of hiccup. Like hiccup could have easily became like drago if he lacked compassion. Using his knowledge of dragons in a malicious way.
I disagree. Drago is more like a dark reflection of Stoick (What stoick could have become if he didn't listen to Hiccup in HTTYD1 for example or if Huccup didn't exist). Also, Drago and Stoick share similar builds. Same with Hiccup and Grimmel. Both became the best at what they do not because of physical strength, but because of their intelligence.
Grimmel is more like a dark reflection of Hiccup than Drago. Both Hiccup and Grimmel have extreme knowledge of dragons, both are genius inventors, the fact I mentioned about their builds/intelligence, etc
Toothless, I love how movie teaches people that that while people can change but their are people who refuse to change, look at drago, Hiccup gave him many chances to change but he refused
There were several animated seasons of the story to flesh out the characters between 1st and 2nd movies, so they had tons of practice with animation
Funny and sad how Hiccup instantly regretted snapping at Toothless just like when Stoik snapped him. They both instantly regretted their words.
I think also the chin tattoo bit was also for the Māori tribes from New Zealand down below Australia as well since ik lot of my fam down there has em ^^
So glad you're enjoying these movies. Toothless really is the perfect combination of adorable, scary, lovable and powerful.
This is one of the best well done trilogies. Losing Stoick really fucking hurt lol, but it makes so much sense for the story and instantly raises the stakes and like you said it causes instant guilt in Hiccup and then instant regret for yelling at Toothless but that all sets up the finale so well!
Obligatory Codeword Mention: Toothless
2:16 Snotlout is exactly that sort of simp to not care about being buried alive if it means he might get laid.
3:25 I love the design of Hiccup's armor. Unlike the rest, his is sleek and form fitting and with a functional helmet.
3:41 Not dodging! Toothless is creating updrafts to help him stay in the air longer.
5:10 One of my favorite bits of Hiccups design in this is the little braids in his hair that Astrid gives him. It's a great bit of showing for their relationship, that one of the ways they spend time together is her putting little braids in his hair.
8:21 It's okay, the first movie doesn't actually mention what happened to her, just that she's been gone for a long time and Stoick's hat is made from one of her boob plates.
9:11 I love the way they do Ruffnut's crush on Eret.
10:49 I love the way Valka moves before she reveals herself to Hiccup. There's some real creepiness to it that you'd expect from someone who has spent nearly 20 years isolated from other humans. Also, the way she rides her dragon is so completely different from how Hiccup and the other Berkians do, which really helps add to the otherworldliness of her.
16:59 The absolute love Stoic shows for Valka is one of the highlights of the movie for me. He doesn't care that she's been gone for so long. He only cares that she's still alive and that he can bring her home now.
18:09 Their courtship song and dance is great and I want to see a version with Hiccup and Astrid doing it.
18:52 Not quite. She didn't want to go back because she never believed Berk would accept dragons. Now that she knows that they do, her big reason to stay away is gone.
27:44 My favorite thing about Hiccup getting Toothless back is Drago watching and utterly failing to comprehend what is happening. He is just so obsessed with his need to dominate, that he can't even begin to comprehend that friendship is an even stronger bond.
28:29 Not just Night Fury vibes, Alpha Night Fury vibes!
A couple things i love about Dragon 2, if you watch, Toothless and hiccup no longer have a sort of friend dynamic, they act a whole lot more like Brothers now, being sassy to each other but being there for one another, being 2 halves of a greater whole. Valka also was also a great addition to the story, as she now can teach Hiccup things that he never knew before. Also the morals of the movie, being yes, you can work things out with others, but sometimes the hurt and pain can be too deep to change so quickly, and sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done, the whole movie, Hiccup doesn't want to be chief, he tries really hard to avoid it, thinking that he cant do the things he loves to do anymore, the whole time acting like he knows everything, and since his go to of talking and reasoning has not ever backfired on him, he just thinks "hey, I can just talk to him and everything will be ok" witch, oddly enough was just Reinforced moments before when Stoic and Valka talk it out and she agrees to come home. But as Stoic kept saying and Hiccup kept ignoring, Drago didn't want to talk, nor did he care, his path was set and there was no way to change his mind, he just wanted to fight and subjugate dragons. Unfortunately it takes Stoic's sacrifice to make him see it.
TOOTHLESS
While Drago is a power-hungry conqueror who wants to become unstoppable and take over the world, it’s important to understand that that’s not his entire motivation. His desire to dominate dragons is motivated by revenge for dragons slaughtering his family, burning his village and tearing off his arm when he was a boy. As a result, he was left with nothing in his childhood and lived in fear, but then he vowed to rise above that fear and make all dragons live in fear of him, just as he once lived in fear of them.
So while Drago certainly took it too far, his motivation for wanting to overcome and dominate dragons is at least an *_understandable_* one.
The reason Val agreed to go home, is because it's clear that the village has changed. She wouldn't go back because of how they treated dragons, and the life she would return to. But seeing Stoic and Hiccup and their assurance, she agreed. Because it's not like she can't leave the village on journeys or trips to do what she wants and help dragons. She can also help them right there in the village, and still be with her family.
So at 10:36, Hiccup is essentially affirming to the dragons that he is a dragon himself with the display of fire and gas through his "sword", which could be aided by his armour being made of dragons (specifically Toothless's shed scales).
I remember watching this movie for the first time with my own father and BALLING my eyes out during Stoick's funeral because I had quite a close relationship with my him. And I didn't want the same thing happening to my father. I still cry at that scene, it hits really close to home for me! And I count myself extremely lucky to have a functioning relationship and love for my father because that's not something a lot of people can say and that makes me REALLY sad and feel REALLY guilty!
It was after this that I started watching the series’s that they made: the first (Dreamworks: How to Train Your Dragon) was set right after the first movie mainly involving adaptations and other tension within Berk with a lot of new dragon types popping up.
The second (HTTYD: Race to The Edge) was set roughly 6 months to a year before the second movie where the riders have made a settlement in order to protect Berk and scout the greater area. Here they run into various clans and one of Drago’s lieutenants who’s the main antagonist.
A good watch for both as the first is like a encyclopaedia entry series and the other is a more cohesive story with a few less info bites.
There is a TV series that takes place after the first movie
It shows how Berk grew after ending the war with the dragons, it’s so wholesome and you could see every character’s development and even a bit of the history of the Vikings, and you can see the other Dragons from the book that they mentioned in the first movie
It’s called “ How to Train Your Dragon Riders of Berk”
There is also another one with an older hiccup called “ How to Train Your Dragon Race of the Edge”
3:36 Hiccup isn't dodging Toothless' blasts, he's using them to keep himself afloat in the air better and for longer; this works on the same principle as hot air balloons. Heat/hot air rises, so Hiccup can keep riding on the air/gliding too.
Fortunately for him, he's wearing fireproof armor made from dragon scales, AND based on the fact that the flames were smaller, yellow ones and not Toothless' usual blue flames, those were some of Toothless' lower, controlled flame blasts. Otherwise , he probably could've burned Hiccup alive just by sneezing/ on accident. Good thing the armor and helmet cover Hiccup's whole body, including his face and head.
Long, nerdy side-tangent, if you wanna read it. If you don't, that's ok.
The reason we can't really do this type of gliding IRL is because of risks of burning and lack of a reliable way to generate that hot air as we move. Hiccup can do it bc Toothless flies/glides behind him and lets out a burst when Hiccup needs one. We would either have to carry a fuel source/engine or have one follow underneath us, but that's not feasible bc it's too awkward and unpredictable. And even if it was feasible, there's not much material that exists today that could protect us from such temperatures AND be light and flexible enough for us to wear it while gliding. Astronaut gear and airplane materials are eliminated for being too heavy and cumbersome, and paragliding/parachuting gear isn't heat-resistant enough. Unfortunately, dragon scales aren't real either.
I HIGHLY recommend watching How To Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge series. It takes place between the first and second movie and adds a lot of lore and side stories while expanding the world. You also get to see the development of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship a lot better.
This movie was the first movie to ever make me cry in theaters
I CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE THE 3RD MOVIE! It's my fav!
3:36 Toothless is making hot air rise with his plasma blast to keep Hiccup in the air
"You're as beautiful as the day i lost you" goes hard
2 is my favorite in the series, Stoick & Valka’s reunion and the dance live rent free in my head whenever I think of this series.
How to train your dragon has a couple animated series and shorts that take place between 1&2. They are pretty good, I don’t know if you’d be interested in watching them but they show off a lot of cool dragon types and expand the world a bit more.
There’s another show set in modern times but we don’t talk about that one
Aint nothin fuck me up like Stoic's death. Especially after finally reuniting with his wife and their song and dancing and loving each other... Oh man. That scene fucking KILLS ME
Toothless is a big cat. It’s fucking adorable
18:13 Valka isn't conflicted because she doesn't want to go back to Berk. She chose not to return to Berk because she had given up on convincing the village that they could coexist with the dragons.
Now, seeing how Hiccup succeeded in doing what she couldn't, she feels like she made the wrong choice in stay away.