How to Train Your Dragon 2 · reception & legacy

2014 · Dean DeBlois

How How to Train Your Dragon 2 has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Acclaimed on release — Cannes premiere, Golden Globe win, the trilogy's biggest box office — and it's only grown in stature since, now routinely called the franchise's darkest and most ambitious chapter, with its Oscar loss to Big Hero 6 increasingly remembered as a snub.

What's debated

The eternal trilogy-ranking fight: is 2 the richest, most emotionally daring entry or the middle child that bites off more than it can chew — and did the Academy get it wrong in 2015?

Its footprint

This is the film that expanded Toothless from mascot to meme royalty — the four-winged Cloudjumper, the alpha-dragon showdowns — plus Jónsi's 'Where No One Goes' soaring over the flight scenes; 'animation's Empire Strikes Back' became its shorthand.

Where it stands

A fixture of the 'animated sequels that outdo the original' conversation and a Letterboxd favourite among fans who insist the HTTYD trilogy is the best thing DreamWorks ever made.

★ Did you know? Legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins served as visual consultant, helping shape the film's naturalistic lighting — and Dean DeBlois only agreed to direct the sequel on the condition that DreamWorks let him plan it as a full trilogy.

Named by the director

Influences Dean DeBlois has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) — DeBlois repeatedly cited it as his model for a darker, world-expanding middle chapter of a planned trilogy.
Hayao Miyazaki — DeBlois has cited Miyazaki as a touchstone for the HTTYD films' sense of flight and wordless aerial storytelling.