Sightlines · reception

How How to Train Your Dragon 2 was received

2014 · Dean DeBlois · How to Train Your Dragon 2 on Sightlines

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 favorite 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

• 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.