How to Train Your Dragon 2: My Thoughts

***First off, this blog contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie, I highly suggest viewing it first.***

Let me begin when the first movie came out in 2010. My life was great; I had just graduated from college and felt oh-so-proud of myself to finally hold a BA in English Literature (little did I know how that would affect my life...). I had also just begun my second internship in publishing, and figured I was headed somewhere amazing as an editor. Maybe Harper Collins, maybe not, but oh yes, I would get there!

Fast-forward to when the first trailers for How to Train Your Dragon began to play on television (I still lived at home, so television was something I still had). "Dragons?" I murmured, excited but uncertain. It was like I turned into a squirrel, and the word dragon made me go all bushy-tailed and bright-eyed. At the same token, I was cautious. I'd seen the few good dragon-themed movies, and even the bad ones (Dragon World or Dungeons and Dragons, anyone?), and none of them could remotely compare to my all-time favorite, The Flight of Dragons. I'd grown up with Gorbash and the others, and I idolized them as a child, so of course, I was mildly apprehensive. Part of me worried it would be a lot like the children's book where a kid finds a dragon and tries to raise it in his house...but worse.

Of course the next logical step was to find out as much as possible about the movie as I could. A half hour or so of research led me to the title the movie was to be based off of, a book by Cressida Cowell. I jumped into my Ford Focus and zipped over to the nearest book store, where I promptly scurried to the back and began sifting through her books.

My heart broke.

At this time, the book How to Train Your Dragon was more akin to a leaflet, a single small tome in a collection of many other delightful early reader chapter books by Cowell. The books themselves were great, but they didn't go into much detail about the world, the struggle the characters faced or the dragons themselves (keep in mind, I was hoping for at least a YA manuscript from the descriptions online). My nervousness crept ever higher.

The only reason, in my mind, why there haven't been many good dragon movies is because dragons are often given the roles of one-dimensional monsters; their personalities are rarely explored in cinema, which is why The Flight of Dragons was such an amazing film. Even Dragon World had its moments...but no matter how charming and cute the book was, I couldn't see it becoming a deep, believable film, and I worried the cinema adaptation would end with dragons once again being dismissed as creatures not worth exploring.

I waited for the film to be out a few weeks before I decided to go watch it, and that was only with the prodding of friends who had already seen it. They had enjoyed it so much that I finally gave in and bought a ticket. I settled in, worried I'd hate it, even as the camera swooped in on Berk. And as the film went on...I loved it. I identified immediately with Hiccup, recognized bits of my cat in Toothless, and found the world of Berk to be exciting and fluid; the characters were real (though I wished more time had been spent on Ruffnut and Tuffnut), their problems were believable, and the growth between Toothless and Hiccup was amazing.

I found a few problems with the film later on (after watching it 3 times in theaters, twice in 3D), such as how the dragons they used for training suddenly were willing to trust the viking children...but I figured that a) the dragons had been removed from their nest; b) they had spent time with these children and may have seen the "fights" as games of some sort, in some way, meaning they unintentionally bonded with the cast; and, c) Hiccup was there to help them along. The other children didn't have to learn all of this on their own, and they had a great mentor. All-in-all, an amazing film, and one I bought the instant it was released (only later to give it to a boyfriend who soon after became my ex...oh well). Happy day! Finally, a dragon movie that could hold a candle to The Flight of Dragons!

That was where things fell apart. A very close family member of mine was diagnosed with cancer in early 2012. It rocked me, and it abruptly changed my version of reality. Anyone could be sick, at any time, with anything...and they might not recover. Ever.

Then, in mid-2013, my mother was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer, a very aggressive strain, and she was on chemo for months. I'm still recovering from the emotional impact that had on me, and she was finally declared cancer free recently. MRI scans keep us up-to-date, but with two important people in my life having had cancer, it...well, it almost destroyed me. The years following the first How to Train Your Dragon film were emotionally impossible.

Many people passed away during that time; grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles...my cat... A lot of loss, and a lot of difficulty came. So to me, How to Train Your Dragon represented a time in my life when I was happy. Not to say I'm not happy now; I'm just...tired. The first movie came out before my world collapsed into chaos. And now, the second one is released just as I emerge from that chaos. I'm not stronger, but I have a better sense of who I am and what matters most in my life.

When they announced the sequel back in 2011-12, I was nervous, scared, and distracted. I was excited, too, don't get me wrong, but mostly I was absorbed by the other things going on in my life. When the trailers started being released a few months ago, I watched them in hopes that the sequel would be just as amazing as the first. I mean, who can't love a film that gives risky actions consequences? Hiccup losing his leg...brilliant writing. Brilliant. It took the animated film to a whole new level of potential; it allowed a chilling moment of reality to invade an otherwise fairy-tale-esque cartoon. It brought with it a sense of gravity, one which I had yet to see in any other animated film.

Until, that was, the sequel. I kept asking myself, "Why are they showing us that Hiccup's mom is alive? Why are they ruining the surprise?" Well...because another surprise was in store. One which rocked my understanding of the cartoon genre and brought me to tears for the second time in the same movie. I cried when Stoick approached Valka and told her she was as beautiful as the day he lost her. I cheered when they danced (silently, of course, and YES, that song will be at my wedding). I identified with their relationship, because I've felt that loss, that pain, that uncertainty. I almost lost my mother and....well, I almost lost another very important person in my life (by their request, I am keeping their identity secret, but it's hard to talk about it--especially when I need to, but I have a lot of respect for them and their wishes). The reunion of Stoick and Valka was like...it was like seeing happiness again for the first time in years. Like pushing my head out from under dirt and mud and grime and blood and pain, and seeing a blue, tranquil sky, and the sun beating down upon a field of grass and flowers.

That was why I cried. And because...Stoick is, in many ways, like my father. Valka...well, c'mon, she's so my mom. Anyone who's met my mother would likely agree. So their reunion was at once beautiful and heart-wrenching. I saw in them everything I see in my parents: Respect. Compassion. Fear of the unknown and the power to overcome it...and love.

That was why it killed me when Stoick died.

Not just because Toothless did it. Not just because Hiccup couldn't stop it. Not just because he and Valka had finally found one another again...but because it was like losing my own father. Micahl--my boyfriend--and I were stunned to silence, and I wept. A lot. I've rarely cried during any movies, let alone twice. But...damn.

That death...it hung over us for the following few days, which was why it took me so long to write this blog. Stoick...was probably my favorite character from the first movie, because he was the one to undergo the most dynamic change. The hero of a story is supposed to change, and yes, Hiccup kind of changed, but he more came to understand who he was and that he shouldn't change. Stoick...he was the real hero of the first film, and I mean that in the most literary sense, as in a hero of a great novel. He shifted so much and in such a believable fashion that I identified with him immediately in the second film.

The series should continue to surprise and continue to stress the boundaries of children's movies. My generation lost Littlefoot's mother, and there hasn't been a dinosaur movie to come close to that level of emotional attachment to a character in years. In this case, the How to Train Your Dragon franchise is making enormous leaps in the world of film-as-literature. Once again, we have a very real, very painful consequence to the actions of the characters. If only Hiccup had run. If only he had hidden. If only...

But he didn't, and there were consequences. And despite the melancholy I still feel over Stoick's death, I have to applaud the film's writers and artists, for they have set a new limit to what animated film can be. And that, to be honest, is a limit they will likely break in their next installment.

I just hope Hiccup keeps aging. They've done an admirable job of following the life and coming-of-age story of this character. When I was a child, I kept wishing they would make a series of Land Before Time films, but more than that, I wished they would have Littlefoot age with me. Imagine how disappointed I was when he stayed a child. There can be dozens of coming-of-age tales in a person's life, and if DreamWorks proves they can keep the writing solid and the characters believable, they might just be able to prove it with the How to Train Your Dragon series.