---
title: "How to Train Your Dragon 2"
year: 2014
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2"
fi1m_id: "how-to-train-your-dragon-2"
imdb_id: "tt1646971"
tmdb_id: 82702
wikidata_id: "Q10298666"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_score: 69
critics_reviews: 25
published: "2026-10-05T13:20:12.563586+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-05T13:20:13.352954+00:00"
region: "PT"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Directed by Dean DeBlois · 1h 42m · IGAC M/6 · Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Animation, Family

## Identity

How to Train Your Dragon 2

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** how-to-train-your-dragon-2
- **IMDb ID:** tt1646971
- **TMDB ID:** 82702
- **Wikidata ID:** Q10298666
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646971/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/82702, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10298666

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 69 from 25 reviews

*In a sentence:* Every dragon in it has more going on behind the eyes than the man trying to conquer them

> Dean DeBlois takes Hiccup and Toothless five years on and gives them a wider world, a finer score and a thinner villain. The flying is as good as animation gets; the war built around it is standard issue.

## Synopsis

Five years have passed on Berk, and the Vikings now race dragons over the rooftops with sheep under their arms. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), twenty and still all elbows, spends his days with Toothless mapping the sea in a wingsuit he has sewn himself, while his father, Chief Stoick (Gerard Butler), wants him home to be named the next chief. Out on the ice, Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) find a fort burned black and a dragon trapper, Eret (Kit Harington), who is collecting beasts for a warlord called Drago (Djimon Hounsou). Stoick hears the name, bars the gates of Berk and forbids anyone to fly. Hiccup goes anyway, meaning to talk Drago round, and is plucked from the sky by a masked rider (Cate Blanchett) who lives among hundreds of dragons in a cavern of ice.

## Review

Dean DeBlois, who returns from the first *How to Train Your Dragon* (2010) as writer and director, has moved the story on five years and widened it in every direction. Berk is now a town built for dragons, with stables and feeding troughs and a racing circuit over the roofs. Hiccup has a wingsuit and a sword that catches fire. There is a mother, a warlord, an armada and a creature the size of a hill. The film is at its best when it forgets most of that and simply puts a boy on a dragon and lets him fall off.

The flying is the reason to see it. Gil Zimmerman, credited with the cinematography, keeps the camera a few feet behind Toothless and holds the shot through turns and dives that a live-action film would cut into six pieces, so a fall of a thousand feet is one movement. Pierre-Olivier Vincent’s designs give the camera somewhere to go: Berk in hard northern sunlight, a sea fort scorched against the ice, and a cavern lit green and blue from below, where dragons roost on the ledges like gulls. Toothless remains the finest piece of animation in the series, a cat’s face on a bat’s body, and when he first sees that cavern his ears go up and his pupils widen and we knew exactly what he was thinking.

John Powell’s score does a great deal of the work, and we mean that as praise. The main theme comes back the moment Hiccup steps off the dragon into open air, and the brass under it has the effect it had in the first film: we sat up. Powell shares the music credit with Alexander Rybak, and the fiddle and pipes run through the quiet scenes as well as the big ones. John K. Carr cuts patiently in the air and briskly on the ground, and only in the final battle, which has three things happening in three places, does he lose us for a minute or two.

The scene we did not expect is the one with no flying in it. The masked rider is Valka (Cate Blanchett), Hiccup’s mother, who has lived twenty years among dragons rather than people, and Blanchett gives her a soft, slightly wild lilt, a woman who has not had a conversation in two decades. When Stoick (Gerard Butler) comes face to face with her, Butler, who has spent two films bellowing, lowers his voice and sings. It moved us more than we thought a cartoon Viking could, because the song is old and halting and the two of them have to find the words together. Jay Baruchel has aged Hiccup’s voice without losing the crack in it, and his scenes with Blanchett have a shyness the rest of the film draws on.

The trouble is the war. Drago (Djimon Hounsou) is a warlord in a cloak of dragon hide, and his plan, as far as the film explains it, is to own every dragon alive. Hounsou gives him a growl and one speech of grievance, and that is the whole man. He is there because a sequel this size wanted a villain, and he is the least interesting thing in every frame he occupies. The young Vikings fare little better. Snotlout (Jonah Hill) and Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) spend the film competing for Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig), who spends it ogling the trapper Eret (Kit Harington), and the joke is run six times when twice would have done. Astrid (America Ferrera), a proper second lead in the first film, is mostly here to carry Hiccup’s plan to other people. Craig Ferguson’s Gobber gets the best line and we will leave it to him.

Against the first film this is bigger and less sure of itself. That one had one boy, one dragon and one lie to a father, and it ran on those for ninety minutes. This one has a plot that needs a map, and its last act takes Toothless somewhere we did not want him to go, in a way we will not describe. Parents should know that the last half hour is darker than the original ever went, and a six-year-old who loved the first film may find it a lot to take.

See it for the flying, for Blanchett, and for a score that would be worth hearing with the picture off. It runs 102 minutes and most of the best of them are in the air. The war can look after itself.

*Fi1m score 74, published 5 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like this sequel. The praise gathers around the animation: the flying sequences, the dragon sanctuary, and the way the dragons move like real animals rather than cartoon pets. Toothless draws affection again, and several reviews find the film more mature and emotionally deeper than the first, with the reunion between Hiccup’s parents singled out as its tenderest passage.

The reservations cluster around the story. Several critics call it overstuffed, with too many characters and too little time for the supporting ones, and more than one misses the simpler, lighter touch of the original. A few note that Toothless is pushed to the edges late on, leaving Hiccup without his best foil. The spread is wide: Empire, Total Film and Variety are close to raves, while The Wrap, The AV Club and Eye for Film find it muddled and less soulful than its predecessor, blaming the villain and the war plot.

## Straight answers

**Is How to Train Your Dragon 2 worth watching?**

*How to Train Your Dragon 2* is worth watching for the flying, for Cate Blanchett and for John Powell's score, and we scored it 74. The war built around those things is standard issue, with a thin villain and a plot that needs a map. Families with younger children should know the last half hour is darker than the first film ever went.

**How long is How to Train Your Dragon 2, and what is it rated?**

*How to Train Your Dragon 2* runs 1h 42m and is rated M/6 by the IGAC in Portugal. It is a fantasy and action film.

**Where can I watch How to Train Your Dragon 2 in Portugal?**

*How to Train Your Dragon 2* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and SkyShowtime in Portugal, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does How to Train Your Dragon 2 compare to How to Train Your Dragon?**

*How to Train Your Dragon 2* is bigger and less sure of itself than [*How to Train Your Dragon*](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2010), which remains the tighter film. The sequel has finer flying, a richer score and a scene between Hiccup's parents that moved us, but it adds a warlord nobody needed. Newcomers should start with the original; those who loved it will find plenty here in the air.

**What should I watch after How to Train Your Dragon 2?**

After *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, try [*How to Train Your Dragon*](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2010) (2010, Fi1m 82): The original: one boy, one dragon, one lie, and nothing wasted. Then [*The Iron Giant*](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant) (1999, Fi1m 88): A child and a creature the grown-ups want to kill, told with the same plainness; and [*Princess Mononoke*](https://film.one/film/princess-mononoke) (1997, Fi1m 88): Miyazaki’s war between people and beasts, where nobody is simply the villain.

### Reviews we read (25)

- **Empire**, Helen O'Hara (90/100, inferred): O’Hara calls it a triumphant, thrilling sequel that deepens the story and sets up an ambitious trilogy. She especially praises Toothless’s expressive character and the film’s visually rich flying sequences. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/train-dragon-2-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Charles Solomon (90/100, inferred): Solomon gives the film an emphatic rave, calling it a new standard of excellence for DreamWorks and a contender for major awards. He especially praises its vivid animation and the emotionally compelling bond between Hiccup and Toothless. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-124177/)
- **Total Film**, Matt Risley (90/100, inferred): Risley finds the sequel emotionally richer and more mature, calling it DreamWorks’ most accomplished film yet. He especially praises its exhilarating flying scenes and the wonder they bring to Hiccup and Toothless’s bond. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/cannes-2014-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-reaction-review/)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (90/100, inferred): Debruge calls it DreamWorks Animation’s strongest sequel yet, finding it emotionally satisfying and creatively bold. He especially praises the visually stunning dragon sanctuary and the expressive character animation. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/cannes-film-review-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-1201181707/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey (85/100, inferred): Sharkey finds the sequel a rip-roaring, emotionally affecting continuation that deepens the first film’s emotional core. She particularly praises the animation and the understated performance that makes Hiccup’s growth into a leader convincing. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review-20140613-column.html)
- **Radio Times**, Leslie Felperin (4/5): Felperin finds it a sturdy, inventive sequel, with the quieter character-led moments especially effective. She praises the imaginative use of 3D for its aerial set pieces, while noting there may be too many characters. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-moixnn/how-to-train-your-dragon-2/)
- **The New Yorker** (80/100, inferred): The New Yorker finds the sequel deeper and more satisfying than the original. It particularly praises the vivid 3-D cinematography and the emotional resonance brought by Valka. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/how-to-train-your-dragon-2)
- **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (75/100, inferred): Kermode finds the sequel intriguing and visually impressive. He singles out its swoopy animation and the spectacular, unsettling appearance of a giant dragon-like creature. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/13/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review-dreamworks)
- **Screen Daily**, Mark Adams (70/100, inferred): The review presents the film as an engaging adventure with a tender heart. It singles out the sweeping action sequences and emotional warmth for praise. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/how-to-train-your-dragon-2/5071935.article)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (70/100, inferred): The review is positive about the film. It singles out the animated adventure and its imaginative world as strengths. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/13/movies/in-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-war-and-peace-and-beasties.html)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (60/100, inferred): O'Sullivan finds the sequel uneven but ultimately enjoyable, despite its lack of originality and some tedious dialogue. She praises Toothless's charm and the gorgeously choreographed dragon action. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-film-review-9599348.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (60/100, inferred): Felperin finds the sequel visually spectacular but overstuffed, emotionally uneven, and potentially too intense for younger viewers. She especially praises the expressive, animal-like dragon animation and the nuanced bond between Hiccup and Toothless. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/how-train-your-dragon-2-704887/)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): Calhoun gives the film three out of five, a moderate rather than unequivocal endorsement. The available page text notes its reliance on goodwill toward Hiccup and his dragons, but provides no fuller criticism. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/how-to-train-your-dragon-2)
- **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (2/4): Henderson finds the sequel disappointing despite its crowd-pleasing core, as its ambitions overwhelm the original’s simpler appeal. He particularly faults Toothless being sidelined, which leaves Hiccup without an effective foil. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2/)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (50/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the sequel visually impressive but dramatically underwhelming and somewhat dated. He praises the intimate family scenes, especially the tender reunion between Valka and Stoick. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/movie-review-how-to-train-your-dragon-2.html)
- **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (35/100, inferred): Dowd’s headline frames the sequel as a weaker, less soulful follow-up. It singles out the loss of the original’s emotional depth as its main shortcoming. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/latest?page=1192&startTime=1616785200374)
- **Den of Geek**, Mark Harrison (4/5): Harrison considers it a marvellous, adept sequel that largely succeeds, though it falls short of the original’s carefree simplicity. He praises its empathy and open-mindedness, alongside its visuals, score, and emotionally powerful moments. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review-2/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Steven Neish (80/100, inferred): Neish finds the sequel a resounding success, though less sharp and streamlined than the original. He especially praises its poignant family reunion and the continuing delight of Hiccup and Toothless’s friendship. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review/)
- **Paste**, Mark Rozeman (8.3): Rozeman calls the sequel a worthy successor, despite occasional problems with pacing and its crowded story. He especially praises the vivid animation and spectacular flying sequences. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/how-to/how-to-train-your-dragon-2)
- **The Playlist** (78/100, inferred): The headline presents the film as satisfying, though slightly inferior to its predecessor. The available page text does not reveal what the critic specifically praises or criticizes. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-how-to-train-your-dragon-2-is-a-satisfying-if-slightly-inferior-sequel-20140611/)
- **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (70/100, inferred): The critic finds it polished, entertaining summer fare, though it falls short of the best recent animated films. He praises the exhilarating flight sequences and emotional impact, but faults the thin treatment of supporting characters. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a581689/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review-flying-high-or-wings-clipped/)
- **/Film**, David Chen (70/100, inferred): The headline presents the film as a worthy sequel, suggesting a positive verdict. The visible text praises the original’s flight sequences and Toothless, but gives no specific praise for the sequel itself. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/532293/train-dragon-2-video-review-worthy-sequel-beautiful-film/)
- **The Skinny**, Becky Bartlett (★★★): Bartlett finds the sequel adequate light entertainment but says it lacks the focus and excitement of its predecessor. She praises the visuals and the playful dragon interactions, while noting that Toothless is sidelined near the end. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/how-to-train-your-dragon-2)
- **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the sequel visually impressive but less charming and emotionally effective than its predecessor. The visuals and Hiccup’s bond with his mother stand out, while the villain and war plot disappoint. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-review-cate-blanchett-jay-baruchel-america-ferrera/)
- **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (15/100, inferred): The critic finds the sequel muddled and far less effective than its predecessor. The visuals are singled out for praise, while the story’s competing spectacle and family-drama threads leave Toothless lost in the mist. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/how-to-train-your-dragon-2-2014-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)

## Details

- **Director:** Dean DeBlois
- **Director:** Dean DeBlois
- **Writer:** Dean DeBlois
- **Cinematography:** Gil Zimmerman
- **Editor:** John K. Carr
- **Music:** John Powell, Alexander Rybak
- **Production design:** Pierre-Olivier Vincent
- **Producer:** Bonnie Arnold
- **Cast:** Jay Baruchel as Hiccup (voice); Cate Blanchett as Valka (voice); Gerard Butler as Stoick (voice); Craig Ferguson as Gobber (voice); America Ferrera as Astrid (voice); Jonah Hill as Snotlout (voice); Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs (voice); T.J. Miller as Tuffnut (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 42m
- **Certificate (IGAC):** M/6
- **Release (Portugal):** 12 June 2014
- **Genres:** Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Animation, Family
- **Budget:** $145 million
- **Box office:** $622 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y0erVF9cLI

## Where to watch in Portugal

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming, uhd
- SkyShowtime: streaming, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, uhd
- Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy €5.99, sd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy €5.99, sd

*Checked 2026-10-05.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2015: Best Animated Feature (nominated)
- Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie 2015: Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie (nominated)
- Annie Award for Best Animated Feature 2014: Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (won)
- BAFTA Film Awards 2014: BAFTA's Children & Young People Award - Feature Film (nominated)
- Critics' Choice Awards 2014: Best Animated Feature (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *How to Train Your Dragon* (2010), Fi1m 82: The original: one boy, one dragon, one lie, and nothing wasted — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2010.md)
- *The Iron Giant* (1999), Fi1m 88: A child and a creature the grown-ups want to kill, told with the same plainness — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant.md)
- *Princess Mononoke* (1997), Fi1m 88: Miyazaki’s war between people and beasts, where nobody is simply the villain — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/princess-mononoke.md)
- *Song of the Sea* (2014), Fi1m 82: Irish, hand-drawn, about a lost mother and the sea; quieter, and as moving — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/song-of-the-sea.md)
- *Pete's Dragon* (2016): A live-action boy and his dragon in the Pacific Northwest, gentle and unhurried

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon-2