Step 2: Watch an Awesome Animated Sequel

Quick Points

Movie vs. Book
You can't really compare the two because the first movie is only loosely based on the first book, so the second movie can barely follow the second book. BUT they do have some nice throw backs to the series.

Really a Kid's Movie?
Like the first movie, no! Though nothing can be as shocking as Hiccup waking up without a leg, there are some very intense scenes.

Favorite Scene (Semi-Spoiler?)
When Hiccup meets his mother after blowing her mind with his mad dragon mastering skills.

Favorite Dragon
Night Fury, duh! 

When you've waited years for a movie that's either based off of or a continuation of a story that you're obsessed with, it's really hard to step back from the excitement and take a critical look at the film. So, here's me showing some good faith and being objective.

Things I didn't like about the movie: the villain's story and motives seem more ridiculous with each viewing, Tuffnut becomes a pansy girly-girl who's only interested in muscular guys, and WHY IN THOR'S NAME DID THEY REVEAL THAT HICCUP'S MOTHER WAS ALIVE BEFORE THE MOVIE CAME OUT?! (Sorry if that last bit was a spoiler, but if you've managed to go this long without finding out about her then you did what I failed to do, and I applaud you.)

Now that that's out of the way, back to how awesome the movie was. Everything in it was beautiful (except for Tuffnut's face whenever she sees hunky Dragon Trapper Eret--it's just creepy). The scenes were breath taking (especially in 3D), the interactions between the characters were emotional, the dialogue was witty when appropriate and deep when not (except, again, whenever Tuffnut and Eret are involved), and the music... oh, the music can bring you to tears faster than the scenes themselves, then have you up and dancing by the end of it all (you go, John Powell and Jónsi!).

While the overall story simply wasn't as grabbing as the first movie (and I blame that on the weak antagonist and Dreamwork's idea that revealing the movie's biggest plot twist in it's trailer is a good idea), it still makes for an exciting continuation of Hiccup and Toothless' adventures and will have fans freaking out in their seats (not that I'm speaking from experience). I definitely recommend that everyone see it, if not for the love of the story then for the artistic value of the exquisitely crafted individual scenes, and I highly recommend that you see it in 3D to get the full effect. I'm not a huge fan of this new style that most movies are getting into (in fact, the only other movie I'd say benefits from being viewed in 3D is Avatar), but the feature adds such a sense of realism that you feel like you're actually one of the Dragon Riders and are flying right alongside them.

-----

What did you think of the movie? Comment below!