How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Most people think so. 84% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics agree, scoring it 84%.

Five years after uniting the dragons and Vikings of Berk, Hiccup and Toothless soar beyond their homeland, charting the vast unknown. During one of their adventures, the pair discover a secret cave that houses hundreds of wild dragons -- and a mysterious dragon rider with a startling connection to Hiccup. And as the ruthless dragon conqueror Drago Bludvist rises to seize control of both dragons and people alike, Hiccup must step into his role as a true leader and, alongside his friends and Toothless, protect Berk from a devastating war. Wikipedia ↗

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a 2014 American animated fantasy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Dean DeBlois. Set five years after the original, the film follows an older Hiccup, now 20, who discovers a massive ice cave that is home to hundreds of wild dragons and their mysterious protector — his long-lost mother Valka, voiced by Cate Blanchett, who abandoned her family years ago to live among the dragons she dedicated her life to protecting. Hiccup's reunion with his mother is complicated by the arrival of Drago Bludvist, a madman who has been building a dragon army to conquer the world using an enormous Alpha dragon that can bend other dragons to his will.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was that rare animated sequel that significantly matured alongside its audience — where the first film was a coming-of-age story about a boy and his dragon, the sequel dealt with themes of family, loss, leadership, and the burden of responsibility with genuine emotional weight. The death of a major character was handled with a gravity unusual for animated family films, and Hiccup's evolution from adventurous teenager to reluctant leader was convincingly portrayed. Cate Blanchett's Valka was a memorable addition, and the dragon flying sequences were even more visually spectacular than the original.

The film earned $621 million worldwide and won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.