#httyd2 criticism

[sallykie]

I've decided. I don't like the HTTYD movie sequels' xenophobia era. I don't think the themes should have gone that way.

[rebel-alliance]

So I saw How To Train Your Dragon 2 last night (finally) and… The visuals were breathtaking and the voice acting was great but I had problems with the storytelling and especially the messages it was sending.

1. I loved the first couple of scenes Valka was in, she was idealistic and badass. She had this basic idea that there was a way to solve conflicts without violence and it was why she had left all that was important to her so I thought that was going to be important, I thought that was going to be the message of the movie: How to solve conflicts without violence. But it wasn’t! They solved the conflict by fighting each other, bringing major sacrifices and Valka didn’t even hesitate to get violent! So she did the opposite of what she supposedly believed in. Did Valka change her mind when she saw what her non-violence-path lead to the last time (= endangering her family)? Is the moral that non-violent ways are overrated? I don’t know for sure but I doubt it.

2. Okay what else could have been important? Oh well Hiccup was talking about how he could convince people of what was right and his father told him that didn’t work with everyone. So maybe that was going to be important! That’s a valuable lesson: How To Explain Your Standpoint To People Who Don’t Wanna Listen. But that wasn’t carried out either. Hiccup tried but failed. Even when he actually proved that his way of winning over dragons was better the villain didn’t seem to care . Hiccup didn’t even convince Eret, Eret was convinced by a dragon!

3. A desperate wish of mine was also a funny and smart resolution to the Ruffnut-business because damn do I love the twins. I thought that maybe there would be a witty message about boys fighting over a girl and whatever but really.. all that happened was the boys hugging their dragons so I guess the message was Dragons before Hoes or something.

4. Another lesson that could have been there is one about forgiving the ones you love. You know, with a mom who left the family 20 years ago and a dragon who accidentally (?) killed your dad that seems likely. But Hiccup forgives Valka instantly and when he tells Toothless that Stoick’s death wasn’t his fault (shortly after pushing him away and being upset) I didn’t even know why and when he changed his mind.

Well then what was the moral of the story? I believe it was something about how to be a leader. This could have played out many different ways, for example: Astrid and Hiccup could have ruled together. It was stated early on in the movie that Astrid had a leading personality and you can see that when she unites the friends to go free Hiccup. Hiccup in the meantime spent 98% of the movie with his parents and some dragons, NOT with anyone he could lead. I think the movie was trying to say that - through learning about Valka’s decision to protect her family… by…leaving them alone?? sorta involuntarily?? - through seeing the alpha-dragon die for the others in battle and - especially through Stoick’s death, Hiccup learned that it’s important to protect the ones you love. But despite the funeral scene (which broke the excitement of the battle pretty much completely) this wasnt clear to me until I thought it through again, searching for a message. So Hiccup goes to protect the ones he loves and… magically becomes a good leader. We do not see how he finds a solution that suits his character instead of simply following his dad. We do not see how he finds his own way. But he’s a leader now… yay?

So overall I enjoyed HTTYD2, it had a lot of positive sides which I didn’t mention here and there’s nothing wrong with liking it but these were just things that bothered me personally. Feel free to proove me wrong or point out weaknesses in the theory!