There are so many good things at the box office right now that we couldn't just see one, so this week we've split reviewing duties to tackle two sequels: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's return to undercover life in 22 Jump Street, and Dreamworks' return to the island of Berk in How to Train Your Dragon 2.



The Courteous Take

Dreamworks
Dreamworks
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The original How to Train Your Dragon was 2010’s sleeper hit, one I was lucky enough to see in theaters, and the sort of movie that elicits: “Let’s go watch it right now!” whenever I hear that someone hasn’t had the pleasure. It is, hands down, one of my favorite movies, so I met this summer’s sequel with both great anticipation and dread. What if they got it wrong the second time around?

The good news is, they got it right. Well, you know, most of it.

Let’s begin with the highest points: How to Train Your Dragon 2 is gorgeous, a visual treat that puts every piece of CG-animation I’ve seen over the last few years to shame. Don’t get me wrong, Frozen is pretty, if a little chromatically limited, but Dragon 2 has ice and fire and so much in-between (like clouds and water and leather and fur and fishscales and dragonskin).

Not only that, but every inch of its world—which now stretches so much further than the familiar climes of Berk (in fact, we spend hardly any time on the little island)—brims with life, and O, what wonderful life it is. You can almost feel the cold beneath every wave, almost feel the beating heart beneath every chest.

The vikings you loved are back, and five years older, both the same and more than they once were. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is taller and surer, a handsome young man grown out of the gawky boy, and his skills as both dragonrider and tinkerer have leapt and bounded. He flies alongside his companion Toothless with the aid of a complex mechanical flight suit, and wherever they go they grow his sketched map of the brave and strange new world.

So it is with the rest of them: Astrid (America Ferrera), his fiancee(!), is comfortable as warrior princess and leader in equal measure to Hiccup, while gang members Snotlout and Fishlegs now vie for their comrade Ruffnut’s affections (to her brother Tuffnut’s general revulsion). Even Hiccup’s father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler) is not quite as he was before; streaks of gray run through his beard, he rides a mighty dragon of his own, and he even—very occasionally—listens.

Taken as nothing more than a sequence of character moments between our beloved heroes and some surprising new introductions, the film is fantastic. For a fan of the franchise, and even for a typical audience member, this is probably more than enough. We’re carried through heroics and heartbreaks on the wings of dragons, and few films in theaters right now will give you a better ride.

Each moment is so delightful.

But it isn’t perfect. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t be much of a slight, except that that the original damn near was, a perfect execution of a simple story: boy meets dragon, boy and dragon become best friends, boy and dragon’s friendship changes the world.

The sequel has higher ambitions, but lower accuracy. It tries to tell too many stories at once, and as a result, doesn’t tell any of them to appropriate completion. Do both the film’s beginning and ending feel wonderful? Sure. Do they match one another? No, not really.

One could make a compelling argument for the film expressing life as a series of untimely interruptions, but that doesn’t justify it as optimal storytelling. One could also speculate endlessly about why the sequel captured so many of the heights of its predecessor without achieving similar perfection. Perhaps Dean DeBlois needed Will Davies and Chris Sanders to rein in his screenplay.

Or perhaps it’s symptomatic of the dangerous “bridging” film—after all, a third is scheduled for 2016, and given the cycle of animated films, that means it’s already years into production. It stands to reason that it might pick up and tie off the hanging threads of its younger brother, or even that it was designed from the start to do exactly that. In the meantime, though, we’re still stuck with an incomplete story.

Despite that, I am oddly content. However major its storytelling gaffes, each moment of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is so delightful that my enjoyment of the film was undampened. What’s more, I can’t hope for the film that might have been; all I can do is hope that How to Train Your Dragon 3 will learn from its predecessor’s mistakes and let the franchise, as a trilogy, soar to the heights we saw in the original.

Green Light: See this film at your local theater.
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The Savage Take

Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
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In an age of over-the-top action and seemingly endless sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, 22 Jump Streetpokes fun at where we’ve found ourselves culturally. It’s a good-natured raspberry at both Hollywood and the audience, and much like directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord’s most recent film, The LEGO Movie, it’s easy to laugh along.

Not only that, but 22 Jump Street is also a breed of movie that’s become an endangered species: the clever comedy send-up. What sets it apart from awful low-brow parodies like Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, and The Starving Games (to name just a few that have come out of Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg’s horrifying camp) is that it revels in the defining aspects of the modern cinematic landscape rather than sardonically turning up its nose. Jump Street isn’t above it all, it’s a gleeful participant.

For narrative alone, maybe the first film is superior, but the sequel capitalizes on its unoriginality: the guys are told again and again to “do the same thing as last time,” and much of the merciless onslaught of humor is found in their struggle and, late in the game, refusal to do so. This is one of those movies where the jokes come so quickly that it’s difficult to catch your breath before you’re laughing again.

What makes it all work, aside from sure direction and a great script, is the sincerity of stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Whether they’re ironing out the wrinkles in their partnership during an awkward couples therapy session or trading insults during a bust gone wrong, their performances feel effortless because we can feel that the actors interact like this on and off the set.

22 Jump Street is a stellar action comedy that no one should miss. Just don’t load up with too many sodas and snacks, because they’ll quickly turn into a choking hazard.

Green Light: See this film at your local theater.
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Where Do We Go From Here?

S: For another example of action comedy done flawlessly, check out Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz. Like 22 Jump Street, it’s both a clever spoof of action films and an excellent entry into the genre.

T: If you haven't seen it yet, for the love of all that is good, go find a copy of the original How to Train Your Dragon and watch it. Then go to the theater and watch the sequel. If you've already done both those things and are still craving some fine animated fun, check out Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda, which I've always considered HTTYD's cross-continental compatriot.

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