shadethenightfury:

Top 10 Movies of 2014 So Far | Number 1 | How to Train Your Dragon 2

I’ve said it before on this list and I’ll say it again; sequels are often a disappointment.  That goes double in the world of Western animation.  So many sequels to so many good family movies have been horrible.  But not this one.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a poster child for how to do a sequel that not only lives up to the high standards set by the original, but quite possibly exceeds them.  It expands on the world of the 2010 original, and it provides more character development and emotional depth than ever before.  But beyond just being a good sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a fantastic piece of cinema.  It features some of the most beautiful animation ever seen in theaters, and one of the best musical scores ever attached to a film.  The characters all feel more real than the main characters of most adult movies, and the storyline is not only fun and exciting but full of harsh moral lessons and emotional depth.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 may seem on the outside to be a colorful, unrealistic, action-packed family movie about Vikings riding dragons, but it uses those ideas to hold up a story that is beyond all that; a multi-layered story, with themes of family, friendship, duty, loss and growing up, that is beautifully human and at times painfully real.  I could go on and on about how amazing this film was, but due to lack of time, I’ll sum it up with this; How to Train Your Dragon 2 is far more than just a fun family movie.  Despite a few small flaws in pacing and villain development, it is an absolute masterpiece, and a work of art.  It is not only one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen, but one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.  And so far, it’s the best movie of 2014.