Why How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the Weakest One 

In DreamWorks, the protagonist meets his long lost father Disney: kill them all

Big hero 6 won over this THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE.

in DreamWorks, you find your parents. in Disney, you find your parent's grave

well, it's established that Drago "kills without reason", and he didn't kill Hiccup when he had a reason, so that's dedication to character.

Still waiting on “why the LEGO movie is a cinematic masterpiece”

Whoa, for once he didn’t call a movie painfully average.

I think httyd2 has more of an impact if you've watched the Netflix show as well because you see more development of the side characters in it and you also see more development between stoick and hiccup making his death even more sad

Honestly if Hiccup had said aloud "I did this" after Stoic died, that would've satisfied the need for his self-regret AND called back to the first film really well

"Scar on his neck" That's a chin, Schaffrillas. Cmon man

You know what line would have made the death of his father impactful. "I did this." You know you remember that line from the first film.

I think Grimmel was supposed to be a comparison to what Hiccup could have been. Both of them started in the same position, they were presented with a captured night-fury and could choose to either slay it and accept traditional glory, or spare it and accept the opportunity to change the future. While we all know what happens when Hiccup chooses to spare Toothless, but Grimmel is what would have happened if Hiccup had killed him. Hiccup had insecurities, and would likely have continued hunting night-furies to extinction for praise and status. Oh wait, guess what Grimmel's back story is.

I actually like how the mother thing wasnt entirely questioned in the first movie, i thought it was a nice representation of a single father, without the father being incompetent or stupid, unlike most shows, its just not as represented as it could be in media,

“That was belonging to a person of the male gender’s previously mentioned action that is misguided” ok that was the best version of that running joke ever

Hiccup blames Toothless for the death of his father. Little does he know... That was his mistake

11:30 I disagree with the "its just a low point" Stoics death puts hiccup in a position that changes his lookout on being chief. He realizes in this seen that a chief "protects his own" as stoic protected hiccup. And I feel like it was a good choice because him and hiccups mom just met then he died its a bit influenced by the scene of them dancing and singing.

personally one thing i would've liked to see in this movie was a bonding scene between stoick and toothless. the two never really interact at any point after stoick changes his view on dragons, and in the second film all we really get is them being in the same room without directly acknowledging each other. having a scene where the two directly interact before toothless kills stoick would've not only added another level of emotion to the scene, but it also would make toothless feel more like a character outside of his relationship to hiccup imo

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you" still sticks with me after years

It’s not a schaffrillas video without a “THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE”

The reason for the breastplate is probably due to the books. In the books hiccup's mother was a warrior with great skill, and since vikings in the books had tamed their own dragons from the start of book 1 the fact that she was close to a dragon was less part of her character. She was more of an estranged mother, and hiccup was more of an oddity in the books They probably hadn't decided what to do with her character, so they stuck to how she was seen in the books

One thing you got to love about the 2nd movie is how Stoick views Hiccup. From seeing his own son as the pariah of the village in the first to being heads over heels of how great a chief he’ll be in the second was just so heartwarming and wholesome. The whole family dynamic in HTTYD2 specifically is one of the highlights of the trilogy for me.

The evolution of “That was his mistake” is glorious.

toothless: can't control himself hiccup: THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE

I'm two years late, but in response to why the audience (including me) liked this movie so much, it's because of the world building. The first movie was awesome but so relatively limited in the scope of the world. This movie gave us more dragons, the idea that other people actually exist in the world, and bonding between the characters we already love. I fully realize and accept that this film is not as strong as the others in the trilogy, but it is just so much fun, and it's so freaking cool.

Oh gosh. If Valka would have commented on her husband's death as he lay there it would have broken me. Just imagine. Valka frantically running over after he is shot at by toothless. Screaming about how she just got him back and he can't leave her. How she wishes she had never left and that he can't leave her like she did. That would have been incredible.

If hiccup killed and cooked toothless *THAT WOULD BE HIS STEAK*

Can we just talk about the fact that the father's death is NEVER. MENTIONED. AGAIN after movie 2? It's never touched upon as a way for toothless and hiccup to grow closer to deal with that trauma, we never see Toothless deal with the guilt of MURDERING someone. Nah just give him a girlfriend and be cute in movie 3. Ugh. I like HTTYD but that's always bothered me.

The only real issue I have with number 2 is how Stoick's funeral scene was *almost* perfect. It was beautiful, Gobber's speech was heartfelt, the score was on point, and for the first time ever the twins didn't ruin it just by being there. But it also seemed to come and go a bit quickly. The movie gives me just enough time to begin processing this loss before slingshotting me into an energetic scene with silly banter.

Given that Toothless is one of the more intelligent dragons, I felt like a more natural way for the “Toothless and Hiccup split up after Stoick’s death” scene to go is that when Toothless saw Stoick dead and saw a similar blast mark of his, Toothless quickly realizes what happened and realizes what he had done without any words. Hiccup tries to tell Toothless that it wasn’t his fault but Toothless flies off thinking otherwise. Also I agree, the scene where Volka gets taken by dragons should have been the opening of the movie without any dialogue.

Schaffrillas Productions: *makes this video* HTTYD fans: Peace was never an option

"How come these movies dont teach me literally how to train my dragon?" The first movie is all about that, the second movie shows how to train your dragon to overpower and become the alpha, and the third shows how NOT to train your dragon via the disgusting use via the villain.

To be honest, it.. felt kind of natural? That it doesn't mention Valka, anyway. Not only did Hiccup barely get to know her, it's been a really long time. They've probably supressed it by now, which is a kind of normal way to deal with greif.

"He changed his mind" "And look were that got him" That line is one of my favourits for many reasons and a small detail I love about it is that Grimmel is sitting in Stoicks chair. Its now Hiccups since hes become cheif but it once was Stoicks and for Grimmel to have the audacity to say such a thing in his thrown to his son for me just made it so much better.

Valka’s purpose in the movie is how she represents half of Hiccup. In the second movie, Hiccup’s parents represent the two halves of Hiccup: the chief and the dragon rider. At the beginning of the movie, Hiccup is being pulled in two different directions. His dad wants him to be the chief, but he wants to explore and map out the world. Hiccup, at the beginning of the movie, doesn’t know who he is, he thinks that he can’t be the chief. When he meets his mom, he he meets the half of himself that he thinks is his whole: the Dragon tamer side, Valka even tells him “this is who you are, who we are.” Then, when Hiccup’s parents reunite, it represents how Hiccup’s two halves have come together. Valka reinforces this at Stoick’s funeral when she says that Hiccup has “the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon”. Hiccup is both of his parents, he is a chief and a dragon tamer, and this is what the movie is about, Hiccup learning who he is, and him and Toothless becoming leaders of their respective races.

"We never actually meet shrek's parents" Shows a picture of shrek's parents from the musical.

i totally agree, my big issue was always how little impact stoick's death had on the story, and on Hiccup's character. Like the first half of the movie was so good, and then it just... rushed to get to the end. We went from Stoick's death to immediately a happy baby dragon ride?? It felt so disjointed???

It's actually the most impactfull for hiccup's growth and most important for the continuation of the story

Schaff: *claims HTTYD2 is the weakest* Me: That's a twist.

A bad HTTYD movie is like a bad Avatar: the last airbender episode. They can still be breathtaking, but are outclassed by other parts of their franchieses

Alright so hear me out: If Cloudjumper was the alpha instead of the giant white dragon, and they spent a little more time developing the relationship between Toothless and Cloudjumper, this could’ve fixed a bunch of the issues. 1) When Drago’s alpha fights Cloud for dominance, the loss of Cloud for Toothless could mirror the loss of Stoick for Hiccup. Consequently, the dynamic of Toothless becoming the alpha when Hiccup becomes chief feels much more cohesive. 2) Hiccup becoming a chief as toothless becomes alpha feels a lot more like Hiccup taking after both of his parents if he shares the leadership dynamic that Valka had with Cloudjumper. Also I think Astrid should’ve gone with Hiccup when he met Valka. Astrid and Hiccup both seeing the love between Stoick and Valka could’ve been a great way to set up the marriage conflict in the hidden world. Regardless I still like this movie, but I think these changes could’ve been cool.

To really appreciate the side characters you must watch “race to the edge”. Really brings their characters to light. Especially fish legs and hiccups relationship

My issue with the movie: *trailers* Literally every HTTYD movie RUINS any and all twists in their trailers. Rewatch the 2nd movies trailer and it tells you everything that happens. The mother reveal loses so much weight by telling us about it in the trailers

Hiccup should’ve said “I did this” during stoicks funeral, alluding to what stoick said about hiccup after thinking he died

I agree there should have been more stuff done with Stoick's death, he raises good points. More setup of their relationship beforehand to make the death scene sting more, and some self-blame from Hiccup to make the grieving / funeral scene more emotional (and realistic, to make it even more ouchy) rather than just being sad his dad is gone and nervous about being chief. Like keep those aspects, but maybe tone back the "aa chief scary not for me" in favor of self-blame. Hiccup hurts good, and if you're gonna kill off Stoick for a protagonist low point, you may as well commit. I think the death scene itself was top notch, in its screenplay, the suddenness, the character's reactions, etc. but Hiccup blaming himself would add a whole 'nother layer of emotional depth to Stoick's death and further impact the lesson Hiccup learns by the end, to protect his own rather than clinging to pacifism against reasonable odds.

I LIKE that they didn't mention Valka much before her appearance, I can't help meta-ing while watching movies/reading books. If you show me a chekhov's gun I know it's going to get used but the first time I saw HTTYD 2 I was as surprised as much as Hiccup he randomly bumped into his mother in a dragons nest.

That first "THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE" absolutely killed me, I was expecting it, but the editing style caught me off guard.

“You kill without reason! Why aren’t you killing him if you have a viable reason?!” Because the law states that if you kill without reason you can’t kill if you have a reason.

Something I wish would have been done or expanded on are the Viking's rituals, more precisely when Hiccups becomes chief. I feel like it was such a huge source of anxiety for him to succeed his father, and the expectations he set on himself were so high, that when he nonchalantly accepts his new role at the end without hesitation or second thought, the scene feels incomplete. I believe it should have been a whole ceremony where he actually grasps the intensity of his new responsibilities and realizes that even though he doesn't feel ready, Stoic trusted him already to take the role. And the scene could end with something like Hiccups looking to the sea, thanking his dad for believing in him. That would have been very impactful.

Stoic says: “it’ll take more than a little fire to kill me!” THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE.

"HAHA Hiccup is holding his mom's BOOOOB container!" - Schafrillas Productions, 2020

The breastplate thing was probably based on Hiccup's mom in the book (who's a big burly warrior woman), but then Dreamworks changed a lot of ideas from the books in the film series at some point. Just my take.

Did you notice that in every How to train your dragon the main characters discovers a new hidden beautiful dragon world ?

7:21 Coughs in deleted opening scene where Valka destroys Eret's base with her Bewilderbeast and saving every captured dragon that was there.

I'd argue that Valka wasn't even concieved during the writing of the first movie. It was a father/son type of deal. But what really ticked me off was Valka was revealed in the trailer! That's like showing the scene where Darth Vader reveals he's Luke's father in the trailer to Empire

"We live in an age of hyperbole where every movie has to be perfect..." * Shows Killer Bean * Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well

Ok. Drago is actually a better villain than you think, especially in terms of how he "controls" the dragons. He mimics the Bewilderbeast's alpha call and even appearance. He also waves his staff in a way that mimics the lower tones of the Bewilderbeast's alpha frequency. Also, yelling at the dragons in order to "control" them is a concept that was originally created in the HTTYD Book where it's stated that the only way to "train dragons" was to scream very loudly at them. His ideals of controlling the dragons through an "alpha" perfectly counter what would become Hiccup's ideals of protecting dragons through an "alpha," especially in the third movie. The Grimmel comes in and SHOWS HIM why that logic does not work.

11:06 counterpoint: the battle where Stoick dies comes right after he had reunited with Valka and Hiccup's family was whole again, but it only lasted a moment before it was taken away from him. This time for good.

For me, nothing will ever top the first flight scene from the first movie.

Me: wow that drago guy seems pretty scary Drago: *moronic yells* Me: I take it back.

I actually liked drogo's walk away when toothless killed stoick, it really shows a little he cares for life and hiccup in particular, and yeah you can definitely say he didn't try but that was because for him he was not a threat at all, and when he gain control of the dragons he understandably belived hiccup would pose even less of a threat, in other words he was such an a*hole he got cocky.

I think it's interesting that Grimmel is considered the antithesis to Hiccup, the person he would have become had he killed Toothless in the first movie. But nobody ever talks about how Drago is the perfect antithesis to Stoick. They virtually have the same backstory as one another, but one chose to move on from his loss and embrace peace with dragons. Drago is what Stoick would have become had he never stopped killing dragons.

Fun fact: Valka was originally planned to be the villain of the story the moment when she discovers that Hiccup was the one who took down Toothless, but they changed her arc and put Drago in out of nowhere, that would explain why he is the must rushed character in the movie

I'm late. But you really need to watch Race To the Edge. It fixes the side characters and actually gives them character arcs. Snotlout suffers an inferiority complex. Yes really. And the twins, my least favorite aspect of the movies, became some of my favorite characters in the show. Also, it fixes Drago. Think about this. In Race To the Edge, there are 4 main villains. THREE of them got redemption arcs. That is why Hiccup is so convinced Drago can be saved. Drago is a stepping stone in Hiccup's arc. Ya, he's not going to see this. I need to show up earlier on the next dragon video.

1:21 - 1:26 YES!!!!! Thank you, Schaff for saying it! How to Train Your Dragon 2 DESERVED the 2014 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film more than Big Hero 6 and while I've forgiven the Oscars, I'm still not happy with THAT decision.

"Worst" does not imply bad... it implies that it's just the worst... people just assume that it implies bad... That's their mistake

Schaffrillas: **opinion** My brain as soon as I read the title: *W R O N G* edit: My brain after watching the video: *O K M A Y B E*

I hope there’s a “that was his mistake!” in this vid

The problem by putting that scene at the beginning of the movie is that the audience 1. wouldn’t be surprised that hiccups mother is found in the movie and 2. that the dragon that kidnapped her would be immediately recognised in the scene where she kidnaps him and would therefore make it plain obvious that the person underneath the mask has to be the mother

I just love how the animation got BETTER and BETTER! How is that even POSSIBLE?!?

Hiccup: loses mom Also Hiccup: gets mom back Also also Hiccup: loses dad *poor guy*

"I get that not every character can be a Zuko, emotionally complex." SOMEONE NEEDED TO SAY IT! I just did expect it from you 😅

This isn’t really relevant to 2 but I like how the Dragons TV show sets up some of its events. We get to see Valka and how she got her Bewilderbeast in the final episode, we get to see how Stoick and Gobber got their dragons, we get an introduction to Drago having his henchman killed for failing him to make him a little more intimidating, and we get introduced to a whole host of creative new dragon species. It’s overall a very good show

Valka's absence early on is kind of the point. She's a cowardly version of Hiccup who cared for dragons but gave up on changing people, and so ran away. She even admits her shame over being absent. Hiccup reflects both his parents strengths: he tries to be caring and understanding like his mother, but also becomes strong, protective, and willing to stop the unredeemable at any lengths necessary after Stoick's death. That was him learning from his mistake and failure. Yeah it was rushed, but it was still there. Drago is simple, but his desire to rule by domination and fear contrasts Hiccup's desire to rule by care and loyalty.

Well I rate it 10/10 based on the simple fact that it doesn’t have Ice Age Baby in it

bro i got so upset that they killed off stoick, dude was literally viking gigachad

I loved the first movie, when the second movie came out I was like ...cool... then the third came out and I saw it in theater 3 times by myself and cried at the ending lol

hiccup should have realized it was his fault Stoick died, and said. "I did this..."

To me, Valka's reason for never coming back didn't make sense. The excuses she gave were vague and selfish

Something that always bothered me about the second movie was the way hiccup treated the villian at first, httyd2 takes place after race to the edge which has multiple villians that hunts dragons and sells them or uses them for their own benifits, all of these villian are immediately met with hostility and anger but in the 2nd movie hiccup just goes "Nah were gonna be best buds all I gotta do is talk to him hur de dur de dur" I know race to the edge was made after httyd2 but it still bothers me.

I think (hot take ) 3 was the weakest I just think it replaced toothless personality

On Hiccup’s mom; we don’t know anything about her because Hiccup doesn’t know anything about her. That’s it. That’s the choice. We are supposed to experience the world with Hiccup, and they didn’t change that when it came to his mother. This is not a negative. Edit: Astrid IS smart, but she’s also arrogant. That’s why I think she goes after Drago; she feels she can. Drago is a lesson to Hiccup; he has more power than Hiccup could ever have and he uses it to benefit himself alone. This whole movie is about Hiccup, that’s why the other characters don’t HAVE to be fully fleshed out. Seeing Toothless come into his own power at the end of the movie, while he may not have “earned it” throughout the movie, empowers hiccup to really take over his father’s role as leader.

Idk what you’re talkin’ bout’, I cried when stoic died. They were trying to make the scene powerful by not just having us care about the death of Stoic, but the guilt and sadness of toothless. I mean, it connects our emotional reaction with Toothless’, rather than with Hiccup’s.

“Then there is my least favorite character in the movie, Drago Bloodfist.” Ironic advertisement: How about noo.

The first movie was the best. Hands down. The scene where Hiccup actually flies toothless is a masterpiece, how they fly too high and lose the paper, they get unlatched from each other and both lose control, get the paper but he can't read it because they're going too fast, so he throws it away and the score kicks in so hard you get goosebumps and the cinematography is perfect- possibly the best scene in animation history. I mostly liked the plot of 3, but the side characters and the weird first 30 minutes kind of ruined it for me.

I disagree that Valka is a pointless character. The whole point of the movie is that Hiccup must learn to become the chief of Berk, but he wants to explore dragons. Valka is Hiccups mentor who helps him transition from a naive dragon explorer to a strong chief who is capable of making important decisions but still supports the dragons interests. One of the best lines in the movie is when Valka tells Hiccup, "you have the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon." Also, at 22:36, those are Drago's ships, not the Vikings'. The Vikings are at Berk. Drago only came to kill the Alpha. As far as he was concerned, he was just there to kill the Alpha and raid Berk. He didn't care about the dragon riders. Schaf makes some good points, but, personally, I don't agree with what he is saying

I cannot wait for Why How To Train Your Dragon:The Hidden World is a cinematic masterpiece.I like to hear his reviews.

I didn't even remember its existence until your video appeared in my recommendations. I only remembered about the first one and the last one lmao

I think they should have shown the flashback as soon as Hiccup's scar is shown. That way we get the showing not telling. They could have easily developed her character. I think that Stoick venting to Gober would have been thee smartest way to do it. I think Stoick is great in this movie. I think the problems come from other characters.

This whole movie would’ve completely changed if that flashback was at the very start lol

12:06 You really lost me here. He's not just sad or mad at Toothless. He's scared, filled with guilt, betrayal & grief. He's not seen talking to anyone during Stoick's ship sequence, because he's feeling less worthy to lead his own people. I don't see how anyone could miss this, especially if one is talking about narrative impact, character animation or the obvious show don't tell, which nearly every essay based YT brings up. It's a masterfully executed sequence from the script & animators part. To me it seems like you're just looking for reasons to tell a less vague, mysterious character of a film, which is reasonable and very mainstream to reach a wide audience, but that's not the only approach a film can take. Especially in how you made your point about Valka not being introduced in the opening. Had they gone that route the film would have been identical to a bunch of other films that always introduce the mysterious character in the opening, which still would have made for a good film ---- kinda-ish. Personally I found the approach they took to be a breathe of fresh air, while leaving room open for an intimidating sequence, where Hiccup is ambushed by an unknown dragon warrior. Had Valka been introduced earlier, audiences could have easily guessed away that she was the unknown dragon warrior judging from her physical build, Not to mention Cloud-jumper would've given away the reveal once he appeared on screen, whoops! That would've been quite a tame reaction. I certainly am looking forward to your take on THW.

The successor....a masterpiece? Dude, seriously?

Over a year later and still no HTTYD3 video

I honestly think that WTTYD 2 did a perfect job, and the way they introduced the mother is exactly how hiccup felt it. He never knew her, and then this mysterious character reveal its self to be his mother is beautifully done. We weren't supposed to know anything about his mother, and his father never spoke much about her, so why would we?

I love every single inclusion of “That was his mistake” clip

okay, shaf, here's an idea that could actually build some interesting development to hiccup's ideaologies: if httyd 2 is about hiccup trying to redeem the irredeemable and failing, he'd be quicker to assume grimmel is also irredeemable. it betrays the excellent but admittedly common plot of "bad guy becomes a good guy at the end" and still tells an interesting story that also still offers development for the main character in a completely different way of "how should dragons and humans coexist" or "what do i do with my love life"

I wholeheartedly agree Valka should have had a more significant role in the story, and a heroic moment or two. I also agree she should have been a _liiitle_ more alluded to in the first movie and the second pre-reveal, but not as much as Schaff is talking about. The venting to Gobber would have been a good idea if they could make it flow as well as the "hit my head against a rock" venting scene in 1, and not overdo it. But personally I think the surprise aspect of it is great for the plot--she's been so absent in Hiccup's life that he hardly knew her and barely grieved her. She's been gone for _20 fucking years,_ and almost all Hiccup's life, so she _should_ be pretty foreign, a new character rather than a heartwrenchingly reunited one. *We already get the heartwrenching reunion from Stoick,* and it's masterfully done, so let Valka be a source of wonder when she's first revealed to the audience. So while it's not a bad idea in itself I'm against the whole "put the Valka flashback at the start of the movie" thing because she should be foreign, and the emotional ties with the rest of the cast should be established to the audience *after* the audience meet her. Because damn, her introduction was amazing, and taking away that being an introduction would seriously lessen the impact there. The very well-crafted sense of "who is this masterful stranger in the mask, what are they thinking and what do they want from me" would be totally lost bc the audience would be totally expecting her--and because Hiccup is such an audience-projection-catalyst, he'd either have to not be surprised or detach from the audience for a bit. the impact of that would be lost and the sense of wonder the first movie excelled in > the emotional impact of having that flashback as a prologue. The issue here is not the lack of setup to her reveal, because a surprise reveal shouldn't be set up too much -- it's the damn trailers just outright spoiling that he finds his mother. Everything in the writing treated it like a surprise, and overall it works as a surprise--but the trailer just went "lol nah" and gave it away, making it feel like a poorly written foreshadowed reunion, if that makes sense. But that's just my two cents, lmk what you guys think.

I was so expecting Valka to be a badass mom, ass-kicking barbarian warrior, and she kinda sells that at first, walking on wings and standing on dragons in midflight like a druid using magic ...! but when Drago appears she just hands him the alpha, get caught in a fishnet and need her husband to save her from Drago attack. The rest of the movie resets her back to her helpless villager settings. Wow. What a waste.

I literally just watched this movie a few hours ago. Which isn't really an important piece of information but take it anyway.

Calling third movie a masterpiece is crazy considering how many times contradict Previous stories

I wish you covered the first and third movie in seperate videos as well. The first one had me shed a tear in the end.

Stoic dying really tugged my heart. Stoic reminds me of my own dad, my parents are a little older than most parents. And I always worry about them dying. It just really hurt to see him die.