As teaser trailers go, this one’s kind of terrific.
So often these days, marketing feels like a blunt instrument designed to beat you into submission. “YOU. WILL. SEE. THIS. MOVIE. OR. YOU. ARE. A. LOSER.” It’s so aggressive that it can become numbing by the time a film finally rolls into theaters.
Here, though, there seems to be a trust that this moment is enough to remind us of the tactile pleasures of “How To Train Your Dragon” while promising that things have changed enough to warrant a new trip to the theater. The flying sequences in the first film, especially if you saw the film in a great 3D theater, were incredibly immersive and beautiful, and the way they both remind you of that while introducing this one new element is enormously effective.
I have no idea where the story’s headed for the sequel. I know this is one of the films that Dreamworks plans to make a number of sequels to, like “Kung-Fu Panda,” and as long as they put the same amount of effort and heart into each of the films, I’m okay with that. It is interesting to see how the studio’s films are being sold now that 20th Century Fox is handling the distribution end of things. There’s definitely a different tone to the ads than when they were at Paramount, which is to be expected. Not better, necessarily, but different.
Jay Baruchel, who killed it this summer in “This Is The End,” is back for this sequel, and at this point, he’s probably pretty comfortable with the character. After all, they’ve been doing TV episodes and specials non-stop since the first film was released, and at this point, the films are just one small part of the overall “How To Train Your Dragon” narrative.
Dean DeBlois, who shared the director credit on the first film with Chris Sanders, is running the show this time, and I look forward to seeing this one with my sons, who loved the original, when it arrives in theaters next year.
Look for “How To Train Your Dragon 2” in theaters June 20, 2014.