How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a 2014 American animated fantasy film loosely based on the book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell.

Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and the second installment in the trilogy.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois and produced by Bonnie Arnold, the film stars the returning voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, and Kristen Wiig, along with Cate Blanchett, Djimon Hounsou, and Kit Harington as new additions.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was DreamWorks' first film to use scalable multi-core processing and the studio's new animation and lighting software.

Five years after the Viking villagers of Berk and the dragons have made peace,[a] Hiccup and his Night Fury, Toothless, map out unexplored lands.

While investigating a burnt forest, Hiccup and Astrid discover the remains of a fort encased in ice and meet a group of dragon trappers.

Drago maroons Hiccup and the others on the island, takes control of their dragons, and rides the once again brainwashed Toothless to conquer Berk.

[11] It was later revealed that DeBlois had started drafting the outline for a sequel in February 2010 at Skywalker Ranch, during the final sound mix of the first film.

[9] At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Cate Blanchett and Djimon Hounsou had joined the cast; they lent their voices to Valka and Drago Bludvist, respectively.

[19] While the first film was set in a generic North Sea environment, the creative team decided to focus on Norway this time around.

Early in the sequel's development, about a dozen of them traveled there for a week-long research trip, where they toured Oslo, Bergen and the fjords.

[12]: 12–13  DeBlois, together with Gregg Taylor (DreamWorks' head of feature development) and Roger Deakins (a cinematographer who served as visual consultant), then broke off from the group to visit Svalbard and see polar bears in the wild with the assistance of armed guides.

[12]: 12–16 DeBlois explained that he had learned from directing Lilo & Stitch (2002) that "if you set an animated film in a place you want to visit, there's a chance you might get to go there.

[12]: 14 An early draft for the film had Gobber the Belch being the one killed by the brainwashed Toothless under Drago Bludvist's orders instead of Stoick the Vast.

The website's critical consensus states: "Exciting, emotionally resonant, and beautifully animated, How to Train Your Dragon 2 builds on its predecessor's successes just the way a sequel should.

[37][38] At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Peter Debruge of Variety praised the film and its ambitions: "The pressures to make a giant four-quadrant monstrosity must be enormous, and yet, like his unflappable hero Hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon 2 writer-director Dean DeBlois has prevailed, serving up DreamWorks Animation's strongest sequel yet—one that breathes fresh fire into the franchise, instead of merely rehashing the original.

"[41] Joe McGovern of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B, saying "The flight path needs straightening, but this is still a franchise that knows how to fly.

"[44] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "Dragon 2, like The Empire Strikes Back, takes sequels to a new level of imagination and innovation.

"[45] Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of four stars, saying "DeBlois, who also wrote the script, successfully juggles the multiple story lines, shifting allegiances and uncharted lands.

"[50] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Nearly as exuberant as the original, How to Train Your Dragon 2 nimbly avoids sequel-itis.

"[52] Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying "This may be the first and last time anyone says this, but if How to Train Your Dragon 2 is this good, why stop at 3 and 4?

"[53] Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying: "Young and old fans of the first movie will be lining up for the wit, for the inventiveness of the characters, for the breathtaking visuals — and just the sheer fun of it all.

"[57] Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying: "How to Train Your Dragon 2 is its own standalone picture, with a surprising range of emotions that surpasses the original and a brisk pace and manner of storytelling that give it purpose and direction.

"[58] Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars, saying: "Not only does this second movie match the charm, wit, animation skill and intelligent storytelling of the original, I think it even exceeds it.

"[59] Lisa Kennedy of The Denver Post gave the film a positive review, saying: "How to Train Your Dragon 2 is soaring, emotionally swooping, utterly satisfying fun.

"[60] Bob Mondello of NPR gave the film an 8.5 out of 10, saying: "It's clear that [director Dean DeBlois] took inspiration from the first Star Wars trilogy—not a bad model for breathing new life, and yes, a bit of fire, into one of Hollywood's more nuanced animated franchises.

Thanks to the superb 3-D direction by DeBlois, we swoop through the air, whoosh down dragons' tails, and juuust baaaarely [sic] squeeze into small crevices, but still, those experiences are only like being on a really great rollercoaster—they don't mean anything.

[72] Its $25.9 million opening weekend in China was the biggest-ever for an animated film in the country, surpassing the record previously held by Kung Fu Panda 2.

[73] Composer John Powell, who earned his first Academy Award nomination for his music in the original movie, returned to score the sequel.

[116] Recording took place during April 2014 at Abbey Road Studios in London[117] with a 120-piece orchestra, a 100-voice choir,[118] and a wide array of ethnic instruments, including Celtic harp, uilleann bagpipes, tin whistle, bodhrán, and Highland bagpipes; the latter of which were performed by pipers from the Scottish group Red Hot Chilli Pipers.