This movie is an adorable stake through the heart. Now I’m not saying it’s not good.  It’s great – trust me – but there are some things audiences need to watch out for. Here’s a tip. Bring tissues. Right from the beginning there’s heartbreak that will have anybody feeling terrible for probably just about the rest of the movie. What doesn’t help the situation is that there is devastation throughout the entire film. Sadly, the audience won’t have a chance to compose themselves while the filmmakers try to distract them with second grade action.

This movie has some of those really annoying “No don’t go downstairs!” and “He’s literally right out that window, just look you nit wit!” scenes. The worst part about the movie wasn’t the acting; it wasn’t the CGI (Computer Generated Image). What really did it for me was the lack of happy moments. None. Every single part that is somewhat decent is crushed, squashed, and shredded so all hope is lost when it comes to finding happiness ever again (ok not that bad, but still the point is right). The great thing about this movie is that all of the actors are incredible. The foreman, Wes Bentley, will have one saying  “Is that the guy that played superman? Kinda looks like him.”. His brother in the movie, Karl Urban, also makes some think “haven’t I seen him before in something?”  Another fact that could be considered both good or bad, is that there is no singing and no talking from Pete. I personally would have loved to see a big cuddly dragon (he looks like one big ball of fluff in this movie) singing, or at least grunting to a beat as he had done in the previous movie.

Overall I would give this movie an 8 out of 10. It’s a beautiful live action film full of wonder, and flying majestic beasts that, in the end, are truly amazing. Everything besides the heartbreaks (which were good in themselves, but some were not needed), were expertly done. There’s also a spectacular lesson in this movie about friendship. The story really exceeded expectations by overlapping fairytail with the real world. Not only will it leave kids, and maybe even adults too, with more imagination, it will also leave one with wonder about this world and what could be hiding in those forests just beyond the treeline.