Buzz Magazine Buzz Magazine - July Issue | Page 29

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 ****

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ****

Dir: Dean DeBlois (PG, 102 mins)
How To Train Your Dragon was a deeply satisfying CGI adventure based on
Cressida Cowell’s books and this sequel enhances and expands the universe rather
than merely rehashing it to winning effect. It’s vikings and dragons again though,
but time has passed. Our hero Hiccup (still voiced by Jay Baruchel) has become
a man and is about to take over his father’s tribe – not that he wants to, he’s still
a thrillseeker on his cute dragon Toothless. Viking and dragon are now working
together rather than against one another, although once dragon hunter Drago
(Djimon Hounsou) appears on the scene, the story takes a darker turn. Already
brave enough to have Hiccup lose a leg at the end of the first film, the sequel
piles up revelations and tragedy for him that pay off wonderfully. He meets female
vigilante Valka (Cate Blanchett) in her dragon haven, learns about his past and
faces up to loss in a far darker tale than before. The action sequences truly thrill,
with writer/director DeBlois going all out to raise the excitement stakes along with
emotional heft. Surprisingly good at all fire-breathing levels. Opens July 4

Dir: James Gunn (12A, 122 mins)
The latest from the Marvel Universe is its quirkiest offering to date. Eschewing
the superheroes their audiences have grown accustomed to, their latest gambit
is a little-known quirky band of intergalactic outlaws. The very fact that they
are fairly unknown allows Marvel much more scope than with the rest of their
characters and their decades of back-story. It also allows the studio to do a grand
space opera, that will inevitably tie in with everything else in some way. The film
follows the misadventures of Han Solo-esque ruffian Peter Quill (aka Starlord), thrown in
with the likes of Zoe Saldana’s green skinned assassin Gamora, Dave Bautista’s muscly
vengeance Drax, a foul-mouthed CGI raccoon called Rocket and voiced by Bradley Cooper
and the tree-like Groot who has Vin Diesel’s dulcet bass notes. Quill finds himself the
subject of manhunt after he steals a powerful orb, with Lee Pace