With an all star voice cast including Cate Blanchett,Jonah Hill, and Gerard Butler, a strong, original debut film and some beautiful animation, there is a lot to like about this sequel to How To Train Your Dragon.

Jay Baruchel returns as the voice of Hiccup – the accidental hero and pilot of Toothless, a “Night Fury” dragon.

Hiccup lives on the island of Berk with his Father, the village’s Chieftain, and most people have their own pet dragon. When Hiccup discovers a band of dragon trappers, he learns the existence of the film’s villain – Drago, and sets out on a mission to change Drago’s mind about his plan to control every dragon, and Hiccup encounters an unexpected character along the way.

With dragons, vikings, swords, fire and ice, along with Kit Harrington voicing a character too, it’s almost Game of Thrones for kids.

Admirably it’s dark in places, scary in others, and even brought tears to my six year old daughter’s eyes.

Drawing on familiar themes from movies as diverse as The Lion King and Star Wars, it’s an entertaining film.

The action is dazzling, at times a little too much so, and it can be difficult to relate to the blurry swathes of colour shooting across the screen.

When the pace slows we get a better sense of the rich world that has been crafted by a team of talented animators.

There are plenty of laughs and thrills and it’s a great film to see on a movie screen.

We went in 2D, not sure if IMAX & 3D would be a little too chaotic, but the pictures lend themselves to a movie screen.

When the “Alpha” dragons arrive, I’m suddenly transported back a few weeks to the enormous reptiles of Godzilla, and these huge beasts are impressive without being too terrifying for little ones.

A worthwhile adventure for the big screen.

3 & 1/2 stars.