Cate Blanchett as: Valka Haddock

Directed by: Dean DeBlois
Selected Cast: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington
Written by: Dean DeBlois (Based on the book by Cressida Cowell)
Release Year: 2014
Genre: Animation | Adventure | Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG

IMDb | Photos | Videos | Official Site

Five years have passed since Hiccup and Toothless united the dragons and Vikings of Berk. Now, they spend their time charting the island’s unmapped territories. During one of their adventures, the pair discover a secret cave that houses hundreds of wild dragons — and a mysterious dragon rider who turns out to be Hiccup’s long-lost mother, Valka. Hiccup and Toothless then find themselves at the center of a battle to protect Berk from a power-hungry warrior named Drago.

Related Images

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Related Videos

The last video is a playlist of Cannes premiere, just click on the playlist icon/thumbnails to see the other videos in it.

Quotes from Cate Blanchett

• “The whole process of trying to bring something to life in advance of the animation — purely with your voice — I found it a really interesting challenge.” (THR, May 2014)
• “He [Dean DeBlois] just walked up to me and said, ‘I’ve written a part for you.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, that is such a line…!’ But he had. He said she was a Jane Goodall-type of character who had spent her life with dragons. I loved the first film and had watched it about nine times with my boys. So my curiosity was piqued, and I thought, ‘How will they top that?’” (Variety, February 2015)

Quotes from Others

• Dean DeBlois:
  — “I walked up to her [Cate Blanchett, during 2011 Academy Awards] and told her I [had written] her a part in Dragon 2. Fortuitously she said the [original] movie was a big hit in her household.”
  — “She’s [Cate Blanchett] an amazing actress because she does vulnerability and commanding presence very well. Cate has the capacity for remorse and regret and assertive commanding control, which I need for the vigilante side of [Valka].”
• Bonnie Arnold (producer):
  — “Cate [Blanchett] was great. Dean wrote the part for her. He actually went up to her at the Academy Awards when we were nominated for “Dragon 1” and told he that he was writing this part for her. He accosted her right there in the hallway and she said she was very interested, that her and her boys were big fans of the movie. She definitely brought a lot to the part. Valka’s not a conventional mother, but you quickly understand who she is and how Hiccup is a lot like her.”

Trivia & Facts

• The film premiered Out of Competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2014.
• The role of Valka was written with Cate Blanchett in mind.
• The film won Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globes, and was nominated at the Academy Awards, more accolades here.
• Mary Jane Wells provided Valka’s singing voice although Cate Blanchett has a fine singing voice.
• The film grossed over $621 million worldwide.
• Roger Deakins serves as a cinematography consultant just like in the first film.
• Valka was originally written as the villain, but this idea was dropped in later drafts.
• Cate Blanchett also voiced Valka in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).

Cannes premiere, 16 May 2014; Sydney premiere, 9 June 2014