Next to “Shrek,” “How to Train your Dragon” was the best animated film that Dreamworks has produced. Its sequel will arrive this weekend with new colorful creatures and tri-dimensional -no pun intended- human characters.

Desde Hollywood was present at the Los Angeles press conference with voice talents Gerard Butler (Stoick), Craig Ferguson (Gobber), Djimon Hounsou (Drago) and Kit Harington (Eret).

The informative and funny conversation turned emotional when Butler shared a very personal connection with a key plot development in the story. Minor spoilers ahead.

Gerard, how has Stoick changed since the first film, five years ago?

GERARD BUTLER: At the beginning of the movie, you meet a Stoick who’s much more relaxed and having fun. The pressure is off. There’s not a constant war with the dragons. And his son’s doing great. He’s not the weird, effeminate boy that he was. It’s a different world, full of fun and adventure. But his time is coming to an end, so Stoick wants to pass on the mantle to Hiccup. It’s time for Hiccup to not just show he can slay dragons, which he’s done, but also show he can be a leader.

Craig, how does Gobber feel about this new world where Vikings and dragons are co-existing?

CRAIG FERGUSON: Well, I think that Gobber is very excited that there’s a new air of tolerance and good feeling around, so much so that he lets slip a little secret about himself, at one point during the film. He’s also excited about the changes. He feels more upbeat, at the start of the film, not knowing that something really bad is coming down the pipe.

When Gobber does let that secret about himself slip, was that ad-libbed or was that scripted?

FERGUSON: It was an ad-lib in the recording session. It’s funny how people take different things from it. Gobber is watching Stoick and Valka having a fight. The line I had was when I turn to Hiccup and say, “See, this is why I never married.” And I ad-libbed the line, “And there’s one other reason.” Then, we laughed and I said, “Gobber is coming out,” and (writer/director) Dean [DeBlois] said, “Oh, yeah, great! Why not?!” But when Gerry saw the movie, he thought it was because I’d had an amputated arm and an amputated leg. So, he thought that I’d had my junk amputated and that’s why I never got married. I think that tells you more about Gerry than it does tell you about the story.

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How did you come up with the voice for Drago Bludvist?

DJIMON HOUNSOU: For Drago, I felt extremely challenged. I remember seeing the first one and I thought, “Wow, Gerry’s voice has so much power and such a presence in the story.” So, when I got called in for this, I thought I had to outdo him and challenge him. I was anticipating a serious fight with him.

Kit, what’s it like to be new to such a popular franchise and why do you think people love it so much?

KIT HARINGTON: It’s like any successful animated film, in that it’s not just a kids’ film. It deals with some very adult issues. The really interesting thing is the estranged parents. I haven’t seen many animated films where they deal with something that so many kids in our world deal with, in having parents that are split up. The single father is bringing up the son, and there’s an estranged mother. I think that’s great for kids to go and see two parents dealing with it, badly and well. That’s something they can relate to. But, I think the reason that it’s so successful is that kids love fantasy. They show a young boy growing up with a specific talent that they can aspire to have. And then, in the second movie, he’s being taken through his teenage years. This movie is aiming towards teenagers and the strife that teenagers go through.

Gerard, what do you think the relationship between Stoick and Hiccup teaches audiences about fatherhood?

BUTLER: I think that Stoick wants to teach Hiccup that there’s a time for fun and games. Hiccup has proved himself. Stoick picks up that there’s a different way to deal with challenges, that the younger generation can actually show the older generation. At the same time, he’s now off adventuring and he has different views about how to deal with these new challenges. Stoick is trying to teach Hiccup about a different type of responsibility, where it’s not just about how you would like to deal with something, but thinking about the other people around you, as well. He has the future of other people to consider. He can’t just deal with it always in his own headstrong way. But, that’s Stoick’s own headstrong opinion about how he should do it. He’s not always right in those situations, either. What’s important is that you just see the love that he has for his boy, and the love that everybody has for everybody in this movie. They might not always agree or see eye-to-eye, but everybody really wants the best for each other, except for Drago Bludvist.

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How do you view the relationship between Stoick and Valka?

BUTLER: In actual fact, it’s one of the reasons I think people are getting so much out of the movie. Visually, it’s incredible, but it’s the story itself. And it goes to deeper and darker places than most animated movies would dare to go. It addresses separation and abandonment. In a way, Valka abandoned her child. She’s apologetic about it, and she had a deeper cause that she wanted to fight for, but she could have returned, or even checked up on him to see how he was doing. She never did. There was always this part of me where I wanted to say, “Where were you?! What the hell?! Not even a hello?! I’m making helmets out of your breastplate, and you’re having a blast tickling dragons under the chin!”
But, it’s so emotional. And by the way, I’ve gotta tell you, I didn’t see my father for 14 years. I didn’t even know he was alive. And then, he turned up, out of the blue. Just before, I went to my mum and said, “I’m never gonna see my dad again, am I?,” and she said, “No, I don’t think so.” And then, I came home one night and my stepfather said, “Keep your jacket on. You’re going to town. Your dad’s here.” I had to go into this restaurant and walk around, going from table to table, literally looking at men and going, “Is that my dad? Is that my dad? Is that my dad?” And he finally stood up, and he was the weirdest looking guy in the restaurant. So, that part of the movie was quite profound for me. To be honest, not just for me, but it’s profound for a lot of people to imagine a parent that you didn’t think was there, or the love of your life that you thought was gone, is actually alive and well, and there’s a chance to rekindle everything that you thought was lost in your life.

What was it like to go back into the recording booth, the second time around, and did you get to meet Cate Blanchett, at all?

BUTLER: Well, I’ve met Cate before, but I never met her on this movie. I want to say that we did all of our scenes together and they were magical, but that’s not true. Craig and I recorded together in the first one, and I wish that we could do that more. There was one day that we had with Jay [Baruchel], and we had a blast. But with this movie, we didn’t get a chance. It was fine. You know who you are, you know the voice, and you know the guy. You can throw out extra things a little bit more, and you can play with it more. What’s cool about the movie is that it’s a progression. There’s already a momentum from the first one that can kill you, if you don’t live up to that. But if you get it right and put a lot of thought into where you can take those characters, than that momentum becomes something really powerful. And that’s what they did with this movie. We had a chance to go richer and deeper into a really cool story.

What are you guys going to be doing next?

BUTLER: I just finished a movie two days ago, called Gods of Egypt, which is a huge, big Avatar meets The Lord of the Rings style movie. I’m playing the villain, the God Set. It’s cool. I kill my brother, who in Egyptian mythology was probably my sister or my lover, as well. I kill my father, I kill my wife, and then I kill pretty much everybody else. That was fun to play. And it’s a really magical world, as well. And then, I’m doing the sequel London Has Fallen. And I’m doing a Dean Devlin movie, Geostorm, which is a huge, epic movie about building a whole system of satellites around the planet because of global warming. I’m excited about that one, too. So, I have a few movies coming up.

FERGUSON: I’m thinking about getting a cat. But, I don’t know if I will.

HOUNSOU: I have Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m a humanoid and killing machine in that.

HARINGTON: I just finished a couple of films in England, and I’d never done a film in England before. That was a new thing for me. And I’m excited about those. Those come out next year. And I’ve got the never-ending Game of Thrones. I’ll get back to that in late July. And then, for next year, I have no idea. We’ll see.

FERGUSON: You can get a cat!

HARINGTON: I’ll get a cat.

“How to Train Your Dragon 2” hits in theaters on Friday, June 13.

“The thrilling second chapter of the epic HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON trilogy brings us back to the fantastical world of Hiccup and Toothless five years after the two have successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons.”