Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

A Room with a View

Merchant-Ivory produced this adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Edwardian novel about a young woman traveling in Florence who meets a young man with whom she would fall in love, but because of society’s strictures be unable to reconcile.

As is custom with this type of costume drama, our young heroine (Helena Bonham Carter), as strong as she may be, is trapped within a society who wishes to repress her deepest emotional responses. As such, when she hazards a kiss with the young gentleman (Julian Sands) in Italy, her over-protective chaperon (Maggie Smith) puts a stop to her potential transgression and takes her home where she settles for the witless bore (Daniel Day Lewis), engaging to be married to please those around her, but suffer through the disappointment she feels at her transgression and her longing desire.

James Ivory directs this sumptuous parlor drama featuring some of the best young talents working in England, then or since. Bonham Carter is striking in her debut, a foreshadowing of things to come. Smith is superb in her propriety. Day-Lewis is annoying, as his character should be. Denholm Elliott, Simon Callow, Patrick Godfrey, Judi Dench, Rupert Graves and Rosemary Leach are all superb in support. Sands delivers a standard performance that’s neither new or exciting, but fits perfectly into the drama.

If it’s a little dry, you can thank its literary roots for that dustiness. It’s an impressive staging with interesting thing to say about love and passion, none of which are particularly novel. It’s a quintessential telling of a commonplace novel mounted with passion and excitement by Ismail Merchant and partner Ivory. It does make me long for the far superior A Passage to India instead.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

DreamWorks moved beyond their Shrek franchise with a handful of compelling character studies that had set it towards rivaling Pixar. That rivalry faded a bit over the last year or two, but returns with a vengeance in its first sequel to the unexpectedly brilliant How to Train Your Dragon. No fancy subtitles, this second film lives up to its predecessor with ease, suggesting a careful and loving appreciation for the world and characters within.

This time out, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) has helped his village build a sanctuary for dragons where Vikings and dragons coexist peacefully. While exploring uncharted waters for new lands, he, his beloved dragon Toothless, his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera) and her dragon discover a plot by the ruthless dragon tamer Drago (Djimon Hounsou), which could endanger the dragons they care for and result in the destruction of his village.

The voice cast is strong, with Cate Blanchett making a franchise-first appearance as Hiccup’s long-absent mother (a spoiler revealed in the trailers for the film). The film focuses on the relationship between man and dragon, treating these creatures more as family than as pets and preserving the concept that good stewards of dragon or animal kind can foster a healthy, rewarding experience for all involved parties. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is filled with thrilling spectacle, exiting adventure and plenty of sad and happy moments to entertain even the most reluctant audience.