Critters 2 (1988)
** (out of 4)
Rather bland sequel finds Brad (Scott Grimes) returning to his hometown where a bunch of creature eggs have just hatched and soon the fur balls are attacking more people. Bounty hunter Ug (Terrence Mann) and his group show back up to try and stop them but this time they have help from the small town. CRITTERS 2 isn't really a bad movie but it's yet another sequel that was quickly made to cash-in on the success of the original film. As is the case with most of these films, there really wasn't too much thought put into the picture and it's basically just a remake of the first one, which is a real shame. Pretty much everything that made the first film so good is missing here including the characters that you like, the imagination and especially the fun. It's really disappointing that so many people from the original didn't make it back but this here happens most of the time. Sadly none of the new characters are all that interesting and even the Brad character doesn't have the same charm. Ug and his pal do what they can but even these two just don't have the same magic. I will say that it's pretty funny to see how much female nudity managed to get into this film and its PG-13 rating. The screenplay doesn't really offer the viewer anything they didn't see the first time around and a lot of the humor just falls flat. Just take a look at the sequence with the Easter Bunny and you'll see a perfect example of laughs not working. The one saving grace are the little creatures, which are as fun as always. I thought their design was quite good and I especially liked the baby ones that first start to hatch. Another good thing is that they're actually meaner than in the first picture but it's too bad they don't have anyone great to go up against.
** (out of 4)
Rather bland sequel finds Brad (Scott Grimes) returning to his hometown where a bunch of creature eggs have just hatched and soon the fur balls are attacking more people. Bounty hunter Ug (Terrence Mann) and his group show back up to try and stop them but this time they have help from the small town. CRITTERS 2 isn't really a bad movie but it's yet another sequel that was quickly made to cash-in on the success of the original film. As is the case with most of these films, there really wasn't too much thought put into the picture and it's basically just a remake of the first one, which is a real shame. Pretty much everything that made the first film so good is missing here including the characters that you like, the imagination and especially the fun. It's really disappointing that so many people from the original didn't make it back but this here happens most of the time. Sadly none of the new characters are all that interesting and even the Brad character doesn't have the same charm. Ug and his pal do what they can but even these two just don't have the same magic. I will say that it's pretty funny to see how much female nudity managed to get into this film and its PG-13 rating. The screenplay doesn't really offer the viewer anything they didn't see the first time around and a lot of the humor just falls flat. Just take a look at the sequence with the Easter Bunny and you'll see a perfect example of laughs not working. The one saving grace are the little creatures, which are as fun as always. I thought their design was quite good and I especially liked the baby ones that first start to hatch. Another good thing is that they're actually meaner than in the first picture but it's too bad they don't have anyone great to go up against.