If you know my general thoughts about the first movie, which I have reviewed here, you know my thoughts about this one. But let's get a bit more specific.
First off, the animation and comedy are still spot-on with loads of charm and perfect eye for tone. It's a joy to watch and produces tons of laughs, along with the voice cast, who does just as well.
The writing, however, almost feels a bit stronger and more complex here. There's a lot of commentary on issues like cultural sensitivity, tons about modern vs. tough-love parenting, and almost certainly the central conflict is an allegory for homophobia among other similar issues. None of it feels shoehorned or Anvilicious, but it's a story-supported message of tolerance, understanding, and love. What we got in the first film wasn't nearly as complex regarding these issues; the cleverest it got was Johnny actually calling out racism. But here, we get to see more about how monsters now interact with humans, the sensitive and the ignorant, and the main issue of the story is all about "fixing" a kid to be a monster, and how modern parenting may seem inane, but actually helps create better people.
There's some scenes involving reckless child endangerment, which are handled pretty well. There's no real comedy in the actual danger, and Mavis is rightfully pissed at what happens. I do sort of wish Johnny eventually turned on Drac for going too far as well, and he's the weakest character in the film here. His stupid slackerishness has been raised to the point of removing his depth, not helped by him outright declaring himself as a slacker.
The resolution to the identity of the child would have a hard time being satisfying no matter how they did it, because human, it'd be a retread of the first film, and monster, Drac would get what he wanted. Without saying what it turns out to be, I think it could have had a better approach.
Grandpa Vlad is a last-minute anti-human pressure to relieve Drac of the antagonistic role and allow him to prove he's learned his lesson, which feels clumsy.
While I loved the action sequence at the end, there really didn't need to be a bad guy to fight. They work it in, but as always, I would have preferred a less by-the-book structure. And there's another Dance Party Ending. Sigh.
I guess this film tries a lot more to be a stronger story and it gets a whole lot right, and has all the same charm and humor, but there are some confusing plot turns and some elements that really weren't required for it to be a good movie.
A welcome return with better ideas than conclusions.
If you know my general thoughts about the first movie, which I have reviewed here, you know my thoughts about this one. But let's get a bit more specific.
First off, the animation and comedy are still spot-on with loads of charm and perfect eye for tone. It's a joy to watch and produces tons of laughs, along with the voice cast, who does just as well.
The writing, however, almost feels a bit stronger and more complex here. There's a lot of commentary on issues like cultural sensitivity, tons about modern vs. tough-love parenting, and almost certainly the central conflict is an allegory for homophobia among other similar issues. None of it feels shoehorned or Anvilicious, but it's a story-supported message of tolerance, understanding, and love. What we got in the first film wasn't nearly as complex regarding these issues; the cleverest it got was Johnny actually calling out racism. But here, we get to see more about how monsters now interact with humans, the sensitive and the ignorant, and the main issue of the story is all about "fixing" a kid to be a monster, and how modern parenting may seem inane, but actually helps create better people.
There's some scenes involving reckless child endangerment, which are handled pretty well. There's no real comedy in the actual danger, and Mavis is rightfully pissed at what happens. I do sort of wish Johnny eventually turned on Drac for going too far as well, and he's the weakest character in the film here. His stupid slackerishness has been raised to the point of removing his depth, not helped by him outright declaring himself as a slacker.
The resolution to the identity of the child would have a hard time being satisfying no matter how they did it, because human, it'd be a retread of the first film, and monster, Drac would get what he wanted. Without saying what it turns out to be, I think it could have had a better approach.
Grandpa Vlad is a last-minute anti-human pressure to relieve Drac of the antagonistic role and allow him to prove he's learned his lesson, which feels clumsy.
While I loved the action sequence at the end, there really didn't need to be a bad guy to fight. They work it in, but as always, I would have preferred a less by-the-book structure. And there's another Dance Party Ending. Sigh.
I guess this film tries a lot more to be a stronger story and it gets a whole lot right, and has all the same charm and humor, but there are some confusing plot turns and some elements that really weren't required for it to be a good movie.