A Christmas Story 2 (2012)

Powerful

hyped garbage

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Of course it can't hold a candle to the magic of the original movie, but it's far better than the endless dribble of bad Santa movies and predictable Hallmark Channel holiday eye-candy. Ralphie is 16 and has discovered girls and cars and Randy is into "Buck Rogers". The old man is as stubborn, cheap, and obstinate as ever. (Played by a chubby Daniel Stern.) Many good ideas are revisited: "Flick" gets his tongue stuck in the pneumatic delivery tube. "Higbee's Dept. Store", the elves and a surly Santa. The worst coal-belching furnace in Indiana. (Actually shot entirely in Canada) Oh yes, this time poor Randy gets the embarrassing Christmas outfit from the eccentric aunt. He looks like the "Cracker Jack" Sailor Boy! A good reproduction of everything from the house to the street to even the fishnet leg lamp! It tries very hard and is mildly entertaining but, as noted in other reviews, many of the young viewers probably haven't seen the far superior Bob Clark Classic. Ralphie has a crush on a young actress-fashion model playing the high school heart-throb. I miss the Bumpus Hounds! Worth-a-look on cable but sure not a keeper. It went straight-to-video, of course.

In 2012, A Christmas Story had already become a staple of American culture, and it was EVERYWHERE. Clothes, props, a play, even friggin' fudge (get it?) And it was no surprise that a sequel would be made.In November 2012, we got A Christmas Story 2. I remember hearing about this and just being like "Meh. Whatever.", since I wasn't really a fan of the film at the time. Then, I began to see what horrible reviews it got, so that was enough to peak my curiosity, and last year, I finally saw this thing (after I saw the original, of course.)First off, my thoughts on the original: It's a good film. It certainly does put you in a child's perspective. I now see why everybody loves it. (If only the people marketing this stuff could see that.) Now, we get to this movie, hoo boy. First thing, this was on TV A LOT last year, so I just saw it on one of the airings, although I did rent it from the library, but the DVD skipped. So, our plot is that Ralphie is now 16 and he wants what every 16-year-old wants for Christmas, a car. Of course. He also wants to woo a girl at his school named Drucilla. That's fine and all, but we can't have fine, how about we repeat the same things that made the original great in this film? Yeah, my main gripe with this film is that it tries to "recapture the greatness" of the original... By repeating the same stuff. The Old Man still is having a neverending battle with the furnace (five years later?), Ralphie's mom still overdresses Randy, Flik gets his tongue stuck to something (or, in something in this case), and of course, many uses of the phrase "Son of a bitch!" Pitiful.In my opinion, if you want to capture the essence of the predecessor, you have to take what made it great, and step it up a bit, not repeat the same things. Now, this movie is an obvious cash grab. It was made at a time where A Christmas Story was insanely popular. It tries too hard to recapture the fun of the original, and offers barely anything new. But with all this hating, at least they were trying. They were at least trying with the sets and props. They at least tried to make it look like the '40s. They also try to shove in some Christmas morals. That's all good. It also has that good Christmas-y heart feel to it, where everything turns out in the end.So, horrible movie, but it has heart and at least tried.

There's never been a sequel to The Christmas Story. You may have seen a movie you THOUGHT was Christmas Story 2, but there never was a Christmas Story 2. Daniel Stern never tried to replace Darren McGavin. There's never been a Christmas Story sequel that shovels every memorable moment into the sequel just because. There's never been a Jean Shepard soundalike that would fit right at home with a video game version of the film. I know the filmmakers were trying hard but let's be honest, was this film really necessary? I mean, I'm sure there was a love and devotion to the film because they were huge fans of the original but if that's the case, everyone should just make their own spin on Christmas Story 2. That's what it seems like anyway.The film takes place with Ralphie in his teen years. I will say one good thing that they did pick a decent Ralphie. Heck, I even liked Flick and Schwartz in this. Ralphie wants a car for Christmas as opposed to the Red Rider BB Gun. There's a miss opportunity here where instead of "You'll shoot your eye out" it could be something like, "You can't drive, kid" or something to that effect. Then Ralphie ends up damaging the car and the car owner wants him to pay for it so he and his friends go get demeaning jobs. The problem with this movie is that it's not nearly as fun as Christmas Story. It tries hard, but it doesn't succeed. Ralphie even has these imagination sequences that seem too juvenile for someone at his age. They refer to Christmas Story like it was last year when it's supposed to be years later. Wouldn't they be talking about a different Christmas by now? It's just not very good. Oh, and Daniel Stern (as good as an actor he is) just comes off as annoying and I can't see The Old Man anywhere in him.I'll end this review on a good note though. The love interest is insanely hot. I see Ralphie has good tastes. Unfortunately how he talks to her at the end is shoehorned in and-- OK I'm trying to end on a good note here. The girl is gorgeous. That is all.

A Christmas Story 2 (2012) Who ever thought there be a sequel after 29 years breakI only saw first one a few's weeks ago, for the first time The movie is a sequel to the 1983 film A Christmas Story and was released straight to DVD.This movies takes place Five years after first movie, now Ralphie a Teen, This time he tries to get Car for ChristmasNo were near as good as the first movie, but it dose not make the a bad movie at all, far from it. This movie had some really funny moment, some jokes missed the mark, it had a nice plot. I laughed a number of times, there some really good sweet moment as well. The were really great hints to first movie, Like the thing the the Mum broke in the first movie makes return and she not happy about it! The acting was really good from the whole castNice and funny and sweet I really enjoyed this late sequel 7 out of 10