My Review of Open Season 2 · 12:56am Nov 18th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Good evening, Gothamites and Ponies. This is yours truly, Mr. J, back with another movie review for tonight. This evening, I will be reviewing the second installment of the Open Season franchise simply called Open Season 2. As someone who both loved and enjoyed the first movie, I was eagerly hoping that it would live up to my expectations and be just as wholeheartedly fun as the predecessor was. But ever since I first watched this sequel and even after viewing it the second and third time or so, I went from liking it to just regarding it as an exceptionally mediocre successor.
Now, that is not to say that I despise this movie. No, no, far from it! As a matter of fact, I thought this had some potential in which it could have been a lot better. Nevertheless, the plot could have been executed better and the character development could have been more fleshed out.
One of the main issues I have with this is the out-of-place voice acting. I was baffled that the original voice actors of my two favorite main characters from the first film—Boog and Elliot—did not reprise their roles for this film. Instead, Mike Epps voices Boog while Joel McHale voices Elliot. Guess what? Their voice impressions of Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher sounded absolutely atrocious. They sound nowhere like the original voices and sound more like a parody because they failed to give their own take on the characters. To me, they tried so hard to sound like Lawrence and Kutcher that Boog and Elliot sound like knock-offs. Just why?
The animation also looks somewhat off-putting and awkward. I’m not sure if this film had a lower budget, but it seems like the animators put in less effort in giving life to the background, setting, and the characters through animation.
My last issue with the movie is the villain. Fifi isn’t an awful antagonist per say, but his motivations didn’t really make any sense to me. Granted, we see why he has a vendetta against wild animals and seeing him so persistent in having Mr. Weenie be a domestic dog instead of being like the wild animals. I get that. But... he did all this because he got a boo-boo on his tail from a bug zapper?? Really?? They weren’t responsible for that minor accident you had, Fifi. It’s just that you weren’t paying any attention to where you were going.
“But...but they were scaring me!! They pushed me into this!!”
Shut up, they had nothing to do with that. It was your fault, your idiocy, and your nonsensical phobia that got you into that. But none of that matters since he is apparently reformed at the end and is one of the supporting characters in the next movie. Yeah.......talk about wasted potential.
Despite my issues with the movie, I did like the plot and the character interaction. It was pretty decently well-made while there were some good humor tossed here and there. Although I am still pissed that the original voice actors for Boog and Elliot couldn’t be a part of this film, Billy Connolly did reprise his role as McSquizzy who is one of my favorite characters from the first film. He still voiced him really well in this like before.
The direction taken by Todd Wilderman and Matthew O’Callaghan surely could have been a lot more better, but they did manage to create a fair yet average sequel in this series.
Additionally, the moral managed to come across more straightforward in regards to being who you want to be and not allowing other people to tell you who you should be. It is up to us to decide for ourselves which path we want to follow. The choice is ours to make.
In conclusion, Open Season 2 is not perfect and definitely doesn’t in any way, shape, or form hold a candle to the first movie. Nonetheless, it is not awful or downright terrible either. If it weren’t for the mediocre voice acting, some characters being idiots, and the animation looking oddly off, I would have liked it so much more. Therefore, I give it a 5/10.
Man, that was a lot to say! Anyway, peace out, folks.
Sequels are rarely better than the original.
Well, that's what happens when a company hires people who don't do accurate impressions of someone while making the characters their own.
Granted, I'm honestly not interested in checking out the sequels to "Open Season" because of this.
5608539
Wise decision.