2 Lava 2 Lantula!

I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie. It was everything you would want out of a SyFy Channel monster movie. It was campy, the special effects were entertaining, and the acting wasn't so bad that it was distracting. It was like they were all in on the joke with us so we could all laugh together. Steve Guttenberg shined as an earnest, troubled action hero, passed his prime. As another reviewer put it, he was endearing. Incredibly endearing.

This sequel, unfortunately, lost all of the charm of its predecessor. I don't know whose idea it was to make Guttenberg try to act like a poor man's Vin Diesel, but it was a lot. The constant gravelly speaking voice punctuated by the unnecessary growls in between got to be annoying after the first 10 minutes. Although I have to admit, I did chuckle when he growled (Fast and the Furious style), "I don't have friends, I have family."

It had the same premise as the first movie. Lavalantulas are attacking and Colton West and his Police Academy costars are off to save Colton's family. The spiders were bigger and just as hard to pronounce. They packed in a TON of movie references. I noticed Crocodile Dundee, Miami Vice, Independence Day, Cocoon, Jurassic Park, and of course 2 Fast 2 Furious. I'm sure I missed more.

I think it could have worked if they hadn't made Steve Guttenberg's character so unlikable. They changed his character too much and it negatively affected the overall feel of the movie.

The story is really similar to the first movie and it's not that good. Just like the first movie it's a rescue mission to go save his daughter and figure out a plan to defeat the lavalantula. The movie have a problem with its pacing with some scenes feels like it's dragging on a little bit too long. Also the movie try's way too hard to funny with its unfunny dialogue from current characters and pop culture references throughout.

The movie is still enjoyable with its action scenes of the lavalantula and it brings a few new ideas in it like them shooting spikes at people. The characters aren't as memorable compared to the first movie ones and some of them are pretty bad.

For the returning characters, Colton is still himself who doesn't have anything new about him. Marty is the annoying comedy relief who jokes never works. And Kyle acts more like a assistant to Colton.

The new characters aren't better, Raya is Colton daughter who is really bland. TJ is another fan of Colton who makes effective guns. Colonel Jester is just forgettable.

RELEASED TO TV IN 2016 and directed by Nick Simon, "2 Lava 2 Lantula" chronicles events in Fort Lauderdale and the Everglades when volcanic activity releases fire-breathing arachnids the size of people. Steve Guttenberg plays a B-movie actor who rises to the challenge of annihilating the creatures. Michele Weaver plays his stepdaughter and Michael Winslow his pardner. RJ Walker & Jimmy Bellinger are also on hand. There are a lot of familiar faces.

Like the previous film from 2015, this sequel is a fun, campy non-horror flick with the expected cartoony CGI. I'm glad they switched the location to Florida to shake things up (although it was apparently shot in Louisiana). Lorynn York is comely as Raya's friend, but not enough is done with her. It's entertaining to a point, but at the end of the day it's a forgettable throwaway flick.

THE FILM RUNS 83 minutes and was shot in Louisiana with obvious establishing shots of Florida. WRITERS: Neil Elman & Ashley O'Neil.

GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

They should have stopped with the first movie, because that was actually a good, wholesome movie.

But as it usually goes with sequels, then so was also the case with "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" was nowhere near the same level of entertainment and movie experience as the 2015 "Lavalantula" turned out to be. Why? Well, perhaps because it just lacked a proper storyline, but mostly because of Steve Guttenbergs performance in this sequel. I mean, he really surprised with his performance in the first movie, but then pulled up something else entirely for the sequel. His performance was wooden, rigid and he delivered all of his lines as if he was struggling with indigestion or something.

The effects in "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" were good and did live up to the effects from the first movie. Sure there were moments here and there with the occasional questionable effect, but in overall then the CGI and special effects team managed to deliver their craft with a good result. The spiders looked good and realistic most of the time, aside from the garganlavalantula, which turned out quite poor.

And the weapons in the movie was a major step back for the movie, especially the two freeze weapons that Steve Guttenberg and Michael Winslow were equipped with. What was up with this? First of all, they were way too oversized, and then they were also just too far out there.

It was good, though, to have some of the original cast from the first movie to return to the sequel, albeit not all of the performances were living up to what we saw in the 2015 "Lavalantula" movie.

There were a couple of spoofs on other movies and TV shows to be seen throughout the course of "2 Lava 2 Lantula!". Personally then I found the one on the "Miami Vice" TV show to be the most funny.

I was more than surprised and entertained with the first movie, but I must admit that I found "2 Lava 2 Lantula!" to be less than mediocre. And as such, then it scores a meager four out of ten stars from me.

For some reason they have Gutenberg start talking like some tough guy after the first few scenes...and the character sounds stupid. Really, it's a typical crappy SyFy movie with a few good puns but Gutenbergs character just ruins it.

We're watching its debut right now and it's bad. The first one was funnier but at least they didn't seem to try and "act"...you know what I mean...not taking it too seriously. Stupid conversations at inopportune times when they should be running or shooting something.

I think they're trying to pay productions costs with the commercials...they are insanely long and often.