Teen Wolf Too

Teen Wolf Too (1987)

* (out of 4)

Todd Howard (Jason Bateman), the cousin of the teenage werewolf from the first film, finds himself in college on a sports scholarship even though he doesn't play sports. It turns out that Stiles (Stuart Fratkin) pretty much added him to the team hoping that he could have the same wolf powers. When it turns out Todd is a werewolf, his entire life changes.

TEEN WOLF was a film that most people make fun of or look at as a piece of trash but I've always had a soft spot for it. Yes, it's quite stupid but at the same time it was a fun movie with some good performances and for the most part it featured a character that a lot of young people could connect with. TEEN WOLF TOO, on the other hand, is pure garbage and the worst thing is that it's pretty lazy and just a boring rehash of the first picture.

Everything that happens in the first picture basically happens here, although the quality is much less. You've got a teenager struggling with life who finds himself becoming popular. The teen loves the popularity but soon realizes it is costing him real friends. He soon realizes that the party girl isn't what he wants. He realizes that the party life isn't what he wants. Does all of this sound familiar? If so, I'm sure you know how it ends.

Worst of all is the fact that all of the goofiness that worked in the first picture just doesn't work here. Bateman is a complete bore in the picture. Fratkin can't compete with the original actor. Even John Astin is wasted in a boring role. The film has a couple cast members from the original but even they can't add much here.

TEEN WOLF TOO is just a really lousy movie that was made to try and make money off of the original. There's nothing fresh or new here and the end result is a real turkey.

I am going to start out by admitting that even though I think the original Teen Wolf is a pretty stupid movie, I actually like it quite a bit. I don't know what it is about it that I like, but for the last couple of months I've found myself watching my copy of Teen Wolf about once a week.

I decided to purchase (you gotta OWN these titles, that's the fun of it.) a copy of Teen Wolf Too on eBay for $4. The only other time I had seen this movie was when I was in 4th grade, which was over a decade ago. I didn't remember much about it, save a couple of moments involving Chubby.

I just finished watching the movie for the first time in 11 years, and I can say with complete certainty that this is one of the worst movies I've seen in a LONG time. In many ways, this is the *perfect* bad sequel... The first film wasn't especially good or commercially successful, so it seems pointless to have even considered making another chapter in the Teen Wolf saga. They also weren't able to get the big star of the first movie (Michael J. Fox) to come back, so they instead focused on his cousin, whose personality is almost exactly the same. Even further, they decided to bring back a few of the characters from the first movie, only two of which are played by the same actors. Stiles, who was corny but funny in Teen Wolf, has been replaced by an actor who isn't nearly as convincing or amusing. Coach Finstock, who was the only genuinely funny character in the first film, is now played by a man whose line delivery made me laugh exactly zero times throughout the course of the film.

These discrepancies aside, the plot of this film is crap. It's basically exactly the same as the original, only even more sketchy. Anyone who hasn't seen Teen Wolf will probably not be able to make sense of the plot, not that any of them would actually watch this ridiculous film in its entirety.

I could probably write a fairly long essay on the problems with this movie, but I'm limited to 1000 words here. I would comment more on the many specific elements that make this movie stupid, but I don't want to waste more of anyone's time. And since I'm trying to keep you from wasting your time, then I will recommend that you do not watch this movie. Ever. Anyone who says that this movie is not that bad is wrong.

Whoahoho! There is no other word to describe this wonderfully delightful film of a college student who learns he can turn into a wolf whenever he wants!!! If you thought Teenwolf was good, just you wait and see how his cousin, played by Justin Bateman ,portrays a new role for the howlingly funny series of movies! One would think that Michael J Fox was an irreplaceble figure in this series, but not so fast my good friend! Justin Bateman was downright hilarious, and I was shocked to find that he was not nominated for an Oscar for this performance. This movie absolutely needed to be made! I'd say the high point of the movie comes when the wolf, with all his new college buddies, dances to a musical montage of "Do you love me (now that I can dance)"....Here's to hoping for a Teenwolf Three coming out soon!!!!

And to think that people complained that Return of the Jedi was too much like Star Wars...

They obviously hadn't seen this movie, which is basically the exact plot of the original with different actors. Not even a token piece of originality.

This is cash-in sequeling at it's worst, equalled only by the likes of Grease 2. Avoid it, or you'll think you're watching the original with new voices dubbed over the top.

Although he is Scott's cousin, Todd Howard has managed to dodge the "family problem" and is a perfectly normal young man starting a promising college career. Despite being very weedy and interested in becoming a vet, Todd has managed to get a sports scholarship without being sure why. Turns out that the Dean has assumed that Todd can do for the college boxing team what Scott did for his high school basketball team what with him being a werewolf and everything. Todd discovers this quickly and is keen to disappoint but his genes betray him as the "family problem" manifests itself suddenly. Overnight Todd is a star in the ring and on the campus – but can he manage this sudden change?

When I read overly negative reviews of the first Teen Wolf film I can only silently shake my head and wonder what the same viewer makes of the sequel. I say this because, as basic as the original film is, Teen Wolf Too/Two/2/whatever is like the makers condensed the original film to the basics and then just put that out on as little money, time and effort as possible. It shows in all areas of the film but I have to start somewhere so I will do so with the actual story. The flow of it is this (a) studious kid doesn't really fit into school/college, (b) kid becomes werewolf, (c) kid becomes popular but also a major a**hole, (d) kid learns life lesson. OK, so you can see it is essentially the same film as the first time, with the sport and setting different. In terms of the telling of the story though, we literally jump between these parts without any gradual development between them. I'm not saying it needed a lot of complexity but maybe just one or two scenes bridging the gap between the elements – instead it will literally have 1 scene of him becoming a werewolf for the first time, then the next scene is him popular and doing a 50's twist (for some reason) at a party – not even a bridge which shows him winning over an initially hesitant campus. This is the same across the whole film and it makes it weaker as a film – a problem considering it would still have not been great with these scenes.

This slapdash approach is reflected in the whole film and it is no surprise that the script is poor. The dialogue matches the "good enough" approach to the narrative – ie lines are clunky, obvious and lacking anything that would make you care enough to listen. However, producing even this level of trash was clearly too much for the writers because they appear to have been too busy to get laughs, fun or energy into the script. Visually it looks cheap. The sets are faded and unconvincing while the aim appears to have been to try and pull off "crowd" scenes with as few extras as possible. The wolf makeup is also really bad – never great of course but in Too it looks like a mask purchased at a corner store.

With all this it is no surprise that the cast can do nothing with it. I feel sorry for Bateman but he is poor here and cannot do anything with the material handed to him. He has almost zero chemistry with Chandler as well – again neither of them helped by the material having no bridge between "oh hi" and "you are the love of my life". Astin must have hoped for more but, even though he has a glint in his eyes that suggests a fun role in the film, he does nothing and has nothing to do. Fratkin and Holton are both annoying and deliver nothing in the way of laughs that the writers clearly just assumed they would do on their own (wackiy guy and fat guy – practically writes itself.....errr, no, no it doesn't).

The end product is not so much a terrible film in that everything was misjudged but rather a terrible film because nobody seems to have given a single, flying f**k about it from conception to final delivery. The plot is the same as the first film but yet so much worse and basic, with similar dialogue. The "feel" of the film is likewise cheap and "make-do" and it is no surprise that nobody in the cast can do much of anything with the whole affair. The only value the sequel has is making the first Teen Wolf film seem more fresh and filled with fun that it was.