A Christmas Story 2

This movie was awful. Over acting, horrible script, and it did a great dis-service to the original movie. The only worse than this was the Star Wars Holiday Special.

I recommend NEVER watching this. If you own a copy, burn it. With any hope it will only have mention of it on IMDb.com and people will wonder if it was any good. I hope that the actors can successfully ignore the fact that they were in this film. It must have been directed at 7 year old kids. Funny thing is that you can make a movie for kids and not have it suck so bad that parents burn it.

DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. Your life will be better having never seen it.

Ralphie obsesses over what he wants for Christmas, doesn't get it, then gets it after all. He says, "Oh Fudge!", wears an embarrassing animal costume, isn't able to have turkey for Christmas, and eats at the Chop Suey Palace. Mrs. Parker overdresses Randy for the cold weather. The Old Man yells 'It's a clinker!' fights the furnace, and gets a leg lamp. And, of course, Flick gets his tongue stuck to something.

You may think I'm talking about A Christmas Story, but sadly this is also the description for the completely unnecessary sequel, A Christmas Story 2. Clearly, there is no attempt made here to capture the magic of the original, only a blatant attempt to cash in on its success by recycling all its funny moments and adding tired family movie formulas. At one point, Ralphie blurts out what I'm sure the entire audience is already thinking, "Oh no! Not again!" It could easily have been the tag line for the movie posters.

Despite all this, A Christmas Story 2 is certainly not as bad as it could have been, considering the current family movie genre's obsession with vomit and flatulence. If you're just feeling a bit nostalgic for A Christmas Story, A Summer Story and Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss are far better sequels with fresh material, though they, too, pale in comparison to the original classic.

Here's proof that you can not go home again . This film is totally heartless and soulless....so pale in comparison to the original which has evolved into a modern day classic. There is good reason this film went straight to video. Please do not waste your money on it. I had a cheap rent from amazon.com. I thought it might cheer me up ...having the flu and all.

Back is our Ralphie now at 15 and he wants a car for Christmas. The old man will not spend 40 cents per pound for a turkey so he is involved in some subplot to catch a fish for Christmas dinner. Part of the problem with this video is the incredible number of subplots...each more uninteresting as the others; including a candy cane fight at Higbee's, a Santa who walks out on the job, poor Randy getting dressed up in tons of layers to go outside, and a love interest for Ralphie. Even the "leg lamp" shows up for an encore.

A Christmas Story 2 looks like one of those made for TV films on SYFY or Lifetime. The sets are cardboard...but then again so is the acting. It makes "The Santa Clause 3 and 4 look like art films. Costumes are barely period. I dare you...I double dog dare you...to watch the preview. You will see exactly what I mean.

Someone was out to make a buck. But then, that is what Christmas is all about.

When I saw the Blu-ray for this movie at my local video rental store, my first reaction was, "Whaaaa?!?!?" I mean, they had years earlier tried another sequel to the classic "A Christmas Story", which was titled "It Runs In The Family" (a.k.a. "My Summer Story") And that movie was pretty bad despite bringing back the original director and writers. And looking at the credit list for "A Christmas Story 2", it was clear NO ONE from the original movie was returning! My hopes weren't that high, but my curiosity won out and I rented the movie and brought it home.

To be fair, this sequel does try to a degree to be different, moving up several years and having the main character of Ralphie to now being a teenager - which does bring up some new situations for him that couldn't have been done in the original movie. And there are some comic and/or tender moments here and there that did make me smile a little, moments that at times do come close to capturing the warm and hilarious feeling that came from the original movie.

However, for the most part the movie is a disappointment. Most of the gags aren't that funny, not just for the fact that many of them are simply recycled from the original movie. The main problem is that despite everyone involved in this sequel (in front of and behind the camera) is working VERY hard, the movie always seems to feel like a low rent imitation instead of the real thing.

Still, as I indicated in my summary line above, the movie could have been worse than it presently is. But I do hope they won't make "A Christmas Story 3".

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.