Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure

I am a real fan of Alpha and Omega 1 and now, after watching Alpha and Omega 2 I feel really happy because no one expected a sequel to the movie, and suddenly out of nowhere, appears Alpha and Omega 2, a sequel for my favorite movie.

Some may say that the movie sucks or shouldn't even exist.That's not true, the movie is enjoyable and I would say that it's perfect if it wasn't by the fact that the movie is short, but it's already confirmed that Alpha and Omega 2 isn't the last one so, the movie's runtime isn't really important.

I honestly believe that Alpha and Omega 2 was a release focused on the fans of Alpha and Omega 1, because even after the low ratings of it, they still released Alpha and Omega 2. I am a real fan and I couldn't ask for a better sequel. I really loved the movie and I hope you do too !

10/10

Made the decision, despite not caring much at all for the first 'Alpha and Omega', to see its follow-ups (yes there is a franchise) out of curiosity and as an enormous fan of animation, would see anything regardless of critical reception. Would see anything to do with Christmas too.

Anybody who disliked the first film but wants to see the rest of the franchise to see whether it gets better or not will be shocked to find that 'Alpha and Omega: A Howl-iday Adventure' (the title alone is enough to make anyone dubious) is even worse. One of the worst sequels personally seen to me and proof that 'Alpha and Omega' didn't need a sequel let alone a franchise.

Let's start with the animation. The animation wasn't the best in the first film but it had its decent moments. It however is 'Toy Story' compared to the animation quality here, which is not quite Video Brinquedo, Spark Plug Entertainment or 'Foodfight' bad but almost and on the same level as 'The Swan Princess' CGI films. Blocky character designs, almost creepy expressions, very flat colours, a complete lack of fluidity in movement and less than meticulously detailed backgrounds are reminiscent of computer animation and video games in their infancy, something that one does not expect at all for 2013 even for low budget when technology as much as it has.

Can say no better for the music either. None of it fits with what's going on, stylistically it feels out of place and out of kilter, it's obtrusive and it's not even good music on its own. The writing is even worse, summing up in one word it's abominable. half-baked ideas and any parts that strive to be funny or poignant instead come across as eye-rollingly cheesy or cloying.

Worse are the "funny" jokes and dialogue, which are not funny at all, one groans at some of the wordplay/puns and older audiences who are children at heart whenever seeing animation (like me, one is never too old to appreciate animation and it is not strictly oriented towards kids only) will question the appropriateness of some of it.

Story-wise, there is not much of one at all. 'Howl-iday Adventure' is short but feels longer thanks to plodding pacing and thin plotting. There is very little Christmas spirit either, there is no heart or charm and it all feels very mean-spirited. The characters are never engaging, they are either bland or irritating and some of them are completely pointless.

Voice acting is weak all round, the first 'Alpha and Omega' at least had Hayden Panettiere giving a pretty good account of herself and Dennis Hopper. There is nobody of that calibre here, some overdo it and some act as if they weren't even trying.

Overall, a howlingly bad mess. If the rest of the franchise is like this, 'Alpha and Omega' has potential to be as over-milked as 'The Swan Princess' and 'The Land Before Time' franchises. 1/10 Bethany Cox

When Alpha and Omega was released back in 2010, its reception wasn't very positive. Both critics and movie-goers alike blasted the film, criticizing it's story, animation, and just being an overall bad film. It managed to find some fans, but it's still a film many people just simply forgot... or wanted to forget.

Admittedly, it's a guilty pleasure of mine. Yeah, it's bad, and it's not something I'd recommend to anyone... but I can find some enjoyment out of it, and I don't think it's as bad as many claim (close, but not quite). With that said, in no way did I ever wish for it to receive a sequel. Honestly, it's just not necessary, and again, not too many people even liked the first film. It's fan base, if one even exists, is quite small, so who's the targeted audience? Why even bother making a sequel, knowing it probably won't sell?

Well, they made one anyway, and because I somewhat enjoy the first film, I decided to give it a shot.

...And what a mistake that turned out to be. Any charm the first film might have had is completely absent here, and there's many reasons why. The story is predictable (even more so than the first), the characters (both old and new) are terrible and useless, the script is lousy, the jokes are lame, the animation is often very sloppy and unpolished (amateurish mistakes that would make any newbie and up-and-coming animators blush with embarrassment), among numerous other examples. For that matter, any and all wolf sound effects (Howling, growling, etc.) all sound like poor-quality stock sound effects, as if they found them off some free sound effects website. The amount of effort they put into this film is... practically non-existent.

The worst offender is how short the movie is. It's not even a full- length film... no, it's only 45 minutes. And considering how the finale goes down, there's so much evidence for me to believe the film was cut short and left unfinished... as if they ran out of budget or lost the motivation to complete it (I'm leaning towards the latter).

Everything about this movie screams "Lack of effort". It's an abomination to viewers and fans of the original film. Even after renting this for $4 off of Amazon Instant Video, I still feel cheated and want my money back. Avoid this movie like the plague... trust me, you won't regret it.

Only the final 2 minutes had anything to do with a "holiday theme".

Animation quality was a lot worse than the original and the voice actors are different in this one too.

The plot was ridiculous.

OK, there is a lot to say about Alpha and Omega 2. It's a great movie but not the best sequel in terms of length. The actors and actresses, were amazing, sounding like the original. Even though the originals couldn't reprise their roles, they found actors and actresses who not only did a great job but continued their amazing work. The animation could be a little better but we got a sequel, so we should at least be happy about that. Kate Higgins, from what I heard, she has a great voice and fits the role of Kate, just like Hayden Panettiere was when she voiced Kate in the original. The only problem with the movie is length, it's too short and still did not expanded much of the story.

As for the story line, there was still so much holes left out that weren't covered in the original. The plot holes include Garth's mother, where was she? Humphrey's parents? Where are they? So many questions were still left out. The story line for the movie was OK, but they should have expanded the story line of the first one, including the past of either Humphrey or Garth and show what happened to Humphrey's parents or Garth's mother. They could have still included the pups, but expanding the story line is a good move because it adds a new story on the character instead of just making a new movie.

The music, I got to say is pretty OK, love how they are using the same score from the first one but these movies lack their own score, different scores add new themes to the movie. Did Twilight use the same score over and over, no... they used different scores in each movie. That's one of the only things this series needs, it needs their own score as well, love how the original is used but new music can help the movie in more ways than you will think. Like they could make a love theme for Kate and Humphrey or for Lilly and Garth. They could easily made a creepy score to when the rogue wolves came in, giving away to the fact that they are bad wolves. That was one of the best things that made the original a great movie was the score. It was so beautiful, it added emotions to the story. My only hope is that in the future, with the possibility of more sequels coming, that they create their own score for them and adding to the story.

So overall, this movie was somewhat well done but still needs to fill in the plots holes from the first movie. This series can do that, all it needs is the story line to be expanded and focus on the back story of characters, so we can see what made and shaped these characters into what we see in the movie. It's also adds certain themes to movies like a character having a bad past can either add a sad theme to the story. I always loved the Alpha and Omega movies, and thought this series deserves a little more praise than it's been getting. The sequels are not bad movies, they just need a chance. There will be good movies and bad movies, but this movie is not one of the bad movies. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but at least give this movie a chance.