Pânico no Lago 2

with a few nods to the original film, including Cloris Leachman playing the sister of Betty White's unforgettable foul-mouthed character from the original, this film tries to step up to the plate. apparently set a few years after the original, there are suddenly more deaths, and, guess what? a croc in the lake. actually, 3 this time around. John Schneider plays the sheriff and a cast of "looks-familiar-but-don't-know their-name" fills in the rest of the menu. the CGI is there, really noticeable and really bad, as it is in most of the sci-fi channel movies. at least there are some good-looking stereotyped kids thrown into the mix this time, camping at the lake at the worst possible time. David Kelly's original script had some intelligence, great character development and nicely-done humor that is really missing here. i give them credit for trying, but it's lacking...well....almost everything.

The first Lake Placid was the type of movie that you loved or hated. I loved it. The actors had chemistry. The script was clever. The key was to take it for what it was. A lot of people did and it developed a cult following.

I wanted to love II. But, it wasn't there. I think they tried. But chemistry and hitting the exact same note is hard. I think they put together a good cast. The writing was supposed to make you grin. It just didn't pull together tight enough. Nice Try. Lake Placid a tough film to duplicate on any level.

I think a lot of the fans of the first one went into it with the right frame of mind. If you didn't see the first one you may not understand the choices they went with as far as corny dialogue and silliness. Maybe they can bring back Ms. Fonda for 3!

I'd seen Lake Placid at a friend's house one night, and thought it entertaining, so I was happy to see a sequel was going to be shown. Now though, I have to say I wish they hadn't bothered. Overall, the movie is just poorly done. The acting is terrible; even John Schneider, who I usually enjoy, disappointed me. I'd equate the acting in the film with a middle school performance. And something was off with the sound- it almost sounds like they pre-recorded all the lines, and just matched it up with the film.

The special effects, if possible, are even worse than the acting. Very fake looking, and extremely amateur; this looks like a high school project! There are several times when you can see parts of the crocodiles magically pass through things.

On the plus side, little as it is, some of the characters were mildly entertaining in the sense that the acting was so terrible. There's one actor in particular who screamed like a girl, and that made me laugh. I'll also add that if you saw and liked the first, you may want to watch this just to satisfy your curiosity. Beyond that though, it's not worth it.

Sci-Fi channel movies are notorious for their constant cheeziness. This one should be perched at the very top of the heap. Since I loved the original, LAKE PLACID, I thought this might be at least an interesting experience. From the first scene to the last, this garbage proved that there are still Neanderthals out there in the movie making business. In the first shot, we see two men in a boat. One of them is quickly gobbled up by a giant croc. His companion merely stares at the water, blinks his eyes and says "Oh, my God!" in the next scene, he is in the sheriff's office and has told his story to the deputies. Their reactions? They all sit around whooping and giggling and nudging each other as if they've heard the funniest joke of the year. And then the sheriff drops in and asks this survivor what his problem is and the survivor merely shrugs and says "there's a problem" out there on the lake. Even after the sheriff is nearly swallowed alive by the creature, he's joking and laughing just seconds later. In fact, no one in the miserable cast ever act as if they're in any danger at all. After every death, they're all joking and laughing and skipping along as if nothing has happened. We're treated--if that's the word--to several scenes of the girls stripping off their bras. I guess we're supposed to be panting with passion at this. One of the craziest scenes is when the hot-headed jerk is mouthing off to his two companions how he would never ever believe there's a monster croc. One slips up right behind him, less than two feet away. His two companions merely stare and say, "Eh, you'd better come along." They act as if there's a squirrel or a possum just a few feet away from them. Of course, the hot-headed jerk is swallowed alive and his companions skip away. And then one of them says, "I can't believe I saw that." The special effects are the type you'd find in an elementary school room. this would be a perfect laugh-out-loud movie to watch along with that other much-praised masterpiece of lousiness: HANDS OF MANOS.

I've come to expect very little out of the SciFi channel's made for TV movies, but this ranks tight alongside of "Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers" as am egregious example of how SciFi's clueless network suits can prostitute a great work with an appallingly bad sequel.

I'm a great fan of the original "Lake Placid". David E. Kelly's writing in the original is among the sharpest of any film in memory. It had a delightfully witty script and excellent performances by talented actors. The characters were well textured without a stereotype among them.

By comparison, the script of this film is drek. Thre is almost no wit evident. It's trite and formulaic. The characters are all 2-dimensional stereotypes from central casting. The "special" effects were everything I've come to expect from SciFi channel movies - ham-fisted and amateurish.

I might have given this film a rating of 2 or 3, but for potentially tainting the reputation of the original, I give it a 1 - but only because there's no option to give it a zero!