Uma História de Natal 2

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.

Nothing about this movie is The Christmas story. The story line is horrible and the acting seems forced and strained. The father looks like he got younger rather than older. Why? Much like other sequels, it did a disservice to the original movie.

It's five years later and Ralphie Parker is now a teenager. He is learning to drive from his father (Daniel Stern). His impossible crush is the beautiful Drucilla Gootrad. All he wants for Christmas is a used 1939 Mercury model Eight convertible. He causes $85 in damage and has to repay it before Christmas Eve. His friends, Flick and Schwartz, join him in the retail workforce to earn the money.

The childhood goodness is all gone. Peter Billingsley is long gone. He doesn't even have a cameo as the adult Ralphie. There is only an older doppelganger trying very hard to do an imitation. The first one is adorable but this sequel is no longer adorable. Flick gets his tongue stuck once again and it's no longer fun. There is another leg lamp but it looks different somehow. It is nice to see Flick and Schwartz are still his friends. It's not until the tire that the movie finds a purpose. The movie still screws it up but at least it tries. Wouldn't it be better for Drucilla to work at the store and be more than an object of the story? Wouldn't the used car lot be the perfect place to get a tire? It just wraps up in a bad cheesy way which definitively makes this a bad sequel.

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.

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".