I still can't believe I paid to see this at the cinema in 1988 based on the strengths of the original and advertising that more or less revealed the best gags.
Hogan and Koslowski reprise their roles but the fish-out-of-water premise that worked so well in 1986 has nearly disappeared in the sequel. The first succeeded in much the same manner as Home Alone: a slow build-up but since we all know there's fun toward the end, we tolerate it. Here, the best parts are exhausted early.
Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee (Hogan) is now a New York resident (or overstayer without a visa?) and while he still handles certain things in an Outback way (fishing using dynamite, sleeping on the floor), his character begins being more acclimatized to life in the Big Apple. On the plus side, the writers have avoided repeating the jokes.
Not that there are too many new jokes. We're left puzzled where the wit of the 1970s Hogan and I'm including those beer ads he did in the UK has gone here. Whereas the first was clearly a comedy, 'Crocodile' Dundee II is more of an action-adventure, taking the audience on an America-to-Australia journey so that Hogan can indulge a more Indiana-Jonesey role. Laughs are minimal in this Hollywood sequel seemingly developed for American tastes and mostly lacking Australiana.
With the America-to-Australia storyline it would have been a great opportunity to use Koslowski's character more greatly for comedy, showing how an American abroad would cope in the Outback. I'm sure the Hogans would have had more than a few stories to spin.
By ending in Australia with some action sequences, Hogan gets to be the bush hero and win the day, but consequently the charm of the "Australian abroad" is forgotten as the film ends.
Hogan and Koslowski reprise their roles but the fish-out-of-water premise that worked so well in 1986 has nearly disappeared in the sequel. The first succeeded in much the same manner as Home Alone: a slow build-up but since we all know there's fun toward the end, we tolerate it. Here, the best parts are exhausted early.
Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee (Hogan) is now a New York resident (or overstayer without a visa?) and while he still handles certain things in an Outback way (fishing using dynamite, sleeping on the floor), his character begins being more acclimatized to life in the Big Apple. On the plus side, the writers have avoided repeating the jokes.
Not that there are too many new jokes. We're left puzzled where the wit of the 1970s Hogan and I'm including those beer ads he did in the UK has gone here. Whereas the first was clearly a comedy, 'Crocodile' Dundee II is more of an action-adventure, taking the audience on an America-to-Australia journey so that Hogan can indulge a more Indiana-Jonesey role. Laughs are minimal in this Hollywood sequel seemingly developed for American tastes and mostly lacking Australiana.
With the America-to-Australia storyline it would have been a great opportunity to use Koslowski's character more greatly for comedy, showing how an American abroad would cope in the Outback. I'm sure the Hogans would have had more than a few stories to spin.
By ending in Australia with some action sequences, Hogan gets to be the bush hero and win the day, but consequently the charm of the "Australian abroad" is forgotten as the film ends.