Back in August 2012, I and many people all across the internet were horrified when a trailer for a sequel to the all-time Christmas classic "A Christmas Story" hit the web. Why a sequel? Why now? It didn't help that the trailer looked absolutely atrocious. There had already been direct-to-DVD sequels to other great Christmas movies before (Home Alone 4, Christmas Vacation 2) and they all turned out wretched.
I admit, the trailer did not impress me at all, but I was curious. So, on November 1, 2012 I went to my local Wal-Mart and picked up a copy. Costed me $20. Did I just buy myself a lump of coal for Christmas?
First, let me get the big negatives out of the way: -The slapstick humor was groan-inducing -The "romantic interest" subplot was unnecessary and went nowhere -Some of the sets look ridiculously cheap -Daniel Stern's acting was hammy as hell
That being said... I like it. I mean, lets be blunt: this doesn't hold a candle to the original Christmas Story. But the thing I think separates this film from other Direct-to-DVD sequels is that the people who made it actually gave a crap. When I watched the interviews with the cast and director in the special features section, you could really tell that they had a lot of respect for Jean Shepherd and the original movie.
Braeden Lemasters takes on the role as Ralphie, and does a surprisingly good job as an older version of our lead protagonist. He makes Ralphie come off as very likable and mature. You can't help but root for the kid throughout the film.
The rest of the cast is so-so. The actors who play the mother and Randy brother do a solid job. Flick and Schwartz are fine when they aren't acting like Curly and Moe. Daniel Stern has some great scenes as the Old Man, but his hamminess gets grating after a while.
In the end, there's no way a sequel to "A Christmas Story" could possibly live up to the original. All they could do was make a solid movie, and I think "A Christmas Story 2" is a solid movie. I was really surprised by this, and I think if you can look past the aforementioned flaws you will be too. I mean, hey. There are plenty of worse holiday film sequels out there!
I admit, the trailer did not impress me at all, but I was curious. So, on November 1, 2012 I went to my local Wal-Mart and picked up a copy. Costed me $20. Did I just buy myself a lump of coal for Christmas?
First, let me get the big negatives out of the way: -The slapstick humor was groan-inducing -The "romantic interest" subplot was unnecessary and went nowhere -Some of the sets look ridiculously cheap -Daniel Stern's acting was hammy as hell
That being said... I like it. I mean, lets be blunt: this doesn't hold a candle to the original Christmas Story. But the thing I think separates this film from other Direct-to-DVD sequels is that the people who made it actually gave a crap. When I watched the interviews with the cast and director in the special features section, you could really tell that they had a lot of respect for Jean Shepherd and the original movie.
Braeden Lemasters takes on the role as Ralphie, and does a surprisingly good job as an older version of our lead protagonist. He makes Ralphie come off as very likable and mature. You can't help but root for the kid throughout the film.
The rest of the cast is so-so. The actors who play the mother and Randy brother do a solid job. Flick and Schwartz are fine when they aren't acting like Curly and Moe. Daniel Stern has some great scenes as the Old Man, but his hamminess gets grating after a while.
In the end, there's no way a sequel to "A Christmas Story" could possibly live up to the original. All they could do was make a solid movie, and I think "A Christmas Story 2" is a solid movie. I was really surprised by this, and I think if you can look past the aforementioned flaws you will be too. I mean, hey. There are plenty of worse holiday film sequels out there!