Tuesday, August 14, 2012

127 - Teen Wolf Too

    The cousin of Michael J. Fox's character goes off to college.  Despite never having turned into a werewolf, he gets an athletic scholarship for boxing.  He finds himself on the boxing team, where he struggles until he unexpectedly turns into a werewolf, and the rest of the movie follows the exact same formula as the first movie.
    Except, this movie isn't fun.  As a comedy, it isn't funny.  As a slice of the '80s, it's… something.  It's not funny in an ironic way, except that it somehow seems like it's an example of a by-the-numbers movie without anything going for it.
    They brought some of the original cast back.  Fox's father is in here (which reminds me of Eugene Levy appearing in all of the straight to video American Pie movies).  Another character was recast, which is kind of confusing.  And Mark Holton was still on as Chubby (he's the guy who played Buxton in Pee Wee's Big Adventure).
    There are storytelling problems galore.  First of all, the main character, Todd (played by Jason Bateman) isn't much of a protagonist.  He's kind of a jerk throughout the whole movie.  So when he turns into a werewolf and starts to indulge in his fame, it doesn't seem like he's being corrupted.
    There's the general problem of boxing being the sport that the school is focused on.  And the fact that an incompetent basketball player would just happen to become a boxer, on a "boxing team" with another werewolf.  No one boxes realistically in this movie.  It looks like no one makes any efforts to block.
    There's a strange subplot about Todd being interested in pursuing science, specifically to become a vet.  He meets a love interest in the class, who he's a jerk to.  Then somehow, things smooth over, and he studies with her in a montage.  This is one of the high points of the movie - she's a pretty cute love interest.  I've got a thing for nerdy girls with glasses.  While this storyline was supposed to focus on him becoming a responsible student, I never felt like any tension was generated.
    The pinnacle of the movie is this sequence.  There's not much that I can say about it.  It is what it is.

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