Eric Stevenson I think there was some other sequel to "A Christmas Story" but this is the only one with a "2" in the title so I'll just review this. Well, this is the end of Christmas Month. I couldn't find enough Christmas movies for the full month. I'll start next with Book Month! Anyway, this film is bad because it lacks all the heart of the original. The premise just doesn't work as Ralphie was so charming as a little kid.It doesn't have nearly the sense of timelessness as the original. The characters in this are just plain annoying. I especially hate Ralphie's friends because they're so dumb. These guys do such incompetent things on their jobs like putting one's mouth through a tube for no reason other than to reference the first movie. I personally didn't find it as bad as "The Sandlot 2" but it's still devoid of sense, especially with how this family somehow affords a car at the end. *1/2

Pete Wagner Jean Shepherd has got to be spinning in his grave. I haven't read his books, but we've watched the original "A Christmas Story" 20 - 30 times. To say it is only a movie or forget about comparisons and just take it as something new and just 4 fun is a symptom of a society that has lost its soul. The richness of the writing of the 1982 original (somebody mentioned there are parts of #2 that are taken from Shepherd's stories, and I think I can guess which--I would bet the visit to the dentist, one of the few funny moments) is not just a hard act to follow, but a national treasure. The original transports us back to another time when the world and especially this country were qualitatively different than it is now. Every detail, the cast, every nuance, the whole aesthetic, gels to remove us from the cynicism and political correctness and every other aspect of Today to a world that some of us can remember, almost remember, or at least, imagine we remember. The would-be sequel fails completely to understand, much less appreciate, the beauty or depth of this magic. The cast is all wrong. Crudeness was a part of that era, but it was configured in a totally different way from the 1-dimensional postmodern context which this one is locked into. The demon White Male stereotype this buys into is devoid of any comprehension whatsoever of the character Darren McGavin so perfectly portrayed. The costumes are still from 5 years earlier, not counting Ralphie's 1980s giant eyeglasses, which didn't yet exist in the years this story is supposedly set in. This one was cranked out by commercial crapsters incapable of escaping a temporal tunnel vision that has no business attempting to recapture any era that has gone by before their own time. The acting is mostly godawful. Seems like the only times it improves a bit are scenes where it appears that they finally got a bit tired of yelling their lines. The meanness of some of the acting or characters in the original was purposeful--it showed a child's perception of them, not actual cruelty. In this one, it's all just crude and stupid. The only reason to see version 2 is as a kind of cultural monitor, to compare and contrast, hopefully to learn the differences between great art and a total failure to grasp what art is.

brimcq5477 What can i say.. a sequel that should never have been.. The acting was horrible. Look, when i know i could do a better job acting you need to find better actors. Daniel Stern...what happened to you? The house was totally different..maybe they moved..into a house with a "clinker" of a furnace? I remember the classic Ralphie had those piercing blue eyes.. Hell even when you see Peter Billingsley, grown up in his cameo in Elf, you are like "I know that guy". Just a horrible movie.. so many bad parts..the worst has to be where it looks like Ralphie is having a orgasm as he plays the cymbals as he thinks about some chicks hair.. pass on this crap-fest at all cost.. a local Christmas play will be more enjoyable..

Shaun Landry After watching this movie it's official: Both my husband and I are movie masochists:Him: Christmas Story 2 is on On Demand Me: You *have to be kidding me* Him: Yes. Direct to DVD and now here. Me: No. This is not happening. They did not make a sequel. Him: They sure did. Me: (masochism now kicking in on my end) *Who is playing the dad* Him: Daniel Stern. Me: He played the villain In the Home Alone Movies. Him: He sure did. (both of us stare at each other. The look of horror in our eyes with a look of Movie Masochistic gleam) Me: Yes. Order it.The parent characters are gutted to the point of disbelief. The hair color of Ralphie is so unrealistic for a person it is beyond comical. They turned him into a bumbling teenage idiot along with his equally idiot friends. If you are waiting for a teenage kid to get his lips stuck on something in bad generated graphics for a "Nod" to to his lips getting stuck to an ice pole? Oh...this movie is for you.You are completely unconvinced Stern and Travis even like each other as Ralphie's parent. He is completely unlikable as the dad. She looks like she has been popping those 19th nervous breakdown little yellow pills as he blames her for his stupidity.She catches fish. He loses. fish. He blames her. She goes out and buys fish to cover for being inept with her money she has been getting out the dryer from his pants. Why? because he won't buy them a Turkey.And we should care about these characters...why? Even when Ralphie gets that *prized car* you still are not fond of this family.*This family* mind you. This is another Parker family. The Bizzaro World Parker family In Bizzaro Holman Indiana if you wish to be nice.They even made Valin Shinyei's Randy Parker into a kid you just don't care if he has to go to the dentist instead of sitting on the cold ice fishing with his father. Every character you loved in the first are now Smug, inept and cartoonish. No evil kids to root against with the green eyes and yellow teeth. One villain who you barely see and...who actually should be reimbursed for Ralphie's mistake.Unlikable characters. Whose change comes way too late for you to even care that Ralphie got his car.The cinematography looks like Norman Rockwell on a bad acid trip. When you get to the point where you know Ralphie bought a new leg lamp for his dad? I applauded cynically to myself and said "Well done writer! You have completely torn apart the original movie right down to this!"If you wish to be horrified by the pure annihilation of a classic movie? First pick up the remake to Casablanca, then watch Christmas Story 2.