10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Low-Profile Sequel Wasn't Well-Recieved, But You Might Not Care..., February 25, 2006
After the surprizingly successful original "The Visitors" (1996), a sequel was made, "Les Couloirs du temps: Les visiteurs 2" (or "The Corridors of Time: The Visitors II" in 1998). With a much bigger budget, the same director, and several of the same actors (including Jean Reno), you would expect it to do great at the box-office -- even if it wasn't as good as the original. But it didn't do well. In fact, "Corridors of Time" didn't even recover one-fourth of its budget in overseas theaters.
The general story begins after the end of the original "Les Visiteurs" (or "The Visitors") and immediately tries to justify the sequel with a time paradox that compleatly ignores much of what our hereos were doing before -- and has them doing it all over again. Godefroy de Montmirail (Jean Reno) doesn't really learn anything from the event depicted in the original, and he ppears to be even dumber, which isn't as charming as the character's previous performance. Actress Valérie Lemercier played the role of Frénégonde de Pouille (aka Béatrice de Montmirail) in the original "Les visiteurs," but since she didn't want to comprimise herself in this sequel to avoid getting stuck in the bourgeoise (or a woman belonging to middle-class) role, another actress was cast in her place for the sequel. Muriel Robin tries to imitate the previous actress way too much, instead of trying to make the role her own.
There is still some fun to be had, though. Jean Reno and Christian Clavier still have a great time doing thier respective roles, and I would be lying if I said this film was devoid of humor. It has some good humorous moments, and a mixture of good and bad visual effects. Of course, this sequel is not in league with the original. Several plot points were rather contrived, and a number of the gags went a bit too far (you'll see what I mean), but overall I had a decent time watching it. There are still lots of laughs, a number of new and different crazy situations, and lots of really good ideas. You really need to see the original first. Even the American remake, "Just Visiting" is better than this sequel -- no lie. Fans will probably still want to see this one, but don't expect it to compare to how much fun you had with the first film (even the editing needs some serious work), and keep in mind that the film is designed for really young teenage boys, so don't expect a well-designed script. You probably won't find a proper Engligh translated DVD, so you'll need to search for the French name on the Internet. You really are better off keeping your current DVD of "The Visitors" and just renting/borrowing the sequel, but since this title isn't widely imported, that might be hard. At least I warned you.
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