Customer Reviews

FernGully 2 - The Magical Rescue [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Why do excellent movies like Ferngully and The Land Before Time get such half-baked direct-to-video sequels? The depth, complexity, and offbeat spirituality of the first movie are all painfully absent from this godawful piece of garbage, as is Robin Williams' voice talent.

Although I LOVED the first Ferngulley, this one was pretty sorry. I don't think that any of the actors from the original worked on this movie. The guy that they got to take over for Robin Williams as Batty Koda sounds like a really bad impressionist. The kids loved the story in this one - the fairies trying to save poached baby animals, but I thought the story was weak. Whenever they watch it, I make sure to leave the room!

The idea is good, but the charm is missing. Mediocre animation, decent plot but poorly carried out, actors that sound like they're reading the script (a badly written script...). For most people involved in its making, their movie experience is extremely limited--in several cases (especially with the actors), this is the only film in their experience at all. In short, not a true sequel to the original. But they get an E for effort, with a few highlights with creative ideas of what happens to little fairies when they get mesmerized by the world of a human carnival and forget about their true mission in life: to protect living creatures. It is a clean film which promotes good values and has nothing inappropriate for young viewers. Songs are so-so, even if they might be a bit catchy in tune. This has some entertainment value for the 3-6 age range, but anyone older than that will be quickly bored.

This movie sounded great to me and because I liked the first movie so much, I decided to check it out. The second movie is REALLY BAD! It doesn't even look like the sequal to Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. I only reccommend this movie to younger kids who would probably really like it, but the second movie is HORRIBLE!!

Ferngully 2 is an insult to the original, however I am being generous in giving it three stars because it is a good family film. I'm sure little kids will love the furry little animals that it seems to revolve around, and it has some good morals for your kids about believing in yourself and helping those in need...if that's all you look for when buying your movies.

I have many gripes about this movie, and I'm not sure where to begin. If you have seen and cherish the first movie, well, it's nice to see our two beloved characters, Crysta and Pips, return to the screen, right? Well, if you loved Pips, you're in for a treat. He gets plenty of screen time. As for Crysta? She seems to play second fiddle to everything else, and we actually don't see her much. Mostly we see the furry critters stuck in cages and their attempts to flee or be freed by others. It's no longer about the fairies and the trees and plants in the rain forest, it's about poaching. 90% of this movie takes place outside of the rain forest, which is a shame really, because that was part of the beauty of the first film. The poaching bit also reminded me a lot of another movie's plot...oh what was it...maybe The Rescuers: Down Under? (which btw is a high-quality, five-stars film, I highly recommend) Ferngully 2 was very much a re-hash of that film, which gave me a headache because Ferngully 2 offered nothing new on the take of evil-poacher-traps-the-cute-animals-who-creatively-try-to-escape (this theme is fantastic in Rescuers, not at all in Ferngully 2).

Surprisingly, I have no complaints about the animation...wait, I take that back. It is fluid, yes, and is not all that lacking in quality, but lacks terribly in consistency! If you're a kid, you probably won't notice this, but compared to the beauty of the first film, this is awful! Batty will have large mitten hands at times (and looks generally strange/awkward compared to his sleek design in the first film), Goanna is incredibly huge compared to his former self (and OOC), the fairies...their size is always varying, which annoys me.

Music isn't terribly bad (surprise?), but doesn't hold a candle to the catchy tunes from the first movie such as Toxic Love and Dream Worth Keeping.

All in all, if you pretend this movie has nothing to do with the first and judge it on its own, it's not that bad. It's a great family/kids film. However, I'd like to add to that the fact that the theme of the movie is almost identical to The Rescuers: Down Under, and I would whole-heartedly recommend that movie over this one. Keep the first Ferngully close to your heart and save yourself the headache of this one.

Ferngully 1 is classic. This movie was such a dissappointment to me. Some little animals get kidnapped from Ferngully so Crysta's friends go to human town to find them. the film was just corny and not interesting and the way that truck rolled down the hill in one of the scenes had me rolling my eyes- i know it's a cartoon but come on!!

THIS MOVIE STINKS TO THE 9TH POWER. None of the original voice actors repise their roles in this film. The animation is not as good as the first one. The story is nothing more then a bad road trip movie. The hero:Pips does little-to-nothing to save the baby animals from the 2D villians. Crysta who should have been the lead,did more then Pips did. The rest are bland and forgettable. I give this film a 1 out of 10.

I 100% agree with the reviewer who said Batty's voice in this movie sounds like a very bad impression of the voice in the first one. Also the reviewer who said this is basically a poor rehash of "Rescuers: Down Under" was also spot on.

There are many things in this movie which make no sense whatsoever and are very logically inconsistent. Maybe that's not a big deal for someone who is 2 or 3 years old, but anyone older will roll their eyes at this film.

I'll list a few of these below:

Spoilers
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The poacher keeps the baby animals in sacks overnight when he has cages available.
Batty has hands sometimes and one claw other times
Batty is strong enough to carry and lift a human being with his wings
The fairies can only cause small sprouts to grow in some parts of the movie but in other parts can cause huge plants to grow.

My entire family loves FernGully, but not a single one of us cares for FernGully 2. It was an overall let down for us, but maybe your family will enjoy it.

I first bought this for my son when he was little. He watch the first
fern gully so many times and it was his favorite. When I found out there
was a fern gully 2 magical kingdom I bought it for him and even though
he is older now he still liked it and found it as enjoyable as the first
one. I am glad I did it for him and he likes it.