Still the wrong pizza toppings.
The film version of the video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was a big hit with fans, despite the fact that it was devoid of imagination and R-rated risks. It was rated PG-13, and tries to qualify itself as family friendly, especially since Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza reminds people of Chuck E. Cheese back in the day.
So, now we have “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” which still is devoid of my approval. I admit that both films have great sets and nice-looking animatronics (with better effects than what was displayed in “The Electric State”), but I still don’t approve of the characters or cliches. In fact, I think that this one has to show us mean parents and teachers, just so we can have some death threats and PG-13 killings.
For those of you who wanted to see the first film, Josh Hutcherson played a troubled young man named Mike Schmidt, who worked at the abandoned Freddy Fazbear Pizza place as a security guard. He was trying to have full custody of his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio), who grew a special bond with the animatronics: the brown bear Freddy, the indigo rabbit Bonnie, the yellow chicken Chica, and the red fox Foxy. And his boss William Afton (Matthew Lillard) turned out to be the bad guy, while Mike’s potential girlfriend-the cop Vanessa Shelly (Elizabeth Lail)-turned out to be Afton’s daughter, but the better version.
We’re now at the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza place, which had a carousel and a river ride. This is when I’m thinking: “Nice sets.” But it also had more young victims, one of whose soul is placed in a marionette spirit known as the Puppet. At least I think it’s a spirit if she goes around possessing people. Before she gets murdered, she even tries to tell other parents that a boy has been abducted, but they either say: “Go find your parents” or “The adults are talking.” And this is when I’m thinking: “These parents are jerks, and these formulas are typical.”
Mike is trying to help Abby move on by telling her to make human friends, although she says: “My friends are human.” Vanessa is trying to fight her nightmares with her father. There’s an annual FazzFest, which celebrates the franchise and characters. And Abby is working on a science fair project inspired by her friends, which gets destroyed by her mean teacher Mr. Berg (Wayne Knight) and his “buttery hands.” But she makes contact with the original animatronics at the original establishment, including Chica, who now sounds like Megan Foxx. You bet she does.
In the mix, we also some paranormal hunters (Mckenna Grace, Leo Briones, and David Andrew Calvillo) filming the original pizza place for their show, and are greeted by the security guard Michael (Freddy Carter), whose creepy smile makes it clear he’s part of a predictable plot twist. Another horror movie lesson is if you fall in the river at a creepy place, you should get out fast. And of course, if you hear something creepy, you have to check it out and be attacked by whatever it is.
At least the first “Five Nights at Freddy’s” had some good ideas, but the only lessons this sequel has learned are how impressive the animatronics are and how much money it made at the box office. There’s another “Scream” cast member Skeet Ulrich telling Mike his side of what happened at the original pizza place, but don’t expect a reunion between him and Lillard. Expect a one and done deal with him.
And another insulting element is how this sequel has to close with one of those cliffhangers, as if it’s confident this sequel will top the original’s financial take. Especially since it’s not simultaneously streaming on Peacock like the last time. It doesn’t even want to confront Vanessa’s problems; it just wants the animatronics to take over and place the film on autopilot.
On a closing note, I guess this story does take place in the early 2000s, because the introduction tells us the year is 1982 and takes place 20 years later. So, at least that answers my question the last time.
