Merry Christmas, one and all! Welcome back to Dyl’s Worst Christmas Ever! We made it! It’s Christmas! This is the last review for this challenge. I hope you had as much fun reading these as I did writing them. Wait. Let me take that back. I hope it wasn’t as torturous for you to read about these movies as it was for me to watch them. Anywho, don’t worry. This isn’t the last write up for this series. I’ve got a special Top 10 list coming tomorrow. I’m gonna try and actually rank some of these, which should be incredibly difficult. They’ve all been incredibly bad. But, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about the latest nightmare first.
I’ve noticed a bit of a trend in the almost 30 movies I’ve watched for this challenge. Christmas sequels just aren’t very good. Whether it’s a holiday spin on something that wasn’t very Christmasy in the first place (Star Wars Holiday Special, Santa Buddies) or a belated sequel to a beloved Christmas classic (Home Alone 3, A Christmas Story 2), they’ve all been pretty darn bad. And, well, I just had the “pleasure” of watching another one. Jingle All the Way 2 is in the later category. It’s another belated sequel that has almost none of the charm or iconic imagery of the first one. (Side note: Is Jingle All the Way a classic? I feel like it’s kind of in this in-between, grey area. Some like it. Some hate it. I don’t know what the consensus is.)
I will give Jingle All the Way 2 a tad bit of credit though. Compared to all of the other sequels on this list, it’s not horrible. It’s the fact that it’s called Jingle All the Way 2 that hurts it so much. When I think of Jingle All the Way, I think of big, over the top, ridiculous action-comedy set pieces. I think of Arnold noises, Sinbad yelling, and silly superhero costumes. It’s big. It’s bombastic. It’s, well, the type of movie they don’t really make anymore. In short, it’s kind of Arnold. But, Jingle All the Way 2 kind of grounds it in a weird way. They’ve kept the parents trying to hunt down the biggest toy of the season, but there’s no action here. It’s just your typical Larry the Cable guy comedy. There are a few punches thrown, but I wouldn’t call any of them fights. I don’t know. Maybe I’m alone on this. But, this isn’t Jingle All the Way to me. It’s basically a completely different movie.
Also, when I say that it’s the best of the sequels watched, please don’t mistake that for me saying Jingle All the Way 2 is good. It’s most definitely not. It is a Larry the Cable Guy comedy through and through. There are no less than three jokes about him pooping his pants. Git R Done is said. And it’s very much a Blue Collar vs White Collar story. Plus, not a single character in this movie is likable. The kid especially annoyed me quite a bit. It’s definitely a bad movie. It’s just not the travesty that a lot of other belated Christmas sequels are. Heck, it’s probably even the best Larry the Cable Guy movie I’ve seen outside of the Cars franchise. But, that really says less about this movie and more about Larry and Christmas sequels.
Overall, I didn’t have the worst time watching Jingle All the Way 2. I still definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It does not live up to the status of the first one. And, honestly, it’s still a bad movie. But, what I do recommend is watching the original again. Because I want to have that discussion. Right here. Right now. Is Jingle All the Way a classic? I don’t even know how I feel about it. So, please, answer my question so I can make my mind up. It’s bothering me. I think I like it, but also the nostalgia is heavy on that one. I’ve gotta go. Otherwise, I could talk about this all day.
See you tomorrow for my Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies list!
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