Niko 2 – Kleines Rentier, großer Held (2012)

Niko 2 – Kleines Rentier, großer Held: Directed by Kari Juusonen, Jørgen Lerdam. With Erik Carlson, Mikko Kivinen, Vuokko Hovatta, Aarre Karén. Set right before Christmas, Niko the reindeer must deal with his mom getting re-married and his being tasked with looking after his little stepbrother.

“I quite liked the first Niko movie. It had decent animation, great characters, original idea and a storyline that managed to keep me invested and then some. Iu0026#39;ve seen it once or twice since and solidified my opinion: itu0026#39;s more than decent Christmas movie, not a classic, but still enjoyable and kid-friendly. Iu0026#39;d happily recommend it to all families.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd then thereu0026#39;s the sequel, which follows the traditional way of offering more of the same, sans the novelty. In this case Niko is once again being forced to play the rule of a headstrong child with short temper and no patience whatsoever. Itu0026#39;s a common cliché that the main character in a sequel seems to have learned nothing from his previous adventure, and this is true here as well, which is immensely aggravating. And when the storyline pretty much mirrors the previous film, this film can pretty much kiss goodbye to being as good as the original.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLuckily the film makers got a few things right. I complain about Niko having learnt nothing, but thereu0026#39;s the mitigating factor that heu0026#39;s still a kid, so he still has lots of learning to do. He should have learnt at least something, though. The rest of the cast though remains pretty much the same. Theyu0026#39;re not amazing, but theyu0026#39;re solid. The same with animation. Nothing groundbreaking, but it looks good, though a bit uneven, as numerous studios were involved in the process, so the quality wavers a bit from time to time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe biggest problem is the story. Itu0026#39;s just not as good as the first one, mostly because they tried to recycle the same plot, but with different enemies, which rarely works. Thereu0026#39;s a subplot concerning Nikou0026#39;s new stepbrother, but itu0026#39;s also very tired and clichéd. Not horrible, per se, but not very good either. You can pretty much guess how itu0026#39;ll go from the first minute of it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo thatu0026#39;s this film. Itu0026#39;s nothing spectacular, if anything itu0026#39;s a bit below average, but itu0026#39;s harmless fun and itu0026#39;s not going to hurt or upset your kids. Itu0026#39;s over an houru0026#39;s worth of semi-decent family entertainment. If you can, watch the first one, as it is much better, but this will do in a pinch.”