Suprisingly Good (but not without its faults)

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2018)

The mere mention of a movie getting a sequel is enough to make people reconsider their life choices. This was how I felt when I heard about "The Conjuring 2". It wasn't that I wasn't hopeful. It was just because of the things I had heard about "Annabelle" (which I still haven't seen, and have no intention of seeing).
However, this was actually a pretty good horror movie.
PROS:

To be completely honest, I think this film was a bit scarier than the first. "The Conjuring" was a creepy and scary movie, but most of its best moments were shown in the marketing. This movie didn't have that issue, and instead showed us some of the more cliched scares in the trailer, saving the best for the actual movie. There was one jump scare that actually got to me; no joke. I normally hate jump scares, but this one scene in the film is an exception (won't say which scene).
Like in the first movie, the overall acting in the film is great. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are both great (again) as Lorraine and Ed Warren. Their relationship was a big part of the movie, and they nailed their performances. Even the children (for the most part) were good in this movie.
The character development was still strong in this movie. That was one of the best parts of the first movie, and it's nice to see it present in this film.

CONS:

The original film managed to use minimal CGI, which may have been to its lower budget. "The Conjuring 2", however, used quite a bit of unrealistic CGI. There were some moments where the visuals were so bad that they almost completely took me out of the movie.
One scene gets on my nerves. There is a scene where the main family is being interviewed, and the youngest daughter starts talking like an old man. The older sister is right next to her, but she has a complete lack of expression on her face; she's acting as if her sister isn't being possessed by an old man. It seemed really dumb, and I don't know why the director kept this in the film.

Overall, "The Conjuring 2" is an uncommonly strong sequel, and the third movie of an ever growing franchise. I can't wait to see more of both director James Wan and the other movies in "The Conjuring Universe".