Slightly better than the first

Rating: 6/10 (24 January 2003)

The plot of this movie is about Barlago from Garganda who needs to get to Margalala before the Embligs reach it and try to destroy the Ziglwigs... or something like that. Maybe if I had immersed myself in the trilogy and attended sci-fi conventions beforehand, I could've actually understood the story. Instead, it plays like a big, spectacular video game. Admittedly, I kind of enjoyed it because it is visually the most amazing thing we've seen on the screen yet, especially the computer generated character with the big ears (Grogglegorf, I think). All the names sound alike, most of the characters look alike, and there are too many of them to care about any of them. The scene with the H.R. Puffenstuff trees was mildly humorous, although I don't think that was intentional. So the plot is probably even less penetrable to non-geeks than the first one, but it is oh so fun to watch. If you are not a sci-fi geek, go for the visuals. Computer graphics have reached the promised land -- it is a landmark movie in that regard. Just don't expect to be included in this little Star Trek Convention of a movie unless you've read the books.