Family Fun!

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2004)

I recently watched X2 for the second time recently, this time with my parents. I enjoyed it so much in the theaters that I bought it the first weekend it was released. Now, I wanted to share the X-Men phenomena with my parents, but I'm not sure they really got what the big deal was. Watching it with this new perspective in my mind, I admit the plot can get kind of confusing with the numerous characters and their unique and peculiar mutant abilities. Nevertheless, I think they still enjoyed the movie especially for its awesome special effects. Unlike a lot of action movies, the special effects enhanced X2's story rather than dumbing it down.
It is probably a better movie if you do understand the characters though. I never really was ever confused myself as I enjoyed the X-Men cartoons when I was little. Nearly all the mutants in X2 stood out in one way or another. Wolverine was awesome as always, Nightcrawler was a great addition to the sequel, Jean Grey became much more interesting in this movie, and I think Mystique stood out the most with her great efforts to save Magneto and all of mutantkind. However, I do think Cyclops definitely took a backseat in this movie.
So overall, X2 is just a top-notch action adventure. It's not necessary to see the first movie or be familiar with the mutants, but I think it does help.
My IMDb Rating: 9/10. My Yahoo! Grade: A- (Almost Perfect)