Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): Croaks . You'd think the director of the original Japanese series could turn out a decent sequel. But nooooooo....     Instead, "The Grudge 2" is a detailed, shimmering example of why people loathe sequels, and how (with rare exceptions like preplanned trilogies) they are pretty much always bad. Overused spooks, lackluster acting and a plotless plotline are only a few of the things wrong with this croaking horror.     Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) learns that her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is seriously ill, and goes to Japan to fetch her -- with horrifying results. Karen's last warning: "Don't go in that house."     Other people aren't doing the same, since a trio of schoolgirls went into the house and are now being haunted by everyone's least favorite croaking ghosts, Kayako and Toshio. And an American family in Chicago is being slowly destroyed by visions of the ghosts, which have somehow transferred out of Japan and into the United States.     Aubrey and a reporter investigate the odd circumstances of Karen's madness and demise, going to the abandoned house that Karen tried to burn down. As the malevolent ghosts close in on them, Aubrey discovers the secret past that has turned Kayako into an evil force that cannot be stopped...     Ghosts, ghosts, everywhere, and not one of them is actually scary. Apparently Takashi Shimizu assumed that the more apparitions you put in a movie, the scarier it becomes. Sadly, it doesn't work that way -- Kayako and Toshio pop up for a cheap care every few minutes, and when they aren't around, OTHER ghosts are popping up for no good reason.     All those ghosts are mainly there to prop up a thin-as-paper storyline, with flaccid dialogue and a few cursory nods to the previous film. The schoolgirl storyline is completely disposable, and the Chicago one is a transparent set up for the inevitable (and dreaded) "Grudge 3," during which the horror rules get recklessly broken. So only a third of the movie has any interesting content -- usually a few minutes of exposition about Kayako.     It's rather sad that Gellar is the ruling force here, and she's only in it for a few minutes total. She's certainly more charismatic than the Tamblyn, who seems to be sleepwalking through her role. Ohga Tanaka and Takako Fuji provide some scares as the ghosts, even misused, but the rest of the cast is simply going through the motions of really tepid acting.     "Grudge" had its flaws, but it was a horror masterpiece compared to its disastrously pointless sequel -- it's all about piling as many ghostly appearances as possible into three thin plots. Cinematically, this is a curse
Output (English): NEG