Actors 2 (2019)

***Actors 2*** (or also known as ***The Actors Movie 2***) is a 2019 computer animated comedy film based on the videogame franchise of the same name. The sequel to *The Actors Movie* (2016), *Actors 2* was distributed by Columbia Pictures, and produced by Actors 3D Entertainment, Anaya Animation, and Actors Studio. It was directed by *The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack* creator Thurop Van Orman along with Rich Moore, with screenplay done by Peter Ackerman & Pamela Ribbon. Starring the voices of Jason Sudekis, Josh Gad, Kate McKinnon, Peter Dinklage, Bill Hader, Richard Kind, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel Bloom, Sterling K. Brown, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Danny McBride, Freddie Highmore, and Smosh duo Anthony Padilla & Ian Hecox; the film was released to theaters August 2, 2019 in the United States and received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, audiences, and fans of the franchise alike; while also becoming the highest-grossing *Actors* film and the 2nd highest-grossing Marcanese animated film of 2019.

## Plot

The Actors and their famous arcade pals get surprised when The White Actor arrives by some mysterious ship to the power strip and introduces them to the amazing, vast complex world of the Internet. When Jake decides to get there, Joseph goes along with him and together they meet new friends while surfing across the World Wide Web. However, when The Black Actor attempts to shut down the modern digital world with his many viruses, Jay and the others have no other choice but to unite with their snarky rivals from Koopa Island in order to save both Joseph & Jake while also protecting both the Internet and their worlds from being completely deleted.

## Why It Rocks

1. Very amazing animation that's a slight upgrade from its 2016 predecessor, with the visuals for Internet City and its surrounding areas being the best overall aesthetic of this film; the live-action characters translate perfectly into computer animation.
	* Also, the fact that this film blends in several different animation styles, such as anime and *Looney Tunes*-esque cartoony animation, into one computer-animated *Actors* film is quite splendid like that of *Agent Cyberlink.*
2. Also similar to the previous film, the voice acting is excellent with Benedict Cumberbatch standing out the most thanks to some of his English-accented voice acting for The White Actor/The Black Actor; Tony Hale also does a very great job as Technohat.
3. Unlike *The Fuzzi Movie,* the film doesn't use its product placement for advertising purposes but instead tying it all up with a great concept for the film: "what if the Internet were a city in which buildings, shops, malls, restaurants, etc. are all made from product placement?" and the execution for said concept is wonderful, as Anaya Animation takes full advantage of the vast product placement in this film to create Internet City in such unique if creative ways, with places like One Facebook Plaza, The Pinterest Shop, the Gmail Post Office, Fandango Movie Theater, Wikipedia World, Shein Mall, and YouTube Central. Also, the concept of the Actors and their arcade friends exploring the World Wide Web and other new videogame-related worlds such as the worlds of online and mobile gaming is brilliant, and this film does an arguably better job at said concept than *Ralph Breaks The Internet.*
4. The plot for this film is marvelous and very well-executed for the most part, as the film actually does something new to the franchise by having the Actors and the videogame heroes team up with their rivals in order to protect both Internet City and their arcade worlds from getting deleted by The Black Actor.
5. Many hilarious and well-timed jokes, such as the meme parade scene in which Bowser gets dethroned by Shrek in response to Vault Boy's desire of wanting to be "the king of memes", the "Blitzkrieg Bop" prank war opening scene in the beginning of the film, the Spandex scene, the secret meaning scene, Jake's breakdance/hip-hop battle scene, the "Rickroll" scene (which is very clever since the original film had that song as well), and the ramen noodle shop scene in which Jake & Kirby share ramen only for the latter accidentally eating it all.
6. **Proper character development arcs:** In the original film, Joseph has changed from a sometimes hot-tempered loser to the guy who united several iconic videogame heroes together for battle in order for them to accept him as someone great. Here, he does a great job protecting his kind while still being the hero he was. Joseph at first didn't want Jake and the videogame characters to travel to the World Wide Web since he thought the Internet was a dangerous place, but soon after realizing that the Internet has its own bright side, he decides to come with them, take risks, and venture through other worlds he had never seen before while also still protecting his friends. Judge Brown has been an almost irredeemable jerk to Joseph in the previous film, but here he accepts him as the hero and even puts him in charge of Gamers Island.
7. The Actors and their friends are still likeable, and the new characters are also great additions too:
	* Technohat and Tobi are very funny comic reliefs for this film who also serve as helpful guides for Joseph & his friends, they also respect each other despite them being different about their opinions and ways.
	* Min Min, just like Aileene in *Marco 4,* is yet another great example of the strong independent woman who also makes for Joseph's sweet and kind love interest. She proves to be a tough warrior heroine thanks to her long arms while also being sympathetic towards Joseph & his friends and protecting them from harm.
	* Garrett isn't the stereotypical geek who thinks of himself as a nerd, but rather someone who likes to build gadgets and tech for good purposes such as cleaning the streets and watering the plants; yet he also helps Joseph & his friends for the greater good due to his sheer knowledge of technology.
	* Miranda is a nice and loving girlfriend for Jake who accepts him for who he is: Jake at first believed that she won't like him when they first met each other, but when they meet again, Miranda seems to admire Jake for his awkward yet lovable personality.
8. Just like the previous film, the action scenes are very awesome and entertaining to watch, especially the epic climax scene in which Bowser & his army save Joseph & his friends from getting crushed by the Black Actor's cloud at the Google Tower while batting Spam (The Black Actor's series of evil alter-ego virus clones).
9. Great and catchy soundtrack from Heitor Pereira & Henry Jackman, with great choice songs such as "Zero" by Imagine Dragons and "Best Day (Actors 2 Remix)" by Kesha; and original songs made exclusively for this film such as "To Infinity Beyond Space" by Jake and "Internet" by Imagine Dragons.
10. Nice ending with a touching note that also subverts audience expectations as one could easily assume that the videogame villains are lying and that they would betray their truce with the heroes once they dealt with The Black Actor, but at the end they actually keep their truce and don't betray the heroes.
11. Several funny yet clever lines of dialogue, among them **"I'm ready for some pancakes"**, **"Look, we've actually got some memes!"** and **"Well, that's kinda disappointing"**
12. Unlike the infamous message that the 2018 *Beibis* movie had to deliver against the use of technology, this film clearly understands Internet safety and the importance of using technology in our everyday lives for good purposes. However, it also states that technology could also have a negative impact in people's lives if we use it as some weapon of evil, whether it be by means of hacking, cyberbullying, spreading computer viruses, etc. The film also makes the point that we should be more careful about going to the Internet and whatever we post there, since the Internet can be considered both an enjoyable and dangerous place.
13. The film's other messages about knowing when to let go of your friends when it's time for them to leave, being protective of your friends, teaming up in order to accomplish a bigger goal or overcoming a bigger obstacle, loving your enemies, and respecting your friends' opinions or desires are very well handled for the most part.
14. Several noteworthy videogame cameos from modern games such as Ratchet & Clank, Jack & Daxter, Steve & Alex from *Minecraft,* Pyra & Mythra and Rex from *Xenoblade Chronicles,* Vault Boy, Tony Hawk, the *Angry Birds* characters, Sackboy from *LittleBIGPlanet,* Cuphead & Mugman, among various others.
	* In addition to those cameos, the film also has very surprising cameos from other Sony films such as *James Bond, Ghostbusters, Stuart Little, Spider-Man, The Smurfs, Charlie's Angels, Jumanji, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, Mr. Magoo,* *Men In Black,* and yes unfortunately, *The Emoji Movie.*
	* There's also cameos from other Actors 3D and Anaya Animation films, such as the *Marco* characters, Agent Cyberlink, Blob & Matt from *Hotel Cloudylandia,* Panda & Ducky from *Beast Flock,* the *Josh Samuel* heroes, the Toyics, Hailey Caramel & Sloppy Joe from *Food Town,* and the BeachBallHeads.
	* In the meme parade scene, there's even cameos from well-known meme characters such as Willy Wonka, the Success Kid, Grumpy Cat, Scumbag Steve, Harambe, Philip J. Fry, Nigel Thornberry, the *SpongeBob SquarePants* characters, The Fairy Oddparents, The Most Interesting Man, Evil Kermit, among others.
15. The emotional moments are still effective just like the ones for the previous film, if not more sentimental than its predecessor: there's lots of heartwarming moments throughout the film, two good examples would be at the beginning when Joseph protects Granny's hatchlings and the ending scene in which Luigi & Daisy finally get married, and when Joseph & Min Min start their own love relationship. There's also rather sad moments too, such as the Black Actor's backstory of being the Glitch, the flashback in which Pac-Man lost his love interest Mrs. Pac-Man, and the moments in which Joseph gets lonely while "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen plays in the background. The relationship between Joseph & Min Min is very cute and endearing, and the same goes for Jake & Miranda although theirs might be more funny.
16. Technohat's backstory was also very sad along with some funny moments since he used to always get treated as trash despite him being a nice sympathetic hat, until then Joseph found him by some bench. There's also a fun moment in the Ebay scene where the Actors spout random numbers at some auction.
17. Several great moments in the film that pay homage to Sony Pictures Entertainment:
	* In the meme parade scene, the part where Gene and Hi-5 get booed in front of the audience while throwing rotten tomatoes at them is a nice nod to *The Emoji Movie's* bad average rating score of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes and its meme popularity for being the worst film of 2017, while also being Sony's own response to *The Emoji Movie.*
	* The scene where Joseph does the iconic "What's Up Danger?" scene is excellent and the part after that in which the Spider-Men applaud him and share their Academy Award with Joseph is also excellent, while paying a huge homage to *Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse* for winning Best Animated Feature as the best animated film of 2018.
	* The Ghostbusters scene in which Joseph, Jake, Jay, and Garrett parody the original team while facing Stay-Puff is very amusing yet clever like that of *Marco 4,* and the part where Slimer raids the local Domino's Pizza is also funny as it references the Domino's commercial for the 2016 *Ghostbusters* film.
	* The scene where the Actors and their friends take a tour of the Virtual Jungle references *Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle* as that movie also takes place in a virtual videogame world, and during that scene in which Joseph & Jake play the board game version of Jumanji serves as a great nod to the original 1996 film.
18. The film's references to *King Kong, The Matrix, Blade Runner, Rocky 2, Inception, No Country For Old Men,* and iconic films made by Sony are very well done. There's also a funny in-joke about Donkey Kong being a descendant of King Kong and another one about Lickboot from *Tom & Jerry: The Movie* saying his most famous quote when The White Actor says something about money.
19. Spam is a very threatening villain for the film's climax scene who should've been the main antagonist instead of The Black Actor.
20. Just like its predecessors, this film is also somewhat faithful to the source material while still having references to the *Actors* games, especially that of *Actors Go To The Internet,* and the 2013 TV special "Actors Surf The Web" from *The Actors Show.*
21. The film even pokes fun at *The Fuzzi Movie* by having one brief scene dedicated to Jake watching that film and saying it's terrible compared to the *Actors* movies.

## Bad Qualities

1. Although not that much blatant as in *Food Wars* and *The Fuzzi Movie,* the film is overloaded with lots of product placement despite it being used for the film's main concept; and some of the product placement isn't anything related to the Internet, such as Coca-Cola, M&M's, Starbucks, Michael Kors, Target, Calvin Klein, Air Jordan, Mentos, Chase Bank, Toshiba, and Orbit.
2. Still some obnoxious pop culture references: the "shoot" dance, the dabbing, Fortnite, and the "Baby Shark (Pinkfong version)" song only appeared in order to pander younger audiences in which they tried to cash in; and not to mention, they have already become dead trends.
	* The film sometimes rather feels like shameless self-promotion for Sony themselves in order to make excuses about selling Columbia Pictures merchandise such as those of *Spider-Man* and *Charlie's Angels* and shoving too many references to their films.
3. The climax, while epic, could be incredibly stressing to some people due to it making it look that The Black Actor wins while the heroes lose until Donkey Kong & The Mighty Eagle arrived.
4. Jay's subplot feels a bit rushed in favor of the main story, despite it having to do something with the plot.
5. The White Actor/Black Actor, compared to Adolf Hitler from the previous film, is a somewhat weak twist villain who doesn't have any reason why he wants to sabotage the arcade worlds other than doing it for his own sake; however, his motives for getting rid of the Internet are very understandable since he got manipulated by J.P Lickboot to delete several online worlds for the latter's clickbait advertising campaign being ignored. Although his backstory was sad and Benedict Cumberbatch did a superb job voicing him, The White Actor's twist moment was very forced and predictable since one can easily assume that J.P Lickboot isn't the actual villain, yet he isn't that much of an intimidating if memorable villain compared to Hitler.
6. Some mediocre attempts at humor, one example being Jake "peeing" water out of his mouth at the Fountain Of Wealth and another one being Jake & Snake watching a ladies' magazine in which they point out old women wearing bikinis. There's even some meme humor that could get easily beaten to the ground.
7. Some unlikable characters, such as J.P Lickboot and Mayor Netcheck.
8. It could get mildly boring at times.

## Reception

### Critical reception

Like its predecessor, the film was met with positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 135 reviews, with an average score of 8.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "*Actors 2* takes its predecessor to the next level with a funny, heartfelt story about friendship at today's modern digital world" On Metacritic, the film was given a score of 77 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, down from its predecessor's "A+"

### Box office

*Actors 2* grossed a worldwide total of $964 million over a $180 million budget, making it the 2nd highest-grossing Marcanese animated film of 2019 (only behind Super Smash Bros: The Movie), the sixth highest-grossing Actors 3D film, and the 3rd highest-grossing animated film based on a videogame of all time. The film was released along with *Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, A Score To Settle,* and *The Operative,* finishing #2 at the box office.

## Trivia

* The film was based on the 2013 TV special "Actors Surf The Web" from *The Actors Show.*
* The film served as Sony's apology to *The Fuzzi Movie*; it also serves as another apology to *The Emoji Movie* and a parody of Disney's *Ralph Breaks The Internet.*
* J.P Lickboot is inspired by Lickboot from *Tom & Jerry: The Movie* and American financer J.P Morgan.
* The White Actor and The Black Actor originally appeared in the present day *Actors* games since *Actors: Black & White* in 2011.
* Technohat would also make an appearance in the live action/2D hybrid Anaya Animation film *Reflection* in 2021.
* This film spawned more memes than its predecessors.