Life in FernGully, a 1,000-year-old rainforest, is idyllic for the woodland animals and two fairies named Crysta and Pips. Still, Pips longs to see the world beyond the forest. When two human poachers steal three baby anim... more »als under Crysta's care, Pips is quick to declare his intention to travel to "town" and rescue the stolen animals. A bat (appropriately named Batty) offers much doom-and-gloom advice against the trip, but eventually Pips and his band of Beetle Boys head to town with Batty in the lead. Crysta soon finds the poacher's abandoned dog and follows her friends to town in the hopes of returning the dog to his home. The group's first glimpses of town show a grimy dump and a sewer pipe dumping refuse into a local body of water. A carnival changes their perspective, offers a chance meeting with a young clown-in-training named Budgie, and distracts the group from their mission. Batty and the youngest Beetle Boy eventually locate the stolen animals, and, with help from the rest of the group, battle the evil poachers to win the animals' freedom. This 73-minute, animated musical is entertaining but somewhat lacking in excitement and drive. The film also lacks Robin Williams, who voiced Batty in the first film. The film's message comes across crystal clear--uncaring humans are destroying the rainforests without regard for the larger consequences of their actions. (Ages 3 to 8) --Tami Horiuchi« less
Genres:Kids & Family Sub-Genres:Animation Studio:20th Century Fox Format:DVD - Color - Animated DVD Release Date: 02/19/2002 Original Release Date: 01/01/1997 Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/1997 Release Year: 2002 Run Time: 1hr 20min Screens: Color Number of Discs: 1 SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 2 MPAA Rating: G (General Audience) Languages:English See Also:
"This movie sounded great to me and because I liked the first movie so much, I decided to check it out. The second movie is REALLY BAD! It doesn't even look like the sequal to Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. I only reccommend this movie to younger kids who would probably really like it, but the second movie is HORRIBLE!!"
Kids liked it, I was not impressed.
Dragonfly | Lakewood, OH USA | 09/14/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Although I LOVED the first Ferngulley, this one was pretty sorry. I don't think that any of the actors from the original worked on this movie. The guy that they got to take over for Robin Williams as Batty Koda sounds like a really bad impressionist. The kids loved the story in this one - the fairies trying to save poached baby animals, but I thought the story was weak. Whenever they watch it, I make sure to leave the room!"
An insult to the original
Gregory Bartz | San Jose, CA | 09/17/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Why do excellent movies like Ferngully and The Land Before Time get such half-baked direct-to-video sequels? The depth, complexity, and offbeat spirituality of the first movie are all painfully absent from this godawful piece of garbage, as is Robin Williams' voice talent."
Amateur effort with redeeming qualities
Christa Hill | Paris France | 09/15/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"The idea is good, but the charm is missing. Mediocre animation, decent plot but poorly carried out, actors that sound like they're reading the script (a badly written script...). For most people involved in its making, their movie experience is extremely limited--in several cases (especially with the actors), this is the only film in their experience at all. In short, not a true sequel to the original. But they get an E for effort, with a few highlights with creative ideas of what happens to little fairies when they get mesmerized by the world of a human carnival and forget about their true mission in life: to protect living creatures. It is a clean film which promotes good values and has nothing inappropriate for young viewers. Songs are so-so, even if they might be a bit catchy in tune. This has some entertainment value for the 3-6 age range, but anyone older than that will be quickly bored."
Interesting to say the least
L. Pellerin | 04/17/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Ferngully 2 is an insult to the original, however I am being generous in giving it three stars because it is a good family film. I'm sure little kids will love the furry little animals that it seems to revolve around, and it has some good morals for your kids about believing in yourself and helping those in need...if that's all you look for when buying your movies.
I have many gripes about this movie, and I'm not sure where to begin. If you have seen and cherish the first movie, well, it's nice to see our two beloved characters, Crysta and Pips, return to the screen, right? Well, if you loved Pips, you're in for a treat. He gets plenty of screen time. As for Crysta? She seems to play second fiddle to everything else, and we actually don't see her much. Mostly we see the furry critters stuck in cages and their attempts to flee or be freed by others. It's no longer about the fairies and the trees and plants in the rain forest, it's about poaching. 90% of this movie takes place outside of the rain forest, which is a shame really, because that was part of the beauty of the first film. The poaching bit also reminded me a lot of another movie's plot...oh what was it...maybe The Rescuers: Down Under? (which btw is a high-quality, five-stars film, I highly recommend) Ferngully 2 was very much a re-hash of that film, which gave me a headache because Ferngully 2 offered nothing new on the take of evil-poacher-traps-the-cute-animals-who-creatively-try-to-escape (this theme is fantastic in Rescuers, not at all in Ferngully 2).
Surprisingly, I have no complaints about the animation...wait, I take that back. It is fluid, yes, and is not all that lacking in quality, but lacks terribly in consistency! If you're a kid, you probably won't notice this, but compared to the beauty of the first film, this is awful! Batty will have large mitten hands at times (and looks generally strange/awkward compared to his sleek design in the first film), Goanna is incredibly huge compared to his former self (and OOC), the fairies...their size is always varying, which annoys me.
Music isn't terribly bad (surprise?), but doesn't hold a candle to the catchy tunes from the first movie such as Toxic Love and Dream Worth Keeping.
All in all, if you pretend this movie has nothing to do with the first and judge it on its own, it's not that bad. It's a great family/kids film. However, I'd like to add to that the fact that the theme of the movie is almost identical to The Rescuers: Down Under, and I would whole-heartedly recommend that movie over this one. Keep the first Ferngully close to your heart and save yourself the headache of this one."