FernGully II: The Magical Rescue [G]

After Hexxus was defeated Crysta, Pips, and the rest of FernGully was sure they’d seen the last of humans. But then a pair of poachers come into the forest and capture a load of baby animals, which they hope to sell. The forest is devastated and Pips, eager for a little adventure, volunteers to go to the human world and rescue the poor critters. With the help of Batty and the Beetle Boys he sets off on the rescue mission, but will the wonders of the human world and Pip’s own lust for adventure distract him from becoming the hero? 

I’m of the opinion, the relatively strong opinion, that there shouldn’t be a second FernGully on principle. The first one was brilliant and one of my all-time favourite movies from my childhood and I just don’t see why they had to go spoil a perfectly good thing by making a sequel. No one from the first movie reprises their roles so the voices are all different and weird, particularly those of the baby animals when singing in the film’s only musical number (which was pretty pointless, just saying) and at the end of the day this movie just feels like a cheap by-product of something that was really good. 

After Hexxus was defeated Crysta, Pips, and the rest of FernGully was sure they’d seen the last of humans. But then a pair of poachers come into the forest and capture a load of baby animals, which they hope to sell. The forest is devastated and Pips, eager for a little adventure, volunteers to go to the human world and rescue the poor critters. With the help of Batty and the Beetle Boys he sets off on the rescue mission, but will the wonders of the human world and Pip’s own lust for adventure distract him from becoming the hero? 

I don’t know whether it was the very pretty and moving soundtrack that made me tear up at the end of this or the fact that I’ve been doing nothing but watching movies and writing reviews all day, but even though I don’t think this movie should be in existence, it still invoked an emotional response from me at the end. But what is there to say about this film? As a kids’ film it’s fine. There’s a good strong moral story, lots of cute critters, and a good blend of characters that bring drama, romance, bravery, and comedy into the mix. 

The script is pretty good, particularly that of Batty’s but of course that could be because it was either improvised by a Robin Williams advocate or the writers just wanted to make it as Williams-esque as possible. I mean that was half the fun of the first one wasn’t it? Batty was one of the best characters and Robin Williams with that fantastic flare for vocal work was just perfecto. Quotes such as “human’s don’t have tails they have big bottoms that they wear with bad shorts, they walk around going “Hi Helen”” still make their way in my everyday vocabulary believe it or not. Either way, the script for this movie is relatively good and the animation is just as fine as any other Don Bluth or Disney film. 

Featuring the voice talents of Erik Bergman, Connie Champagne, Holly Conner, Laura Erlich, Harry Joseph, Gary Martin, Matt K. Miller, and Digory Oaks, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue is a fine kiddie movie filled with lovable characters, adventure, and comedy. It’s nowhere near as good as the first movie, but it’s not a bad film either.