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Wayne's World 2
review by Zach B.
Rated PG-13
Studio: Paramount
Running Time: 94 minutes
Starring Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere,
Christopher Walken, Ralph Brown
Written by Mike Meyers and Bonnie Turner & Terry
Turner
Based on the characters created by Mike Meyers
Directed by Stephen Surjik
Retail Price: $24.99
Features: Audio Commentary with Director Stephen
Surjik, Cast & Crew Interviews
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby Digital
English 5.1, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround,
English Closed Captions, English Subtitles, Chapter Search
(21 Chapters)
Released: July 10th, 2001
Also part of Wayne's World 1 & 2: The Complete Epic
A Saturday Night Live movie sequel? Uh-oh. That can't be
good. But it's "Wayne's World", so it can't be that bad...
can it? I mean, the first film was really good (and I still
think it's the best SNL film) so a sequel can't be THAT
bad... and it isn't. I think it's still five times better
then a lot of other SNL movies out there. And how could
there not be a sequel? The first film was incredibly
successful (and all the other SNL films have pretty much
bombed - not counting "The Blues Brothers" again) so a
sequel seemed likely. And within less then two years of the
first, "Wayne's World 2" debuted during December 1993.
The story this time has Wayne seeing a vision... a vision
that involves Jim Morrison telling him to put on a concert
(and when Garth's "Sports Illustrated" stuff is going to
come). The concert's name? "Waynestock". From there, the
film has Wayne trying to get the concert together, him
winning Cassandra back and Garth falling in love.
I enjoyed "Wayne's World 2", but not as much as the
first. Yes, it's a funny movie with a lot of inspired
scenes, but it feels a bit different from the first one.
While the original was a nice extension of the sketch, this
one doesn't feel like an extension at all and not as true to
the actual sketch. I'm surprised, considering Meyers and the
Turners retrurned to write the sequel. Perhaps it's because
Wayned moved out of his parents house? That it doesn't focus
on the actual so much? I don't know, it seems like the stuff
the characters would get into, but at the same time just a
tiny bit out of place.
It's not all bad, I really did like the movie. There are
a lot of funny new jokes this time around, but I didn't
laugh as hard most of the time. While it doesn't stay as
true to the original sketches, it does have returning things
from the original, such as some characters and references
which I was glad to see.
The acting in the film is quite good. Tia Carrere as
Cassandra has a bigger role this time around, while Mike
Meyers and Dana Carvey have excellent chemistry as Wayne and
Garth. And yes, Christopher Walken himself is in this film
as Bobby, Cassandra's producer. Anything with Walken is fine
with me, though I felt he sort of underplayed his role. Kim
Basinger also has a small role as one of Garth's love
interests.
Still, some of the film is pretty pointless. I was
disappointed to see that Wayne hardly talked directly to the
camera in this one (and Garth didn't at all), and the film's
tacked on morals at the end seem a bit weird. Garth getting
a love interest is a good idea, but it could have been
expanded on more. Still, it's a good and fun film. While it
may not be the original, it's fine for what it is.
I was a bit disappointed with the transfer for "Wayne's
World 2", but it's still good nonthenless. The image
features a decent amount of grain at points, which I found a
little bit distracting. Shimmering and some edge enhancment
are present, and sometimes specks or blemishes appear but
those aren't distracting. The film is presented in 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen and in the end, looks pretty sharp.
"Wayne's World 2" has also been re-mixed into 5.1 like
the original, and it sounds pretty spectacular. The
surrounds come from the music oritented scenes, but I felt
the scenes that had the most punch were the "Jurassic Park"
parody and dubbed fight scene. Dialogue is crisp and clean
and nothing gets in its way. Overall, like the original, it
is pretty impressive for what it is. English and French
Dolby Surround tracks are included, and you get English
subtitles and English closed captions.
"Wayne's World 2" has a Audio Commentary with Director
Stephen Surjik. Surjik sounds a bit neurotic and is
pretty relaxed. He's pretty talkative too and gives some
interesting insights about making the film and certain
elements. Surjik is mainly a TV director and did a pretty
good job directing the film. It's not the best track and
it's not incredibly technical, but he has some good bits of
info. Though sometimes he does drag things out which I found
annoying.
And the only other feature is Extreme Close-Up,
with another new batch of interviews. This also has some
clips from the film and in full frame. Once again, Paramount
includes subtitles for their supplements (woohoo!). Meyers,
Michaels, Carvey, Carrere and Surjik sit down for
interviews. They all basically go on making the sequel, why
it came to be (success of the first one) and how things went
between all of them. It's pretty interesting and lasts a
mere fourteen minutes.
Like the first film, there also some creative menus like
watching a television listing channel with clips from other
Paramount stuff you can watch. Still, the theatrical
trailers are not to be found on the disc, thought when you
start up the main menu you see some of one of them. Hmm...
"Wayne's World 2" may not live up to the original, but
it's still really enjoyable. Paramount has delivered a fine
presentation for the film as well as some good extras. Party
on again, DVD fans...
 (4/5 - NOT included in
final score)
(4/5)
(4/5)
 (1.5/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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