FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue (1998 Video) User Reviews

Very little magic in this sequel, I am afraid to say

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 25 September 2009]

The original FernGully is one of my all time favourites, it is funny, beautifully animated, moving and even scary in places. Not to mention underrated. In fact, its only problem was that it was too short. However, the sequel, while I didn't think was as awful as the cheap and unnecessary Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue, was very disappointing. It had a nice idea but just didn't work.

There are a couple of redeeming qualities. One was that the music, while nowhere near as good as the original's music(that score is beautiful), was not so bad. Whether it is memorable though that's the thing. Second was that it does have a nice message. Third, the baby animals and Budgie are very sweet and cute.

Sadly, that's where the redeeming qualities end. I will warn you I will be comparing a bit here. This sequel did have some very cheesy moments, and lacked the magic of the first film. One of my first problems was the animation. The original FernGully's animation was colourful, fluid and solid. Here it was rather dull and tacky, plus the colours looked much flatter than they should have done. Also in the original, FernGully itself had a sense of wonder, and it was like a Fairytopia, but I didn't get that here. FernGully seemed rather... how do I put it simply, ordinary I suppose. The writing was also nothing to write home about, and even with the presence of Batty, the whole adventure suffered from a lack of laughs.

The villains were rather lame, compared to the terrifying Hexxus. Hexxus gave me nightmares when I first saw the original at 9 years old, and it was not only how he was animated, but also Tim Curry's (a very talented and underrated actor) imperiously chilling vocal performance. Sadly, the villains, poachers here, weren't at all threatening, and even worse, they were poorly drawn, and most of their dialogue is unbelievably bad. The story admittedly was a nice idea, if only it didn't take such a long time to get going. There are a number of long, drawn out and even pointless scenes, giving the film an uneven sense of pulse.

The characters weren't as likable as they were in the first movie, and I did think overall the voice acting was poor. Crysta has lost her spunk, determination and even vivacity here. And in the sequel, most of it was about Pips, seeing that Crytsta is such a great character, there should have been more of her and she should've gone on the rescue mission too. I am wondering, whether the filmmakers were the same as the original, I would be surprised if so, seeing how much it deviates from the original. And although Zak isn't in this sequel, seeing as his and Crysta's relationship was one of the original's main focuses, I was saddened that Crysta appears to have completely forgotten about him. The character I had the biggest problem with though was Batty. First of all, I hated how he was animated. Secondly, Robin Williams actually made the first movie, he was absolutely hilarious and his humour effortless. However, I didn't like the new voice actor at all, he lacked the hilarity and vibrancy of Williams, and I found him rather loud and abrasive too. It certainly didn't help with the dialogue he was given, how lame was it? Very!

All in all, a hugely disappointing sequel, with very little of the magic of the beautiful original. I almost forgot to mention the ending, it wasn't as powerful or even poignant as the one in the first one. Kids may like it, but fans of the original and adults are guaranteed to be disappointed. 3/10 Bethany Cox

one of the worst sequels ever

[toren_chez · 1/10 · 16 January 2006]

when we watched fern gully as a kid we fell in love and watched it at least 20 times, a few years later i rented this movie and didn't bother to finish watching after 15 mins. Watching them both years later i still love ferngully but ferngully 2 may as well have been made by monkeys. It has no quality music, no memorable moments, sure it has magic but it's meaningless, there's no deeper meaning, they didn't have robin Williams and the voices are horrible. The only good thing in this film is about saving wildlife from poachers but the way that they went about it...i expect this kind of stuff from crappy TV series, not sequels based on a truly great film

regards, Reaper

It didn't work

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 2/10 · 8 September 2007]

Ferngully is one of my favorite animated films of all time, I loved watching it while I was growing up, it had great animation, wonderful characters, funny moments, terrific songs, and a touching message. It was such a great movie for kids and I admit that I still watch it to this day. So I figured I would check out the sequel and see if it would be anything like the first Ferngully. Well, it's not just the mismatched voices that disturbed me, but it seemed like this was supposed to be like the TV cartoon that never got lifted off the ground. The story wasn't bad, but without the same voices, it was a bit distracting, and the new characters didn't have the same charm as the first Ferngully. For the kids, at least under age 7, this film would work for them, but for me, it doesn't.

Crysta and her friends are back, Pips is having a bit of a problem excepting his life. He's finding the forest to be a bit boring. But when two evil men come into the forest, they kidnap the baby animals and accidentally burn the forest down. Crysta, Pips, and Batty wanna help restore the forest, Crysta stays home to create her magic while Batty and Pips go to the town to save the baby animals. There Pips meets a pre-teen girl, Twig, and she helps him out to save the baby animals.

FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue isn't really worth the watch, for the kids, yeah, but for those adults who enjoyed the first one, there's no point to it. I think this was just an attempt for the TV cartoon, there were just certain elements that reminded me of the Disney spin off's on TV. But for the kids I would recommend this film, otherwise, just do yourself a favor, save yourself the money or rental. I wish I did, I was hoping for a fun sequel, instead I got Velveeta cheese.

2/10

Another brainless sequel

[raimeis · 7 April 2003]

I really liked the first FernGully. It was funny and got you to think. And Robin Williams is just great. Don't expect any of that in the sequel. They attempt it, but fail miserably. There were only a couple of ok parts. The rest, terrible. For example, Pips, who in the last one was haughty and snide, sings a song about how fun roller coasters are. Batty for some reason has no wires in his head. They mutilate all the characters like this. I'd suggest you rent it before you buy.

Yeah, it's that bad

[Avwillfan89 · 1/10 · 27 September 2014]

Let me first start by saying that I am a huge fan of the first movie, The Last Rainforest: with its intriguing animation, original beautiful storyline with the strong themes of environmentalism and deforestation. The characters were splendid and fresh, and the villain Hexuss, played by Tim Curry, absolutely terrified me as a child.

So watching this movie felt like someone was attempting to butcher it beyond recognition.

The first of the many things I saw wrong with this film is the animation. It's cheap, flat and uninteresting. There is no plot, so to speak of. A few hunters kidnap baby animals (who are not even that cute or worth feeling too sorry for) and the residents of Ferngully have to go and rescue them.

All the actors from the original film have been replaced by less professional voice actors. The characters are simply cardboard cut outs of the original. Crysta seems to have completely forgotten about Zak, their relationship being the core center of the first film, and Pips is complaining about nothing.

But the worst change is Batty. Voiced by Robin Williams in the first, the newly voiced Batty in this sequel is just loud and abrasive. For some unknown reason, his head antenna is missing, he has hands instead claws and automatically overcomes his fear of humans to cheer the animals up when they are locked away. And the villains are just the most awful creations ever. They are the repeated stereotypical human hunters who view animals as nothing more than object to be killed and sold over for money, with horribly bad dialogue and silly laughs.

Avoid at all costs.

poor quality

[Shiva20 · 2/10 · 5 September 2010]

This movie disappointed me a lot. I loved the first part a lot so was looking forward to watching this movie. But i think the quality of this movie is poor. The drawings of part 1 are bright and nice, in this movie even the wings look crappy and the glowy tail you see when they fly looks horrible.

For me i watched it in my own language (dutch) I hated that there where other people for the same characters and the pronunciation of names is all wrong. Because i love Batty. But they suddenly call him Baddie. Also the storyline isn't as interesting as the first.

So this movie get a 2. Because it is so much worse then part 1.

Perhaps the worst sequel I have ever seen!

[Boba_Fett1138 · 2/10 · 29 April 2012]

Talking about a movie that does pretty much everything wrong! Please meet "FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue"! Perhaps the absolute worst sequel of all time!

Really, there just are no redeeming qualities about this movie. The only reason why I won't give it a 1 rating is because it still has some decent animation. So out of respect for the hard working animators, I'm giving this movie an extra point but that's about as kind as I can get for this movie.

In all honesty, it still starts off OK enough. Nothing too special but it at least seemed like it was going to have a decent enough story in it. The movie however very rapidly starts to get worse and the final 30 minutes of this movie are just totally unwatchable!

The first movie already of course had an environmental message in it but this movie goes completely overboard, with its cuddly animals and its message that is too thick on top. It's incredibly annoying and I just can't see how anyone could ever enjoy this movie, not even little kids. But the worst thing about the story remains that it's completely going nowhere, after a while. It gets sidetracked and doesn't ever get back on track on time again.

The movie also features some of the absolute worst voice acting I have ever heard in an animated movie! If you are a person who thinks that it doesn't really matter who voices an animated character, you should really watch this movie! Afterward you will realize how important right casting- but also acting skills are, for a voice actor. It might have been possible that the voice actors had to do their lines, before the movie was even finished, so they had nothing to work with yet. It surely does sound that way, since the voices aren't really always corresponding with what is going on the screen and the characters don't interact very well or naturally with each other.

It's also weird to hear all of the the characters from the first movie getting voiced by some completely different people in this sequel, who don't sound at all like the original actors. This is especially notable for the Batty character, who in the first movie got voiced by THE Robin Williams.

Also the songs in this movie are some of the absolute worst ones you will ever hear! Why do animated movies actually so often feel the need to have songs in it anyway? There is no good reason for the songs to be in this movie and it's only distracting and annoying, also because it's so absolutely horrendous to listen to.

The movie gets all the more worse to watch, when it also decides to be cuddly cute. It's just too sugarcoated all and terribly forced. It makes you mad to watch, instead of warm and mellow.

Believe me, this movie is even worse than I'm making it sound already!

2/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Ferngully 2 =(

[helldragonfire · 1/10 · 12 May 2015]

How could you ruin the beauty of which the movie first started off as. There's non of that magic that part 1 had. This was my childhood ruined. Non of the love in the last movie continued on to this one. I would love to see a part 3 where they redeem them selves.

In the first movie batty was goofier and lost his antenna? He also has human hands? what why and sadly Robin Williams fit the part just well. Pips changed totally, he acts like the hero instead of the cocky type of guy we used to know in the past.

The graphics, what happened?!? You would improve them from one movie to another. Some how they just degraded!

I Liked It

[craigneubauer · 10/10 · 29 March 2013]

It mite be different from the 1st but isn't that the point of movie series, i am a fan of movies, i liked the story line where Pips & his gang go into town 2 rescue the babies stolen from the forest, it gives u some new elements, it has all the characters from the 1st just different voice actors, the only thing i didn't like was Robin Williams didn't voice batty in this movie, that's something i want 2 c Robin Williams, the town fair always makes me laugh when they land in the cow pies, it's a good movie the only thing it lacks is the original voice cast, but otherwise great movie, great story line, if you like the 1st movie give this 1 a chance i know that it's not movies likes Hangover 2, or Taken 2, or Transformers 3 dark of the moon, but you can't get everything you want in life Laura Erlich as Crysta Digory Oaks as Pips Erik Bergmann as Stump and Captain Connie Champagne as Budgie Holly Conner as Nugget, Bandy, Mrs. K, and additional voices Harry Joseph as Boss Gary Martin as Mac Matt K. Miller as Batty Westin Peace as Mr. Chuckles David Rasner as Boof and Slasher Phil Robinson as Father J.F. Rockstar as Twig K.T. Vogt as Bark and Wal

Missing elements from the first ferngully

[metalstrix · 2/10 · 16 June 2012]

It's been more than a decade since this movie was made, but for the 90s kids who are considering watching Ferngully 2, to be honest... don't expect too much. I read previous reviews before I watched it and they did say that Ferngully 2 was no where near as good as the first one. But being unbiased as most movie reviews are, I watched it for myself and this was my opinion about it.

Ferngully 1 was about all the elements of magic, story telling, eerieness and an amazing message & lesson. It was also very funny at times and very touching. With the use of a 90s symphony orchestra, it really got to people like myself. The music was memorable and you did have that empathic feel for the forest because of the story that was being told. Personally with these elements combined like the first one, it made me cry. An example is when the Fairies gained the spirits of the trees and turned them blue. That's what I loved about the first one. How it impacts you in multiple ways and it never left us when we were growing up. It was sooo full of adventure and we're "discovering" a new world of the rainforest whether it was on land or in water. It reminded us of how much we should appreciate animals and the forest.

My first impression about Ferngully 2 was it's VERY different. The first Ferngully was for not only kids, but also for adults as well. I felt that number 2 was specifically for 3 year olds or something. So throughout the movie I was thinking that I was a 3 year old kid watching the movie. I wanted to watch it for the storyline to see if it was a continuation of a threat to the forest but it's not.

The storyline was not actually based on Ferngully. It's about Ferngully in the first 1/4 of the movie and then later on, it's nothing to do with Ferngully and that was the disappointing part. The storyline needed another huge threat to the forest and the fairies needed to find a way to stop it. Even better, I would've love to see Zack come back or something share the human culture. But because it wasn't based on the forest, my interest in the movie went down and down as I watched it. I started playing my Xbox 360 towards the end.

As mentioned in a previous review, there are new voices. The original cast like Samantha Mathis who does Crista and Robin Williams who did batty. They're all gone and there are new voices for each character. Unfortunately, they were no where near as good as the original cast. I agree with another review that the change of cast was really distracting throughout the movie.

I think it's silly that the director actually thought that he would succeed with this movie by getting a new cast. When a movie has a sequel, it needs to have the same voices. It's like saying, we're going to have Elijah Wood in LOTR in the Fellowship of the Ring and in the Two Towers we're going to have Daniel Radcliff as Frodo. It's not going to work and that's what Ferngully 2 did. The new guy who did Batty sounded almost like Robin Williams, but I would give his voice 6/10 in terms of sounding like the original batty.

This was made in 1998. If I were making the movie, I would contact Robin Williams and the old cast to do the sequel. They would still sound the same after 6 years? Too bad that it's been 20 years and they're all aging and we can't make a better one today.

Remember in the first one that animals didn't have those cartoonish eyes like the Simpsons? The white eyeball with a dot in the middle? Ferngully 2 put those kind of eyes onto the animals in the movie with a bit of eye colour. That totally took away the innocence of the creatures who were in the forest. In the first one, the animals looked like REAL LIFE animals and their eyes were bigger and black. That's what brought the innocence of the animals. But since they have these cartoonish eyes and can even talk, they're not so innocent anymore and as an audience, we know that they're not supposed to do something stupid. This cartoonish eyeball feature brought in the element of a kids movie and I didn't like that at all.

In terms of the music, again, it wasn't as great. It was just simple storytelling music in a kids movie style. It wasn't uplifting and wasn't magical like the first one. It's not even an orchestra. That was very disappointing.

In relation to comedy, I only laughed twice throughout the whole movie. I won't spoil it, but you do see Ralph at some point in the movie and that made me laugh.

There are a few messages in the movie, but they were not implemented in a way that people would remember it. The first one's message is to stop killing our forests but these movie's messages weren't treated seriously but just passing messages.

What I did like about the movie was one of the characters was Australian. His accent was spot on (since I'm Australian) and he was quite funny at times because he's your typical Australian bogan. He was very much like Steve Irwin and he was good.

Overall, I was disappointed with the film and the director should've known that his work wasn't going to succeed. He should've sat down and watched the first one and ask himself "how can I deliver a message that will impact people like the first one did."

I'm really disappointed that out of the 90s movies that came out, this one had to have the terrible sequel.

Magical?

[Alexander_Chance_Browning_II · 28 March 2002]

I really found the first FernGully movie interesting, and liked the idea it got across to young children. Now, the sequel to the hit is about Crysta, of course, and all of her friends. First it's all happy and everything. Everyone in FernGully is having a high-ol'-time. But then something happens...

Two poachers ("Boss" and Mac) come to the woods with two dogs. The two then kidnap the poor baby animals and take them to the circus. On the way out of the forest, they also manage to burn it down. Now, busy with regrowing trees, FernGully puts the fetching of the animals job on the shoulders of Pips and his gang, along with Batty Koda.

Anyways, I was watching this the other night out of boredom, and even laughed some. I think it is a good sequel that lives up to the first FernGully and encourage parents to buy it for their children to add to their movie collection.

Sequelitis

[Ai-Fan · 1/10 · 13 November 2019]

Of course, most sequels aren't as good as the first movie, but Fengully 2 is the worst sequel I've ever seen. Crysta, the most interesting Ferngully-charakter was demoted to extra, Pips became the main person, the songs are cheesy, the villains forgettable and the good humans even more.

Even worse than the first

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 1/10 · 10 November 2014]

The first Ferngully movie was pathetic environmental anti-pollution propaganda, designed to make children hate pollution without knowing both sides to the issue. Still, at least the first one had voice talents like Robin Williams (Batty) and Tim Curry (Hexxus). This 1998 sequel is even worse than the first one! Not only does it still succeed in cramming all that "go green" cr@p in it, but the soundtrack was awful, the characters were horribly drawn and animated, the plot wasn't even complex enough to entertain a four year old and let's face it, how many children really care about animal poaching? Not any I know! I hated the first one, but at least it had decent voice acting, (and Tim Curry's performance of "Toxic Love"). This one doesn't even have Hexxus in it, and the new characters added in are all really dorky. I'd avoid this film if I were you, your kids don't deserve to be subjected to this.

Not so much magical as much as lame.

[ryanward-45039 · 2/10 · 2 May 2022]

Just like almost every animated film from the 90's whether it would be Disney or Don Bluth, there had to be a sequel based off a previous movie, and with the exception of The Rescuers Down Under, every sequel sucked in comparison. And like Rescuers Down Under, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest took place in Australia based on the animals featured in the film which included kangaroos. But unlike Down Under, Ferngully was an original movie and while it was your typical save the environment because humans are to blame story, it had some nice animation, some characters that were interesting and funny, plus you had celebrity voices like Robin Williams and Tim Curry. For the sequel none of that was present, as you have terrible animation, a very out-of-place and tiring storyline and characters that are very bland and not funny. That's what Ferngully 2: The Magical Rescue has and honestly as a kid I have never heard of this sequel since I only thought there was only one Ferngully.

Two poachers kidnap three baby animals from FernGully under Crysta's care. It's up to Pips, Batty and the Beetle Boys to rescue the baby animals and stop the poachers.

And that was Ferngully 2 and I think it's to say that Fetngully cannot grow a franchise.

I mean the first film wasn't that popular enough to make a sequel even if the first film was a success at the box office and it was just doing what Disney was doing at the time and making a sequel to an existing movie that didn't need a sequel. The animation is terrible and some of it looks unfinished, what I mean by that is the colors in this film are very scaled down almost to a grey-ish tone so it looks like Ferngully might be under Hexxus' control under acid rain. The colors in the original were very green and the animation and the backgrounds really fit the environment, here I get that they have a weaker budget, still could have used used some greens and more color, but no they wanted to make this kind of gloomy looking as possible. Also in many shots, the fairies float and not fly and in some shots their wings are not shown while they fly. Animation errors are very common in this movie. The characters in this are either bland or just not as funny like that in the first film and that includes Batty who is very annoying in this. In the original, Robin Williams did a good job, despite not making him as funny as say Genie from Aladdin which was also released the same year as the first one. Here, I just want to grab him and shut his mouth up with Duct tape! Crysta is also not even the focus in this either, instead Pips is the one who has to save the baby animals along with his buddies, The Beetle Boys and Batty, and they also come across a young girl and her father who is also a clown at a carnival. And there are the villains which are these generic poachers, however, they did manage to make them sound Australian since they are in Australia, but they are just so lame. The soundtrack is also kind of forgettable unlike the first film which had a few catchy songs the Batty Rap number. This is one of the most pointless sequels I've ever seen in animation, and honestly it should never had been made.

Avoid this one like the plague and just stick to the first one. That one at least had more effect.

2.5/10.

FernGully2 not recommended but the first movie is very awesome

[Ashley-Golden · 1/10 · 6 August 2021]

Just a crab sequel! Has nothing to do with the first story!! Very bad sequel!!

On par with the original but has its flaws

[Stompgal_87 · 8/10 · 30 November 2013]

I first heard of this film when I read about it in the Wikipedia article about the Nostalgia Critic episodes from 2011 and I watched his review of the film on YouTube. After having watched it, it didn't look as bad as I thought it would be, despite Pips having his wings missing during the flight to the human world and the wings of the other fairies barely moving at one point, which were flaws the Nostalgia Critic pointed out himself. I spent ages wondering how to see this film when earlier on I saw that it had been uploaded onto YouTube so I gave it a go. By the time I'd finished watching it, I was satisfied with it since I found it on par with the original that I saw as a kid but I found the climax overlong.

The animation is decent for the most part with good uses of cel-shading and lip-sync but it is choppy and wobbly in places and has its flaws as I mentioned already. There was a wider variety of backgrounds compared to the first film but the fairground scene had more vibrancy than FernGully. I was also pleased to see additional human characters such as the poachers (the tall one being the most oddly designed with his super-long chin), Budgie (an unusual name for a girl) and her grandfather while the baby animals are adorable. The writing is not quite as smart as that in the original but I still liked the fairies' and bugs' perceptions of the tap water as a river and the light bulb of the lamp as the sun. The musical score is whimsical and the two most memorable songs are the opening number and the one performed by Batty and the baby animals while they are trapped in their crates inside the poachers' warehouse. I was happy that the iguana/lizard-type character didn't sing in this film because his song in the original was tuneless and pointless. As for Batty, he's not quite as funny as he was in the original while Christa and Pips have barely changed since then. The story is just as decent as the animation with a different environmental message from the original but I felt the first scene of the poachers sitting around the campfire didn't go anywhere and the pace was fairly even until the climax, which made this part of the film drag on. Moving onto the voice acting, it was adequate but didn't feature any of the original cast, which is yet another weak point of this film besides its animation flaws and somewhat uneven pace.

Overall this film is on the same level as the original (likewise with the first two 'Home Alone' films and the Disney's 'Cinderella' franchise) despite its errors, overlong climax, scene that went nowhere and none of the original voice cast returning. 8/10.

Ferngully 1 & 2 rule!

[kmariani · 8/10 · 25 September 2005]

i really liked the first version of the movie AND the sequel! sequels are never quite as good as the original, so i don't even take that into account anymore while watching one. to that point, the sequel was right up there with a lot of others i've seen. like other sequels, it had a more involved and complicated plot than the original, but not so much that it was confusing. i thought Crysta's character changed to much; she was too "Now children, let's look both ways before we cross the street" sort of thing.

but other than that, i liked it a lot. the soundtrack was quite good (a few of the songs got stuck in my head for a long time after watching it ^_^), Batty was hilarious, and, being a Pip's fan myself, i loved that his character was more pronounced and featured in this one.

also, i would just like to point out that Pips didn't sing that song about the roller coaster. it was just a song that was put in. i thought he sang it when i first saw it too, but when i watched it again i saw that his lips were never moving when it played. just sayin'.

well, that's all for now. and don't forget; animated movies rock! Chef13

Lots of Magic in FernGully II

[Lbentree2002 · 9/10 · 17 April 2006]

I'm a FernGully fan and found FernGully II to be as, if not more, entertaining and held some deeper character involvement and exposure that i'm certain children "got" but think few "adults" did – there are many feelings adults take for granted and "skip over" that remain unanswered, curious and loved by children - they are always hungry for explanation and that's why I am a big animated movie fan – I also think it's fun and enjoy knowing the why of every little thing - Pips and Chrysta's relationship skirted perfectly, Chrysta matured just enough, and Pips became her and FernGully's hero (with a little help from his friends of course) – I liked the fact that Pips got more attention to date – I found the story delightful, frightening but in a "be aware" sort of way – and even the ecology of the replanting and re-growth of everything was just enough to introduce children to this topic and make them curious – and even the "babies" being taken was an awareness that held a lot of emotion and intrigue for the little ones – Kudos to the writers for better scripting and a general "well done" to all involved – Lots of magic here if you are really listening – OK so we missed Robin - but don't we always and this is about FernGully not him (sorry Robin) -

ok movie

[timcurry-89469 · 31 March 2021]

Wouldn't have been much better if Tim Curry had returned for the voice of hexxus and I think they should a Director's cut of the movie at the end of movie at the end of the movie ad a scene with Tim Curry as hexxus during the final fight with the humans??