SHORT CIRCUIT 2
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1988 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: The sequel to SHORT CIRCUIT is a very
minor film as sequels go. Minor lip-service is paid to the
idea in the first film that Number Five was alive but it is
basically a good guys against crooks film with only one
lesser actor from the first film. There are a few laughs but
hardly enough to recommend the film. Rating: 0.
It would be hypocritical of me to say that SHORT CIRCUIT 2 is a big come-down from SHORT CIRCUIT since, frankly, I was not much of a fan of the first film. Also, I hate to see a sequel be too much like the original, and it true that SHORT CIRCUIT 2 was not much like its predecessor. What it was like was any of dozens of throw-away summer films. The basic plot could have been done as a sequel to anything from THE LOVE BUG to STARMAN with small variations. In fact, with the exception of Ally Sheedy's off-screen voice in one scene, there are only two characters in common with the first film. One is Number Five itself, now mysteriously called by Everyone Johnny Five; the other (I am sorry to report to all Asian Indians) is Ben, the malapropping Indian robotics specialist who is now a toy manufacturer.
Ben is in a major United States city--the script seems to imply it is New York, but you see just about every Toronto landmark except Toronto Tower itself. He makes a deal with a department store that he will make a thousand toy replicas of Number Five in time for Christmas, a deal that gets him involved with small-time thieves and big-time bank robbers. But Number Five is reduced to being just a cute character made out of electronics parts. Whether or not he is alive--the major point of the first film--has little to do with SHORT CIRCUIT 2.
All this is not to say that there were not a few fairly funny jokes in SHORT CIRCUIT 2. I remember laughing more than once at what was happening, but I frankly expect more from a movie than a few good gags. If you think that a dozen or so laughs are worth the price of an admission ticket, be my guest. My recommendation, however, is to wait to rent it or see it on cable. Rate it a flat 0 on the -4 to +4 scale--for the sake of those dozen reasonable gags.
Mark R. Leeper
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