This film tries very hard to top the first one in humor and scope. Some of the jokes work very well and are on the same level as in the original film (the chili condom, the river scene). Volker Bruch's performance as Hauke is brilliant.
However, in my opinion the film falls flat for a variety of reasons. For the most part the kind of humor has changed from a clever mix of stupidity/slapstick/wit/gutter language to two hours of hearing Chantal talk. The reasoning behind this is understandable because the character was one of the highlights of the first film. But this is too much. In contrast, characters which were highlights in the first film only appear in better cameos (e.g. Palaske's Charly) in this film.
The length of the movie is another issue. There are some dramatic elements in the film (the orphans) which in my opinion just don't work and simply drag on the movie. Deleting them would have sped up the film considerably. Another example for something that should have been cut is the last scene with M'Barek in the vending machine. While a similar scene in the first film was a highlight, this scene is just completely redundant.
There were also some technical issues which were distracting. First, the editing of the first minutes is very fast paced which does not fit for what is happening. Then, the score did not fit either for some scenes (e.g. fast paced/"action" music for quieter scenes). And last but not least, the explosion of the boat was one the worst VFX shots I have seen in a long time (in a theatrical film). This almost felt like something from a cheap C-movie.
All in all, I had some laughs, but the film is not on the same level as the first film.
However, in my opinion the film falls flat for a variety of reasons. For the most part the kind of humor has changed from a clever mix of stupidity/slapstick/wit/gutter language to two hours of hearing Chantal talk. The reasoning behind this is understandable because the character was one of the highlights of the first film. But this is too much. In contrast, characters which were highlights in the first film only appear in better cameos (e.g. Palaske's Charly) in this film.
The length of the movie is another issue. There are some dramatic elements in the film (the orphans) which in my opinion just don't work and simply drag on the movie. Deleting them would have sped up the film considerably. Another example for something that should have been cut is the last scene with M'Barek in the vending machine. While a similar scene in the first film was a highlight, this scene is just completely redundant.
There were also some technical issues which were distracting. First, the editing of the first minutes is very fast paced which does not fit for what is happening. Then, the score did not fit either for some scenes (e.g. fast paced/"action" music for quieter scenes). And last but not least, the explosion of the boat was one the worst VFX shots I have seen in a long time (in a theatrical film). This almost felt like something from a cheap C-movie.
All in all, I had some laughs, but the film is not on the same level as the first film.