While I haven't seen the first and third parts of the franchise, this second one is really enjoyable, different but not worse than the original "Love Actually." As a heartwarming family movie for the Russian New Year's eve (which looks like Christmas for the rest of the world) this lacks the relative seriousness and grittiness of many Russian comedies and you can expect lots of unrealistic details like big, well-lit and professionally decorated apartments, humane and sympathetic Russian policemen and so on; also very few alcohol is consumed and the language is child-friendly, even on a falling plane.
The stories are not so much about finding new love as about big gestures of forgiveness in old relationships. One of the "new love" threads about a glamorous (if aging) pop star falling to a young cadet is the most unbelievable one and the other about two ski-enthusiast Siberian youngsters is downright annoying. But the main thread about the pilot and his old love who are already a legend as well as living persons and the one about the divorced father sneaking back to his daughter in the costume of the (Santa Claus-like) Father Frost are something to remember, with genuine-looking emotions and very likable characters. The rich little girl, smart and rather precocious and really naive at the same time, shows superb acting skills. But the funniest is the story of the amnesiac executive trying to find his old home, with well-working crazy situations and the acting of Svetlakov (as a street-smart country guy for the first time in the big city) who is clearly the best in the whole movie.
The stories are not so much about finding new love as about big gestures of forgiveness in old relationships. One of the "new love" threads about a glamorous (if aging) pop star falling to a young cadet is the most unbelievable one and the other about two ski-enthusiast Siberian youngsters is downright annoying. But the main thread about the pilot and his old love who are already a legend as well as living persons and the one about the divorced father sneaking back to his daughter in the costume of the (Santa Claus-like) Father Frost are something to remember, with genuine-looking emotions and very likable characters. The rich little girl, smart and rather precocious and really naive at the same time, shows superb acting skills. But the funniest is the story of the amnesiac executive trying to find his old home, with well-working crazy situations and the acting of Svetlakov (as a street-smart country guy for the first time in the big city) who is clearly the best in the whole movie.
