Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble (2012)

The real charm of the first Niko movie was the weasel character that with irreverent lines made the somewhat soppy story enjoyable. I especially liked the weasel's song and dance routine.The sequel, unfortunately, as sequels tend to go, reduces on the charm and increases on the cheese.Still, for parents with children, especially those from a broken home, this is not a despicable movie. The characters are on the most part likable and their motives understandable.Still, I would advise viewers to watch the first instalment first, before engaging with this one, since it explains much of the needed backstory, including the mesmerising weasel performance.

As said in my review for the predecessor 'The Flight Before Christmas' (which to me was surprisingly enjoyable), love Christmas films, and Christmas is my favourite time of year. Am also a fan of animation, always have been since 2 years old getting into the Disney classics and always will be. So would see anything that are a mix of both, especially when this mix has seen films and specials that are good to classic (notably the best of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials).Its sequel 'The Magic Reindeer' (the UK title) isn't quite as good, rated them about the same but 'The Flight Before Christmas' gets the slight edge, but comes close. There is nothing here that will blow the mind, but it is an easily likable watch and passes the time effectively. Like 'The Flight Before Christmas', 'The Magic Reindeer' is not perfect, not many films are in retrospect, but to me as a family film it ticks most of the right boxes with room for improvement.'The Magic Reindeer's' weak point is the story, that it's standard again is not quite as forgivable this time, 'The Flight Before Christmas' felt much fresher and livelier in pace whereas there were parts where this felt tired.Some of the dialogue again lacks natural flow and cheesy and there are oddities in the translation.However, the animation is great and actually more even in quality than the previous film with the characters looking better and more consistent quality-wise. It's very lavishly coloured and most of the characters are drawn well particularly the reindeer. Where it scores most highly is in the meticulously imaginative and colourful backgrounds and the attention to detail for the little things as well as the big effects. Another improvement, while still not spectacular, is the voice acting which is hardly amateurish.Music once more has liveliness, atmosphere and nuance, and the film again is successful in appealing to all ages, children and adults alike. The former will lap up the amusing and innocent humour, the cute characters, the easy to relate to themes the film teaches, the exciting adventurous elements and the quirkiness. The latter will be surprised again at the more mature (though not as much as the previous film and may actually may be more to people's tastes) content that appeals to them and how mostly well handled it's done, it's not disturbing or overdone and doesn't feel misplaced or like the film didn't know what it wanted to be or who to aim it at.Parts that are more mature in nature may go over children's heads but they have enough to enjoy anyway elsewhere so it shouldn't be a problem. Meanwhile adults will like its cuteness, charm, the family and friendship values (not new but universal, relevant and important) and how sincerely and not patronisingly they're delivered and the universal message, as well as seeing how children are enjoying it. Things are kept simple but with respect. There are dark tense scenes that are likely to scare the very young, but there is nothing traumatising, most viewers will take these scenes well though me thinks.Characters, with charming heroes, funny sidekicks, threatening but never too scary villains and a lovingly neutered family, are easy to warm to (although Niko learnt from his mistakes better before). One will relate to the main character's story (another aspect that both children and adults will like), the action excites and while the pace could have been brisker it's not dull either.Overall, fun and charming sequel, that goes with the first well even though not quite as good, if lacking originality and magic. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This has recently been on SKY movies in the UK under the name 'The Magic Reindeer'. It follows a young reindeer who is searching for his brother who has been kidnapped. It's a fairly standard tale but is illuminated by some good characters and some gorgeous animation. Unlike many animated tales we are thankfully spared any really annoying characters. There are some genuinely funny moments to go with the usual animated adventure. Rather surprisingly for an animation it does cover the issue of parent separation which I found a bit strange in a children's film, however I don't necessarily think this is a bad idea. I really enjoyed this film and more importantly so did my children who are after all the target audience. An animated film that deserves a wider audience.

I quite liked the first Niko movie. It had decent animation, great characters, original idea and a storyline that managed to keep me invested and then some. I've seen it once or twice since and solidified my opinion: it's more than decent Christmas movie, not a classic, but still enjoyable and kid-friendly. I'd happily recommend it to all families.And then there's the sequel, which follows the traditional way of offering more of the same, sans the novelty. In this case Niko is once again being forced to play the rule of a headstrong child with short temper and no patience whatsoever. It's a common cliché that the main character in a sequel seems to have learned nothing from his previous adventure, and this is true here as well, which is immensely aggravating. And when the storyline pretty much mirrors the previous film, this film can pretty much kiss goodbye to being as good as the original.Luckily the film makers got a few things right. I complain about Niko having learnt nothing, but there's the mitigating factor that he's still a kid, so he still has lots of learning to do. He should have learnt at least something, though. The rest of the cast though remains pretty much the same. They're not amazing, but they're solid. The same with animation. Nothing groundbreaking, but it looks good, though a bit uneven, as numerous studios were involved in the process, so the quality wavers a bit from time to time.The biggest problem is the story. It's just not as good as the first one, mostly because they tried to recycle the same plot, but with different enemies, which rarely works. There's a subplot concerning Niko's new stepbrother, but it's also very tired and clichéd. Not horrible, per se, but not very good either. You can pretty much guess how it'll go from the first minute of it.So that's this film. It's nothing spectacular, if anything it's a bit below average, but it's harmless fun and it's not going to hurt or upset your kids. It's over an hour's worth of semi-decent family entertainment. If you can, watch the first one, as it is much better, but this will do in a pinch.