Monster Family 2 (also known as Monster Family 2: Nobody's Perfect and released as Happy Family 2 in Germany) is a 2021 animated comedy horror film directed and produced by Holger Tappe, and written by David Safier. A sequel to the 2017 film Monster Family, the voice cast includes Emily Watson, Jason Isaacs, Nick Frost, Jessica Brown Findlay, Catherine Tate, Ethan Rouse (all reprising their roles) and Emily Carey.
The film was released via video on demand in the UK as a Sky Cinema Original Film by the Sky Group on 22 October 2021, and was released in US cinemas by VivaKids a week earlier on 15 October.
Contents
Plot
A young girl named Mila, who is part of the Starr family, infiltrates Count Dracula's castle, where the Wishbone family's old nemesis lives, to capture Dracula, who has been frozen by the latter family. The Starr family instructs Mila to capture Baba Yaga on her next mission.
The Wishbone family visits a wedding to witness Yaga and Renfield getting married. Mila arrives and kidnaps both witches. Max, determined to save both witches, uses Yaga's magic amulet to transform his family into monsters, as before. Meanwhile, the Starr family gives Mila a mission to capture Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. The Wishbones reach Loch Ness, but are attacked by Mila, who then manages to capture Nessie. As Mila returns to the surface, Max develops a relationship with Mila, but Mila leaves to go to a snow mountain to capture a yeti. The Wishbones follow Mila to the mountains, but Fay accidentally triggers an avalanche, which knocks Mila onto a cliff, being saved by Max. She then sets out to Tora Tora to capture her final monster.
As the Wishbones reach Tora Tora, a giant gorilla named King Conga suddenly appears. Mila captures the gorilla and takes it back to the lab, where all the monsters are injected into a clone of Mila dubbed Mila 2.0. Her family reveals that Mila is not part of her family, and Mila 2.0 is ordered to eliminate the original Mila. As Mila flees in tears, the Wishbone family arrives, and Mila shares what happened. Mila 2.0 captures the group and takes them to the Starr family. The Wishbones are reverted to their normal forms. Max tries to shrink Mila 2.0 with a shrink gun, but shrinks the Starr family instead, wrecking the headquarters in the process. The Wishbones free the monsters in the ensuing destruction, while Max successfully shrinks Mila 2.0. However, Dracula escapes, swearing revenge, only to be quickly shrunken by Max.
The headquarters begins to collapse, prompting the Wishbones and the monsters to flee. Mila frees Mila 2.0, but Max falls. While Mila rescues him, Mila 2.0 blinds the original Mila, leaving Max to give command to Mila's control. They successfully evade the collapsing headquarters, and they return to the surface. Yaga and Renfield are then successfully married. They then imprison Dracula in a smaller version of his castle, and he enacts revenge against the Wishbones.
Voice cast
Emily Watson as Emma Wishbone, the matriarch of the Wishbone family who is turned into a vampire again.
Nick Frost as Frank Wishbone, the patriarch of the Wishbone family who is turned into Frankenstein's monster again.
Jessica Brown Findlay as Fay Wishbone, the daughter of Emma and Frank who is turned into a mummy again.
Ethan Rouse as Max Wishbone, the son of Emma and Frank who is turned into a werewolf again.
Catherine Tate as Baba Yaga, a witch who is now friends with the Wishbone family.
Jason Isaacs as:
Count Dracula, a vampire and the Wishbone family's old nemesis who seeks revenge on them for foiling his plans even though he is the first monster the Starr family had captured. Although he was the main antagonist in the first film, he is the secondary antagonist in this sequel.
Dracula A.I., the A.I. of the jet that the Wishbone family uses.
Emily Carey as:
Mila Starr, an expert monster hunter.
Mila 2.0
Rebecca Camp as Girl #1
Daniel Ben Zenou as Maddox Starr, a billionaire philanthropist who is the father of Mila and one of the main antagonists in this film.
Emma Tate as:
Marlene Starr, a billionaire philanthropist who is the mother of Mila and one of the main antagonists in this film.
Release
Monster Family 2 was released on October 15, 2021 by VivaKids in the United States, and then on October 22 as a Sky Cinema original by Sky in the United Kingdom. It was later released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 7, 2022 as a 2-movie collection with the original film "Monster Family" by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment).
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 20% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10. Tom Cassidy of Common Sense Media gave Monster Family 2 a negative review, calling it "frightfully bad" and "a hollow experience". A review in Stuff.co.nz described the film as "a pallid, insipid sequel that will struggle to entertain even the most undemanding primary schooler". Pablo De Vita of La Nación offered a more positive review, stating that the movie was entertaining, albeit derivative.