"Monster Hunt 2" (aka "Zhuo yao ji 2"),a follow-up to the 2015 "Monster Hunt", was a movie that had apparently managed to appear well under the radar for me. Because I wasn't aware of its existence before now in 2020, when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it.

And I must admit that I was definitely looking forward to watching it, as I rather enjoyed the 2015 movie. But it being a sequel, it might suffer the fate that many sequels tend to do.

While "Monster Hunt 2" was good and enjoyable, it was just lacking that particular spark of creativity and originality that was present in the first movie. Now, don't get me wrong, because I am not saying that "Monster Hunt 2" was a bad movie, not at all. It just had some shortcomings.

The CGI in the movie were good, just as it was in the 2015 movie. And it definitely was enjoyable watching the CGI animated creatures come to life on the screen and interact with the real actors and actresses. Again, the movie was lacking in creativity in this department, as it would have been nice to see more new creatures instead of just having old ones return.

The storyline in "Monster Hunt 2" was good, and there was something here for all ages in the audience. My ten year old son was enjoying the movie too.

It was nice to see returning actors and actresses reprise roles from the previous movie. Baihe Bai and Boran Jing definitely carry the movie quite well. I must admit that I was very surprised to see Hong Kong actor Tony Chiu-Wai Leung turn up in the movie, but it was a nice surprise. It was a shame that Sandra Kwan Yue Ng and Eric Tsang were just casually making cameo appearances, because they could have added so much charm to the movie.

All in all, "Monster Hunt 2" is a good movie, one that is quite watchable and definitely a movie worth watching if you enjoyed the 2015 "Monster Hunt" movie.

My rating of "Monster Hunt 2" is a six out of ten stars.

The first part is a flat fantasy drama with bubbles blowing up. The second step highlights the lack of plot and imagination. Pull a group of stars, what content want to mix one side, unfortunately the core content? In a word, nonsense. If you don't write scripts carefully and just think about the consumer audience, Chinese movies will become synonymous with garbage.

Although the film is just as imaginative as the first film, and entertaining, it is not as good. The original heroes are back, as well as the cute little monster, Wuba. This film was more about effect instead of plot, especially towards the end when the wire-effects became a bit too much and the fighting scenes became repetitive.

I found some of the humor downright silly, while others were really funny. Some of the action scenes felt Charlie Chaplin-inspired, and were quite wonderful, actually. Regardless of whether you enjoy the plot, you have to admire the film for its visuals. It truly is a visual spectacle (especially the first half of the film). They also have fantastic sets.

I enjoyed the film, but would much rather watch the first film a few more times instead of giving this a second viewing.