My Girl 2 Parent Guide

Parent Movie Review

Vada Sultenfuss is still searching to find herself. For those that did not see the original My Girl, Vada’s mother died as a result of childbirth complications. Most of the first film revolves around Vada’s inability to resolve her feelings of guilt as she feels responsible for her mother’s death. Even though it contained rougher language and a bit more violence, the original My Girl had a story that was worth telling. Unfortunately, My Girl 2 does not meet that same writing standard.

Vada heads to Los Angeles to live with her uncle and his girlfriend, Rose Zsigmond (Christine Ebersole). Rose has a son, Nick (Austin O’Brien) who is about Vada’s age and the two of them become unlikely friends. The two kids spend their time going on one little adventure after another looking for clues that will lead them to information about Vada’s mother. Each trip leads them to another unusual person, and Vada becomes more and more discouraged.

After watching both films, Vada’s discouragement appears to be the reason My Girl movies exist.

The performances are discouraging too, especially O’Brien who appears to have memorized each line just before the camera rolls. Surprisingly, even Aykroyd (who plays a much smaller part in the sequel) is lame. Near the start of the movie, he sounds too much like the Conehead character he played just months earlier.

My Girl 2 doesn’t present much that would trouble a parent showing it to their children. However, it lacks the love and enthusiasm of the first version, and at the end you still feel that Vada has not gained anything from her experience. You may not gain anything from watching it, either.

Updated

My Girl 2 Parents' Guide

As a parent, some questions you can ask your children is what they would do in the same situation? How do they think Vada’s step-mother would feel after Vada got home? What could Vada do to improve that relationship? It seems that Vada still hasn’t really accepted her father’s decision to remarry.