Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

After much anticipation and the appearance of Ron Burgundy on countless talk-shows and advertisements, I finally got around to seeing Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. I've personally been very excited to see this film, as I was a huge fan of the original back in 2004 and still remain an avid fan of Will Ferrell himself, so my expectations were very high to say the least. And for the most part, they were reached. 

Anchorman 2 begins a few years after it's predecessor, with Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) co-hosting the daily news in San Diego, but when Veronica is offered the opportunity of hosting the nightly news instead, her and Ron go their separate ways. Ron heads off to become a part of New York's first ever 24-hour news network, but not before reuniting his trusty team consisting of ladies-man Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), obnoxious sports-host Champ Kind (David Koechner), and lovable idiot Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). There are many new faces in this sequel however, some more successful than others. Brick's love interest for example, played by Kristen Wiig, was hugely suitable to the tone of the film, but only appeared about three times throughout the whole film. The same could be said for many of the new characters, who had their sub-plots simply left behind and never really brought up again. 

Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell)

Amongst the all-star appearances however, only one person manages to come close to matching the hilariousness of Will Ferrell: Steve Carell. If you disliked his character in the first movie, then you will most likely hate him even more in Anchorman 2, as Brick is turned up to 11. Thankfully, I was a huge fan of his in the original Anchorman, so the increased screen-time was a welcome addition. It also felt like improvisation was a much bigger focus in this sequel, which is something common within films directed by Adam McKay (such as Step Brothers or The Other Guys), and a feature I had no problem with as almost all of the actors present have proven their talent in their craft, bar a few exceptions. 

Being a Will Ferrell film, Anchorman 2 is expected to get slightly silly, but I doubt anybody could anticipate just where the story goes. I didn't personally have a huge problem with this, as I knew exactly what it was I was getting myself in for, but the final 20 or so minutes get so ridiculous that even I questioned what exactly was going on. There are cameos from many celebrities, ranging from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Sacha Baron Cohen, all crammed into about 10 minutes. Although very funny, things do become a little too over-the-top, and it almost becomes detrimental to the rest of the film as it leads you to think solely about how insane things get towards the end, therefore neglecting the jokes featured earlier on. 

Brick Tamland (Steve Carell)

Something that startled me a little however, was how catchy the soundtrack was to the film. Being a comedy, I had no expectations of the music featured as the main goal of it was to be funny, so it was a nice surprise to hear songs which helped plant the film firmly within the 80's time-frame it was aiming for. A combination of disco and rock appealed hugely to me, and boosted the movie a few points above what it would have been without these choices. 

Verdict
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is largely more of the same, so if you despised the first movie, I highly doubt this will win you over. If like me you loved the original, then its sequel will no doubt make you laugh consistently throughout. Quite a few jokes return as slightly re-skinned versions of those in the first movie, such as Brian Fantana having a cupboard full of condoms instead of aftershaves, but overall I found Anchorman 2 to be a more than welcome return to the world of Ron Burgundy. 

"If you've got an ass like the North Star, 

wise men are going to want to follow it."