My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 15, 2020

Hits come and sequels go, and such is true of the 1991 film My Girl, Director Howard Zieff's quasi-classic coming-of-age story set in 1970s Pennsylvania. That film killed off one of its two main characters, but the story continues in 1994's My Girl 2 which follows surviving protagonist Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) on a cross-country quest to learn more about her deceased mother, a mother she never knew. The film is simple and sweet, not particularly critical as a sequel but it works well enough as something of a soft follow-up that would have played just fine, perhaps even better, as a standalone picture away from the heights achieved by its predecessor.

Vada Sultenfuss (Chlumsky) is now 13. Her father Harry (Dan Aykroyd) has married Shelly (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the couple is expecting their first baby. Vada’s life is turned upside down by news of the baby’s pending arrival. She’s asked to move into her recently deceased grandmother’s room so her space can be repurposed into a nursery. At school, she’s tasked with writing a paper about someone she admires but has never met. Her chosen subject is her late mother of whom she knows almost nothing about except for the few trinkets found inside a small box tucked away in her house containing a few of her keepsakes. In need of a fresh perspective on her purpose and place in the world and answers about her mother’s life, she travels to Los Angeles to dig into her mother’s past and discover more about herself along the way. She stays with her uncle Phil (Richard Masur), his live-in girlfriend Rose (Christine Ebersole), and Rose’s son Nick (Austin O'Brien) and slowly begins to piece together her mother’s life.

Zieff returns to direct My Girl 2, and that may be the most important piece of connective continuity at work in the film. With its predecessor, the film shares a familiar dramatic tone as well as a familiar aesthetic (cinematographer Paul Elliott also returns to shoot the film for Zieff). Even if it's a superfluous picture that adds little to the "franchise" mystique and manufactured world, that shared sense of continuity is a rather big help in pushing the film along through some of the more questionable reasons for its existence. But the film plays well enough beyond the cosmetics thanks to its full embrace of a tenderhearted story of familiar discovery that never pushes too sappy or saccharine. Writer Janet Kovalcik keeps things rather simple, never jumbling Vada's journey with too much stray from believability or allowing the story to take that leap from reality to fantasy. Vada's work to solve the mystery around her mother is not Holmesian in complexity but there's just enough depth and challenge to keep her moving and motivated and the audience interested in following the string to its end, too.

The film further benefits from a well rounded cast that plays things rather straight, even as there's a very minor magical mood about the movie. That challenge of balancing awe and discovery with personality and passion for the project is palpable, and it's a challenge young Anna Chlumsky handles with impressive elegance. Throughout the film she exudes a sweetness to match the tone and a determination necessary to see her project through. She finds a healthy balance between youthful exuberance and a want for personal and world discovery while finding the maturity to process and manage the emotions she experience and the revelations she learns along the way. Austin O'Brien, playing Nick (which, coincidentally, was the name of his character's elderly friend in Last Action Hero), does good work as Vada's L.A. guide and love interest, though as with the first film the romance is very grounded, built on shared experience over time rather than hormones. Richard Masur and Christine Ebersole do good work as Vada's de facto guardians (and build an agreeable little side story about commitment in their own relationship). Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis reprise their roles from the first film, albeit here in a more limited capacity that primarily sees them in the first act and in the final minutes.

My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony has delivered a practically reference Blu-ray release for My Girl 2. The picture is true to its film source roots, retaining a very fine, pleasing grain structure that yields a highly authentic image that film fans will love. Textural abundance abounds. The picture is effortlessly sharp all around, revealing high class clothing details with supreme sharpness and elemental clarity in steady supply. Location details are excellent. A film set in chapter 17 showcases a variety of construction details, including European and Old West, each with their own textural personalities to peruse. There are plenty of pinpoint textures to explore around the mechanic shop as well. Well worn equipment, papers plastered on the walls, and grime and wear on surfaces reveal the specifics of an authentic location with exacting clarity. Textural richness never ceases. Colors are alive with superior depth and accuracy. Clothing is again a standout with blues, reds, and all variety of colors enjoying agreeable tonal nuance through a naturally diverse spectrum. Signage around L.A., warm tones in homes, and skin and blacks give no reason to fuss, and neither does the encode. This is another dazzling catalogue release from Sony.

My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Girl 2's DTS-HD Master audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack offers some quality elemental detail and wonderful spacing, with positive discrete effects popping up here and there, like a doorbell at the funeral parlor off to the right in the film's early minutes. Music is infectiously fun, such as the tune that plays over there scene seeing Nick and Vada travel to the shop where she meets her uncle Phil. It's pleasing and accurate, as is the entire range of music, whether high energy era tunes or lighter, but no less lively and precise, score. Atmospherics are excellent. Din in a crowded school hallway in chapter five can be a little unkempt but the net effect is positive and immersive, even without multichannel depth. Likewise, the bustling police station in chapter 12 (and again in chapter 20) springs to life with ringing phones, clanking typewriters, and chatty people. It all gives way to dialogue but even underneath it's pleasantly enriching and true. The same can be said of a wedding reception in chapter 14. Birds tweet in the background when Vada meets Jeffrey Pommeroy in his kitchen in chapter 23. There's always something interesting and authentic at work throughout the track. Dialogue effortlessly images towards the center and presents with excellent clarity. There is some nice dialogue reverb in a storage house in chapter 11. This is a quality track that compliments the movie and the corresponding visuals quite nicely.

My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of My Girl 2 contains no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are indued. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

My Girl 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My Girl 2 keeps things simple and sweet. The movie doesn't work as well as it might otherwise have by billing itself as a sequel to a superior film with which this one has little in common beyond returning characters and a couple of recurring themes. But no matter what it's called or the names of the characters who appear in it, there's no mistaking the movie's charming appeal and approachable sentimentality. It's a solid film even if there's little necessary connection to the original. Sony's Blu-ray is disappointingly featureless but the video is practically perfect and the two-channel audio is a delight. Recommended.