Kindergarten Cop 2 (2016)

Two and half decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger tackled the world of kindergarteners, it is Dolph Lundgren’s turn in this direct-to-DVD sequel that will never be as good as the original, but not completely a trainwreck either.

FBI agent Zack Reed has just busted Albanian crime boss Alexander Zogu, but it cost him losing someone he deeply cared about. Fast forward a year later. Reed, still reeling from losing the girl he lied to a year ago, has interrogated hacker Jason Flaherty, who was involved in a car crash that killed his older brother Kevin. Kevin and Jason had hacked into the FBI servers and have stolen the Witness Protection database. Jason had planned to sell the data to Zogu, who has been released on bail and is set to go to trail due to Reed’s ex. However, after a failed attempt from the Albanians to get Jason, Reed and his partner Sanders learn that the data has been stored in a flashdrive and that Kevin, a teacher, had the flashdrive.

There is one little catch. The flashdrive is somewhere in Hunts Bay Academy, the most prestigious elementary school in the city. After a failed attempt to interrogate Kevin’s students, Reed comes up with an idea. He decides to go undercover as Kevin’s replacement teacher. Thinking he can get through as a teacher, Reed learns that teaching kindergarten is not as easy as it seems. He finds help in the form of a fellow kindergarten teacher, Olivia. As Reed and Olivia grow closer, Zogu sends his men to track Reed down in hopes to find the flashdrive.

In 1990, audiences got their first look at Arnold Schwarzenegger in a whole new light when he starred in the hit comedy Kindergarten Cop. Fans got to see a softer side of the action film icon as he not only showed his action side, but showed a soft bone when it came to the kindergarten class. In a cinematic world where we have many sequels and reboots, Universal felt it was time to bring the world of this comedy back. However, instead of Schwarzenegger, we have another action film icon in Dolph Lundgren.

Lundgren is actually quite fun to watch when he goes big softie mode. Many may feel Lundgren may be monotonous and yes, that is true for the most part. And like Arnie, Dolph has issues controlling the class at first. However, in his film, it results to an allergy to peanuts to an overload of chocolate. Some of the antics of the kids are unexpected but still works for this film. Bill Bellamy provides a bit of comic relief as his partner Sanders while Darla Taylor is quite enjoyable as the love interest, a fellow teacher.

While a lot of the film’s original action consisted of gunplay, the sequel’s action actually has more fisticuffs. The opening credits show Lundgren training and doing a bit of the skills that made him a 3^rd-dan black belt in kyokushin karate. However, he really uses the kicks of the style in one small scene where he takes on two Albanian thugs, with one being played by Andre Tricoteux, who served as a body double for the character of Colossus in Deadpool. The climatic scene involves very little guns but shows more fisticuffs cut down to a minimum only because after all, this is basically a family film with a bit of innuendos.

Kindergarten Cop 2 may be an unnecessary sequel, but it’s not a complete dud and it’s quite funny seeing Dolph Lundgren attempting to be a softie as well as seeing him do some line dancing in the film. Only see this if you have a curiosity factor, otherwise, don’t waste your time.

WFG RATING: C

Universal 1440 Entertainment presents an Imagine Entertainment production. Director: Don Michael Paul. Producer: Mike Elliott. Writers: David H. Steinberg; based on the original film written by Murray Salem, Timothy Harris, and Herschel Weingrod. Cinematography: Kamal Derkaoui. Editing: Vanick Moradian.

Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Darla Taylor, Bill Bellamy, Aleks Paunovic, Sarah Strange, Rebecca Olson, Michael P. Northey, Andre Tricoteux, Raphael Alejandro, Dean Petriw, Tyreah Herbert, Abbie Magnuson, Valencia Budijanto, Oscar Hartley, William Budijanto, Matilda Shoichet-Stoll, Josiah Black.