There have been a great number of bad ideas in the history of bad ideas. You have the Ford Edsel, the re-release of “Morbius,” double-decker airline seats, and sequels to Rob Schneider movies. If “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” wasn’t enough of a horrible film for you, then there is great news because Schneider has decided to do a sequel to another one of his “hits” and believe you me, it’s one that no body every asked for.
From 1999 to 2002, Schneider had a run of films he headlined that could best be described with the phrase, “I think I may have laughed once.” These films were “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Animal” and “The Hot Chick.” The two latter films were responsible for the infamous “South Park” gag of putting Schneider into horrible films where he becomes a stapler, a carrot, and a string of nonsensical syllables. And sure enough it’s from this catalog that the actor is pulling from to make his newest film, “The Animal 2.”
If you don’t remember the first film, it’s about a clerk in a police office who dreams of being a real cop. He gets into a car accident and gets crushed by a boulder too only to wake up later as if nothing happened. Except something DID happen, a crazy scientist decides to repair him with various animal parts which then give him the traits and abilities of those animals. Because science works exactly like that. And you can probably guess the rest from there; his powers let him be a police officer, something bad happens that makes him doubt himself or others doubt him, something good happens that redeems him, he winds up with a girl, and that’s the end. Just the kind of film that needs a sequel.
What makes the possibility of “The Animal 2″ being even more glorious is that unlike last time, Schneider is not only acting in the film and writing it, he’s also directing it! It just keeps getting better and better as Schneider takes his talents behind the camera while still remaining in front of it; the best of both worlds! This wouldn’t be the first time Schneider has directed, he’s also worked on his reality show, “Real Rob” and also the 2022 films, “Daddy Daughter Trip.”
As for where the film is going to end up, well it’s going to be exclusively streaming on Tubi. Yes, Tubi. The Fox owned free streaming channel that’s also the home to the just released “Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial.“ Yes, a movie so good it currently sits at a 2.8/10 on IMDB. Good to see that Tubi is really trying to drive home its quality original programming there. In fairness though, “The Animal 2″ will probably be better than that, so it has that going for it, which is nice.
If you enjoyed “The Animal,” good on ya. You should always be able to take pride in enjoying that you do and never feel ashamed of it. If you’re looking forward to the announcement of the sequel, then we hope it fulfills the comedic sensibilities that you enjoy as well. Still, that being the case, did anyone actually want this movie to happen?
We’ll see if Tubi ends up being proud of this one when it likely releases sometime in 2023.
