The Wandering Earth II

A sturdy prequel.

Losing all of the glee of its predecessor, the movie... offers nearly three hours of convoluted story lines, undercooked themes and a tangle of confused, glaringly state-approved political subtext.

It is this combination of maximalism, nationalism, fatalism, and two-dimensional characterization that makes this one of the most enjoyable current franchises.

... doesn’t work as an engaging prequel because it jumps between extended bouts of exposition to establish concepts, action sequences, and character moments that only folks who have seen the first film will really appreciate.

I did find the second half far more enjoyable than the first...I just wish director Frant Gwo and his team of screenwriters had spent as much time developing characters as they did in creating the look of the film.

More nationalistic types will probably embrace the movie as a way to reinvigorate patriotic sentiments. But don’t be surprised if...

It's an over-the-top sci-fi spectacle that doesn't lose sight of the human stories in this saga about trying to avert an outer-space disaster. In other words, the movie delivers exactly what viewers can expect from 'The Wandering Earth' franchise.

At nearly three hours, director Frant Gwo is leaning on a lot for us to care about the variety of characters involved, yet I was into it. The increased quality in the CG visual effects helped for sure, better making good on the world assembled here.

The movie comes off as China's answer to the blockbuster sci-fi epic, and, just like many of these types of movies made in the United States, there's a heavy-handed jingoistic nationalism at work here that gets tiresome.

In sci-fi terms, The Wandering Earth II feels less obviously derivative of Hollywood forerunners than its predecessor, raising a number of intriguing themes and engaging with them intellectually.