MOVIE REVIEW - Paul Blart 2

Tough to go to a movie these days where there's not a number at the end. So here we go again, Kevin James is back as Paul Blart Mall Cop 2. 

Hard to believe that the original was 2009, but it has been 6 years since the first one.  And right off the top this is not going to be in the Oscar conversation, as the first one wasn't.  But the original did bring in a whopping 146 million dollars, and was a hit with movie goers.

In this installment, Paul is still living alone with with his grown daughter in New Jersey.  He gets an invitation to attend a security convention at The Wynn Resort in Las Vegas.  There, as you might suspect his "talents" are needed to break up a theft ring, as a group of highly trained thieves are ripping of the resort of its priceless art. 

Somehow, Paul's daughter is caught up in the action, and finds herself kidnapped by the thieves, so Paul must save her as well as the rest of the day. Can he do it?  I'm guessing he can, and will. That in a nutshell, is Paul Blart 2.

This movie, like Blart himself is an easy target. This is simply about 90 minutes of silliness that really goes nowhere and has no real reason for being made.  Except that this is a comedy of sorts for those who want their comedy clean, and slapstick.  And I am going to commend that.  There just are not very many family friendly live action comedies out there that people can go to. And this is.

This is what it is.  It's silly, it's senseless, and a bit mind numbing but that's OK.  James has a big fan base (as well as a big actual base) and although he kind of only is capable of doing one thing, he does it here.  And fans will love it.  This is not offensive, raunchy or tasteless and we do need some more of this out there to fill a need.  This is not great cinema, but it is family cinema, and that is a void that needs to be filled by live action, and not simply animation.

Paul Blart 2.  It is what it is.