The Return of Tommy Tricker

This film is a sequel to "Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller" (1988). The original film was fresh, had many interesting exotic locations, and the relationships between the actors were believable. It was fun and interesting. The plot was for children but it was fun enough to keep adults interested too.

Sadly, the sequel "The Return" fails. And it fails miserably. The plot makes no sense, the characters are not believable, and there is an undercurrent of hostility throughout the film. An example of this is in the beginning of the film when Tommy steals a stamp and runs away to a hidden clubhouse (basically a hole in the ground with a sheet metal top) with a friend.

Another boy follows them, hears them plotting through a pipe (which is used like a periscope sticking out of the ground). The boy then urinates into the pipe and into the face of Tommy's friend. He is then tricked into the hole and is trapped by Tommy putting rocks on the covering of the clubhouse. Tommy and friend then abandon him there.

Tommy's friend sneaks back later when Tommy doesn't know and lets the other boy out. But the implication here is that had the other boy not come back Tommy wouldn't have either.

This is not a good movie. What should have been a merry adventure for all turned out to be a slow paced, nonsensical trip to nowhere. Wasted locations, wasted cultures, and wasted actors. I recommend that if you must see this film see it before you see "Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller" so you won't be too unhappy with it. But see the first film, definitely.