Made the decision, despite not caring much at all for the first 'Alpha and Omega', to see its follow-ups (yes there is a franchise) out of curiosity (not as a hate campaign as some defenders will no doubt insinuate) and as an enormous fan of animation, would see anything regardless of critical reception.
'The Big Fureeze' (that lousy title that is more apt for a brand name of a cleaning product) is to me among the worst instalments in a mostly dreadful and over-milked franchise. It is getting incredibly annoying that all the sequels make exactly the same problems, all those in the first film amplified and then they make more on the way. Love animation, always judge a film for what they set out to do and for what they are taking into account the target audience. It is just hard not to be hard on the 'Alpha and Omega' follow ups because they insult the intelligence of children and adults alike in what is intended to be a family film where children and adults can judge and are of such poor quality.
Once again 'The Big Fureeze' badly fails to deliver on any of the things it promised much. Funny and tender moments are next to zero in effectiveness, the action doesn't work, there is no suspense or excitement and it's all charmless and soulless.
Let's start with the animation, a marginal step up from the insultingly amateurish (even by 'Alpha and Omega' sequels standards) animation seen in 'Dino Digs' but the quality is still an assault on the senses. The animation wasn't the best in the first film but it had its decent moments. It however is 'Toy Story' compared to the animation quality here, which is not quite Video Brinquedo, Spark Plug Entertainment or 'Foodfight' bad but almost and on the same level as 'The Swan Princess' CGI films. Blocky character designs, almost creepy expressions, very flat colours, a complete lack of fluidity in movement, endless goofs as long as your arm and less than meticulously detailed backgrounds are reminiscent of computer animation and video games in their infancy, something that one does not expect at all for 2016 even for low budget when technology has advanced as much as it has.
Can say no better for the music either. None of it fits with what's going on, stylistically it feels out of place and out of kilter, it's obtrusive and it's not even good music on its own. The writing is even worse, summing up in one word it's abominable. half-baked ideas and any parts that strive to be funny or poignant instead come across as eye-rollingly cheesy or cloying.
Worse are the "funny" jokes and dialogue, which are not funny at all, one groans at some of the wordplay/puns and older audiences who are children at heart whenever seeing animation (like me, one is never too old to appreciate animation and it is not strictly oriented towards kids only) will question the appropriateness of some of it.
Story-wise, there is not much of one at all and what there is barely makes sense. That it's short may be a comfort for the main target audience and older viewers, but that's saying nothing. It is short but feels longer thanks to plodding pacing and thin plotting. Have absolutely no idea why the cannibalism was included, that was completely out of place in placement and tone, is likely to frighten children and send the wrong message out and again its appropriateness will be questioned by older audiences. The Christmas montage felt like it was tacked on at last minute.
The characters are never engaging, they are either bland or irritating, have never been able to stand the wolf pups, and some are even pointless.
Voice acting is weak all round, even from prolific voice actor Debi Derryberry, the first 'Alpha and Omega' at least had Hayden Panettiere giving a pretty good account of herself and Dennis Hopper. There is nobody of that calibre here, some overdo it and some act as if they weren't even trying.
All in all, another terrible instalment and those who disliked the first film will appreciate it much more after giving the sequels out of curiosity. 1/10 Bethany Cox
