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 and as an enormous fan of animation, would see anything regardless of critical reception. Would see anything to do with Christmas too.
Anybody who disliked the first film but wants to see the rest of the franchise to see whether it gets better or not will be shocked to find that 'Alpha and Omega: A Howl-iday Adventure' (the title alone is enough to make anyone dubious) is even worse. One of the worst sequels personally seen to me and proof that 'Alpha and Omega' didn't need a sequel let alone a franchise.
Let's start with the animation. 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 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 2013 even for low budget when technology 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. 'Howl-iday Adventure' is short but feels longer thanks to plodding pacing and thin plotting. There is very little Christmas spirit either, there is no heart or charm and it all feels very mean-spirited. The characters are never engaging, they are either bland or irritating and some of them are completely pointless.
Voice acting is weak all round, 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.
Overall, a howlingly bad mess. If the rest of the franchise is like this, 'Alpha and Omega' has potential to be as over-milked as 'The Swan Princess' and 'The Land Before Time' franchises. 1/10 Bethany Cox
