With the original “Critters,” the producers adhered to a certain kind of formula that made the monsters from space seem like twisted cousins of “E.T.” With “The Main Course,” director Mick Garris is able to go beyond the limits of the concept and widen the mythology of the Krites and their bounty hunters. What’s more, Garris is also able to get so much more creative than the first film, as well as offer a better variety of Krites, and how they’re capable of devouring humans when they crash land on Earth once more. One of the best moments of “Critters 2” involves the krites working together as a hive and forming a gigantic ball that goes rolling through town.
As they roll over a hapless bystander, they basically chew every bit of meat off of his bones leaving his skull along the ground. It’s that kind of silly instance that makes “Critters 2” so fun, and allows the krites to develop as genuine threats in their own movie series. Scott Grimes returns from the original “Critters” as Brad Brown who arrives back in his home town of Bender’s Grove to visit his aunt. When the krite eggs were left behind after the first film, they begin to hatch and start devouring random locals around the town. Convinced the Critters have returned, Brad teams up with the bounty hunters from the first film to take them down. The Critters are faster and smarter than ever.
And now with Garris being given a larger budget and wide scope, he’s able to give the monsters a lot more to do, and allow them a bigger array of victims that they devour with awfully vicious deaths. “Main Course” has a lot more comedy, including a gruesome scene where a man in an Easter bunny outfit has his crotch bitten by one of the krites, and there’s also a hilarious moment where one of the shape shifting bounty hunters transforms in to Freddy Krueger after looking at a video store standee of the character. “Critters 2” is a childhood favorite that’s thankfully stood the test of time as a fun, silly, and larger follow up to the original “Critters.” It has a great sense of humor about itself, and keeps the Krites an essentially menacing hive of monsters capable of eating you whole, while also enjoying their meal with their signature wide sharp toothed grins.