You
know how in Scream 2, they have that conversation in class about how
the sequel never surpasses the original? Well I know it's probably
contrary to the popular consensus, but whenever I see that scene, the
first thing that pops into my head is Mannequin 2. Not that that would
ever be a worthy argument to a bunch of wanky film students, but I like
shit movies, and I feel Mannequin 2 is much better than Mannequin, and
not just because Kristy Swanson is a total babe.
 Just
as we did in the first film, the movie begins way back in the past.
Medieval times to be exact, in the kingdom of Hauptmann-Koenig.
Prince William has fallen in love with a beautiful young peasant girl
named Jessie, and is running away with her to be married, against his
mothers wishes. Unfortunately for our young lovebirds, the Queen and
her royal guard manage to stop the pair before they have a chance to
leave. The Queen manages to coax the young Prince into returning home
by offering Jessie a beautiful gold necklace. The Prince gives it
to Jessie having no idea that it has been cursed by the Sorceror,
turning her into a wooden statue for 1000 years. Only a true love may
take the curse away, and since there is no way her son will be alive
then, the Queen is satisfied with this, but what she doesn't realise is
on the flip side, she has also cursed her kingdom with 1000 years of
rain!
 Skip
forward 1000 years, and we find the ancestor of our young Prince
William, named Jason Williamson, starting a new job at the infamous
Prince & Co. store from the first movie. After a brief meeting with
his snooty new boss, he lands a position as assistant to the flamboyant
Hollywood, who is in charge of organising a large presentation for the
store. Hauptmann-Koenig is sending over their enchanted peasant girl in
order to help drum up some much needed tourism interest, but along with
the peasant girl, comes count Spretzle - ambassador for
Hauptmann-Koenig and ancestor of the Sorceror who cursed Jessie's
necklace. He believes that the legend is true, and plans to make Jessie
his bride when the 1000 years are up.
Not long after the enchanted peasant girl arrives in America, the three
bumbling idiots assigned to taking care of her, manage to drop her off
a bridge and into a river. Jason dives in to save her, and in doing so
shifts the necklace. Jessie comes to life, albeit briefly, which Jason
sees, but upon pulling her from the water, she is nothing but solid
wood once more. And Jason thinks he just might be going crazy.
 Back
at the store, Jason is tending to Jessie's water soaked clothes when he
removes her expensive looking necklace for safekeeping. Jessie comes to
life, and can't work out why her Prince William is so afraid of her.
Jason finally manages to convince her that it is the 20th century and
she has been frozen for 1000 years. But that still doesn't seem to
change the fact that she is madly in love with her prince, who is now
Jason, so he offers to take her out for a night on the town so that she
can experience the 20th century for herself.
The following day, not realising it is the cause of her curse, Jason
gives her back her necklace, which she puts back on, causing her to
return to her wooden form. Jason is dumbfounded and doesn't understand
why she has changed back, and takes her back to the store. He tells
Hollywood all about what had happened the night prior, who of course is
not surprised. He tells Jason that this has happened before. After
Jason leaves, Hollywood decides to try on Jessie's necklace, turning
himself into wood and giving Jessie an opportunity to sneak out. She
finds Jason's jacket and with his employee account buys herself some
new clothes and gets her hair changed so that the Count and his idiot
brigade won't be able to find her. She also manages to purchase a
whole lot of new furniture for Jason, not quite realising how this
shopping thing works. Jason finds Hollywood, and figures out that it is
the necklace that makes Jessie into a statue. Jessie is being chased
through the store by the Count and his men, so she hijacks a go cart
and heads to the only place she knows. Jason's house.
 Jason
rushes home and is relieved to find her safe and well, but Count
Spretzle has followed them and manages to get in and put the necklace
back on Jessie, and Jason is arrested for stealing her from Prince and
Co. Never one to give up though, Hollywood manages to bust Jason out of
jail and redesigns his big presentation to include the re-awakening of
the Enchanted Peasant Girl by her handsome prince, Jason. The Count
however does not like this idea at all, and after a swordfight with
Jason, takes Jesse at gunpoint, putting her into a hot air balloon.
Jason risks his life to jump aboard the balloon and save Jessie, who
manages to put her necklace on the Count, before accidentally knocking
him out of the balloon down to the street below. Before his goons can
gather the pieces, he is swept up by a streetsweeper. He is glued back
together and returned to Hauptmann-Koenig, while Jessie and Jason are
married and live happily ever after. Awww.
I know, I know. Techincally speaking, it's just a re-hashing of the
original, but I just found Jessie and her complete innocence to be far
more endearing than the mischevious Emme, and it was great to see
Hollywood get a bigger part, Mesach Taylor is freakin hilarious.
Another 90-min fun one, with a great cast and an ending that will make
you smile.
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Year: 1991
