Puyo Puyo 2 (film)


 * This article is about the 2005 live-action/animated film. For the 1994 video game, see Puyo Puyo 2.

Puyo Puyo 2 is a 2005 live action/computer-animated comedy film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and the sequel to the 2003 film Puyo Puyo, which in turn is based on the video game series of the same name developed by Compile (later owned by Sega). It is the second and final film in the Puyo Puyo film series, produced by Gingo Movies, Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars the reprised roles of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, and Owen Wilson. New cast members include Avril Lavigne and the voices of Martin Short and Tim Curry.

The film was released on April 8, 2005 to generally negative reviews, though some considered it as a slight improvement over its predecessor. It grossed $99.3 million worldwide against a $80 million budget.

Plot
One month after the events of Puyo Puyo, Arle Nadja (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Carbuncle (voiced by Ayame Kizuki) were relaxing in their cabin, until an advertisement for the "Puyo-Popping Tournament 2: This Time, in a Tower" was sent to them. After learning about the tournament, Arle figures that she'll have to put her skills and the Owanimo spell to the test. Meanwhile, inside of the tower, the Dark Prince (Owen Wilson) was watching Arle and Carbuncle from afar, until Schezo Wegey (Matthew Broderick) and Rulue (Kirsten Dunst) show up, followed by Schezo asking the Dark Prince about Arle. Then, the Dark Prince reveals that he, Schezo, and Rulue all had one common rival (which is Arle Nadja), so he makes a deal with the two just so they can beat Arle at their own game.

Arle and Carbuncle then enter the first floor of the tower, where she goes against Skeleton-T (voiced by John Oliver), Momomo (voiced by Nolan North), Archan (Dakota Fanning), and Kikimora (Rosie O'Donnell). After beating them one-by-one, Arle encounters four of the Dark Prince's comrades, which consist of Incubus (Rupert Everett), Succubus (Uma Thurman), Demon Servant (Austin St. John), and Titan Guard (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson). Incubus hits on Arle, much to her disgust and annoyance, and beats him to a quick game of Puyo Puyo. Afterwards, Arle clears the first floor of the tower and Carbuncle uses a hammer to send the first floor away (which will be a running gag after Arle clears the rest of the floors of the tower until she reaches the top of the tower), which leads Arle to the second floor of the tower.

When Arle enters the second floor, Kikimora tells Arle about the Point Puyo rule for her Owanimo spell. Afterwards, Arle then goes against Panotty (Cody Arens), Seriri (Drew Barrymore), Nohoho (voiced by Tim Curry), Owlbear (voiced by Alex Rocco), and Saturni (Hayden Christensen). After Arle clears the second floor, she goes to the third floor of the tower, where Kikimora tells Arle about the Hard Puyo rule for her Owanimo spell. Then, Arle Nadja goes against Sasori Man (Verne Troyer), Samurai Mole (voiced by Phil LaMarr), Harpy (Renée Zellweger), and Titan Guard, who just happens to enter the third floor. Afterwards, Arle picks up some kind of eggplant, who turns out to be a living eggplant man with glasses named "Nasu Grave" (voiced by Wallace Shawn). Nasu Grave accuses Arle for trying to eat him, but Arle doesn't understand what he was saying. Nasu Grave gets so angry, that he should beat Arle up, until he notices that Zoh Daimaoh (voiced by Brad Garrett) apparently fell down by crashing through the floors of the fourth and fifth floors, causing Nasu Grave to panic and run away as Zoh Daimaoh lands on the floor, who doesn't know his weight and strength. Afterwards, Arle is finished with the third floor and enters the fourth floor of the tower. Meanwhile, the Dark Prince was noticing that the first three floors of the tower have gone missing while Schezo Wegey and Rulue go against Succubus and Demon Servant for a warm-up Puyo battle respectively. After learning about Arle being the spitting image of his long-lost fiancé (known as "Lilith"), the Dark Prince discovers that he should woo Arle and becomes the "Masked Prince".

When Arle's at the fourth floor of the tower, she learns from Kikimora that the playing field starts out with a random arrangement of Garbage Puyo, Hard Puyo and Point Puyo (which'll happen when Arle reaches the fifth floor and the top floor of the tower). Afterwards, Arle then goes against Suketoudara (voiced by Martin Short), Mamono (voiced by Frank Welker), Witch (Avril Lavigne), and Lagnus the Brave (Curtis Armstrong). While going against Lagnus, Arle notices that a big orange dragon (voiced by Frank Welker) has entered the tower. Lagnus gets distracted facing against the dragon while Arle enters the fifth floor. Arle then goes against Minotauros (voiced by Patrick Warburton), Draco Centauros (Helen Hunt), and the Mystic Sage (Patrick Stewart). After clearing the fifth floor, Arle finally reaches the top floor of the tower, where she goes against Schezo Wegey and Rulue. Afterwards, Arle encounters the Masked Prince, who claims that he's a different person from the Dark Prince, but Arle states that the Masked Prince is just the Dark Prince in a strange mask, so a Puyo-popping showdown between Arle and the Dark Prince ensues! After beating the Masked Prince, Arle takes the mask off to reveal the Dark Prince himself. The Dark Prince stressfully realized that Arle wasn't fooled by the Masked Prince's presence. Arle asked the Dark Prince on why he came up with this tower nonsense, in which the Dark Prince answers the reason why he did all of that is because he's doing this in an attempt not only to steal Arle's heart, but also to nab Carbuncle. Arle was shocked by what the Dark Prince said and thinks he's crazy. Then, the tower becomes a rocket in which it blasts off to the moon and explodes, in which Arle escapes via parachute, whereas the Dark Prince only plummets quickly into the ground. Carbuncle watches all of this happen and then goes to sleep afterwards. Later that night, Arle picks up Carbuncle and leaves to her cabin. Meanwhile, the Dark Prince gets up from his plummet and starts thinking that he should get a hobby.

In a post-credits scene, the remaining tower floors that were sent away by Carbuncle's hammer were demolished, while the people who are at the aforementioned tower floors just happen to survive. Suketoudara tries to hit on Seriri, but she wasn't aware of it, while Nohoho tries to look for more curry whereas Draco Centauros befriends Witch. Afterwards, Skeleton-T tries to reassemble his bones, but fails somehow.

Live action actors

 * Jennifer Love Hewitt as Arle Nadja
 * Matthew Broderick as Schezo Wegey
 * Helen Hunt as Draco Centauros
 * Kirsten Dunst as Rulue
 * Owen Wilson as The Dark Prince
 * Avril Lavigne as Witch
 * Hayden Christensen as Saturni
 * Verne Troyer as Sasori Man
 * Rosie O'Donnell as Kikimora
 * Curtis Armstrong as Lagnus the Brave
 * Dakota Fanning as Archan
 * Rupert Everett as Incubus
 * Uma Thurman as Succubus
 * Austin St. John as Demon Servant
 * Cody Arens as Panotty
 * Drew Barrymore as Seriri
 * Renée Zellweger as Harpy
 * Patrick Stewart as The Mystic Sage

Voice actors

 * Ayame Kizuki as Carbuncle
 * Martin Short as Suketoudara
 * Tim Curry as Nohoho
 * John Oliver as Skeleton-T
 * Nolan North as Momomo
 * Alex Rocco as Owlbear
 * Brad Garrett as Zoh Daimaoh
 * Patrick Warburton as Minotauros
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Titan Guard
 * Phil LaMarr as Samurai Mole
 * Wallace Shawn as Nasu Grave
 * Frank Welker as Mamono/Dragon

Loop Group

 * Steve Alterman
 * Kirk Baily
 * Ranjani Brow
 * David Cowgill
 * Jean Gilpin
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Ashley Lambert
 * Mela Lee
 * Hope Levy
 * Randall Montgomery
 * Jonathan Nichols
 * Al Rodrigo
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Hans Tester
 * Lynnanne Zager
 * Ruth Zalduondo

Production
In April 2003, it was announced that Universal Pictures and Gingo Movies had started the development of a sequel to Puyo Puyo to be released on March 11, 2005, which was later rescheduled to April 8, 2005. In March 2004, it was announced Avril Lavigne had joined the cast of the film, with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Matthew Broderick reprising their roles from the first. Helen Hunt, Kirsten Dunst, and Owen Wilson were confirmed to reprise their respective roles in September 2004, joined by Martin Short and Tim Curry as the voices of Suketoudara and Nohoho, respectively.

Filming
Principal photography began in February 2004.

Box office
To be added

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 73 reviews with an average rating of 3.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Puyo Puyo 2 may entertain the younger audiences, but suffers from the same problems as its predecessor." On Metacritic the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on September 20, 2005. The VHS release is known for being the last Gingo film to be released on the platform. The film was released on a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo pack on September 21, 2010.

Accolades
The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in 2005 in the category "Worst Prequel or Sequel", losing to Son of the Mask.

Soundtrack
To be added

Score
To be added

Cancelled sequel
By March 2004, during the filming of Puyo Puyo 2, Universal and Gingo had been already developing a script for Puyo Puyo 3, with writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer. Initially set for a release in 2007, Michael Wildshill said in March 2006 that plans for Puyo Puyo 3 had been cancelled because the second had not done as well as expected, which he attributed to Universal releasing it at an inappropriate time.

Main transcript
To see the transcript of the film, click here.

Trailer transcripts
To see the transcripts for the trailers of the film, click here.