Review of Johnny English Reborn (2011) by Marc-André D — 15 May 2014

While the humor is still very much present, it feels like a completely separate entity from the first movie.... the only character that comes back is the titular Johnny English. While Rowan Atkinson does a good job, it simply does not feel the same without his sidekick, Bough, or Alexandra or even Pegasus.

.. The world that was build in the first movie is pretty much ignored. MI5 is turned to MI7, Pegasus is the title given to the leader of the organisation not to the person. Enlgish start off not being a member or MI7 exiled in prayer with monks, cliched jokes about him finding himself ensues, and while the whole thing ties in to the plot, it seems to not relate at all to the events of the 1st movie.

A yes it is a bit unfair to judge a movie solely by comparing it to the one that came beforehand, but when the first one delivered the laughs all the way through, the bar was set for this one to follow.

It is by no means a bad movie, but overall it feels like Johnny English light, the humor is more tame than the original, the villain more down to earth, the spy world more realistic, the tone a bit more serious, and the jokes tend to miss a lot more.

... overall not necessarily a bad movie, but definitely an inferior sequel.