The Reef 2: High Tide
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The Reef 2: High Tide is a 2012 South Korean-American direct-to-video computer-animated film and a sequel to 2006's Shark Bait. It stars the same actors as last time, with the exception of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Evan Rachel Wood, who are replaced by Drake Bell and Busy Philipps. Although Donal Logue reprised his role as the villainous tiger shark Troy, he replaces John Rhys-Davies as elderly harbor seal Thornton. Rob Schneider reprised his role as Nerissa, Bart, Eddie, and many more.
Plot
Troy is revealed to be still alive and captured by the humans, locked in a cage and occasionally getting painful vaccines from them. However, with the help of a con-artist dogfish named Ronny, he manages to escape and decides to seek revenge on Pi.
At the reef, Pi is a father and enjoying life on the reef with no sharks. But Troy and his band of goons arrive at the reef wall and threaten the fish that in four days the water will rise high enough for the sharks to swim over the reef wall. Nerissa tells Pi that he must but tries to train the other fish to defeat Troy this time. Meanwhile, Troy threatens Ronny into following his orders by sabotaging Pi's training and tells him in exchange, he will let Ronny go. Ronny disguises himself with a piece of kelp as a wig and false dentures on is teeth. Witnessing Pi's disastrous training, Ronny gets an idea. He announces that the fish put on an "underwater extravaganza" saying every fish has a special skill, and by doing that, they will attract humans to protect them from the sharks. Everybody but Pi is enlightened by Ronny's plan. When Pi confronts Nerissa about this, Nerissa suggests that Ronny perhaps "offers something you haven't like a chance to prove themselves." Pi retorts that he tried train them to which Nerissa responds "I suggested that you teach them to be the best they can be--not to be you." He then shows Pi an image of the legendary Sea Dragon, which those who control it must be worthy to command it. When Pi asks him if he's ever tried summoning the Sea Dragon, Nerissa responds "many times."
Pi gets an idea to create a shark trap to catapult Troy out of the sea and orders the two to get him supplies. When Pi and his son Junior set up the trap, Pi orders Bart and Eddie to guard the grotto. However, Ronny overhears Pi's trap and Troy orders him to destroy it. So Ronny tricks the reef fish that he needs a clamp for his talent show and the reef fish soon suddenly race towards the grotto and destroy the Shark Trap. Bart & Eddie report the disaster to Pi. When Pi furiously confronts Ronny, Cordelia defends him, saying that Ronny believes in them the way they are and Pi didn't. Pi leaves sadly.
The next day, Troy and his goons ambush Pi and the evil shark threatens the fish that he's gonna destroy the reef tomorrow and that "shame you're gonna miss it." Troy bares his teeth, but Nerissa arrives from behind Troy and uses a sandstorm to make Pi literally disappear from the sharks. Troy, frustrated, orders his goons to move out.
Later, Troy orders Ronny to bring Cordelia outside the reef at sunset. When Ronny succeeds, Troy exposes Ronny's disguise to Cordelia, much to her horror. But Ronny, having grown to love the reef and the inhabitants, tries to explain himself, but Troy kidnaps Cordelia. Deciding that Ronny had outlived his usefulness, Troy decides to let him go.
Pi lies in pain in Nerissa's shipwreck when they hear a noise. They see Bart & Eddie having captured Ronny when he's exposed as a shark and bring him to Pi. But Ronny remorsefully tells Pi that Troy was forcing him and that he'll help Pi get Cordelia back from Troy. Pi, Nerissa, Bart and Eddie decide to give the remorseful dwarf shark a second chance. While Pi frees Cordelia, Ronny blocks the hench-sharks' path telling them to stand up to Troy. Unfortunately, Troy had overheard and furious with Ronny's betrayal, Troy gobbles the little dwarf shark up in one gulp.
Meanwhile, as the other fish try to prepare for the shark battle, Nerissa enters a mysterious volcano to summon the sea dragon, and mysterious powers flow around the turtle as he summons the mysterious dragon.
Troy and his sharks attack the reef, as many fish outsmart them. Troy bites Pi and subdues him but before he can kill him, Nerissa shows up with his powerful sea dragon and blasts the other sharks. But Troy sneaks up from behind the turtle and knocks him off the dragon, causing it to dissolve away. Troy then prepares to hurt Nerissa but Pi throws a Water Ball at him, and Troy returns his attention to his sole nemesis and gives chase to him. Eventually Pi, Cordelia, and Junior use the shark trap to beat Troy and send him flying out of the sea and back to the ship. As the humans approach the defeated shark, Ronny flies out of Troy's mouth and back into the sea. The humans then use another vaccine on Troy and he screams in pain (which the fish don't hear underwater)
As all the fish celebrate the defeat of Troy, Nerissa congratulates Pi for becoming a true leader. Pi and the gang thank Nerissa for risking his life for all of them to which the turtle responds "It was my part to play." Nerissa then dances with the other fish, just as a fully redeemed Ronny joins the party.
Why It Still Didn't Go to the Reef and Is No High Tide
- For starters, the plot is very simple, generic and bland, unlike the first movie, which at least had a decent story. In addition, it also seems very poorly written and even more rushed than the previous film.
- In addition to the mediocre plot, this sequel continued with the first film's tendency to reuse scenes, although this time they are few.
- Almost all of the supporting characters from the first movie have almost miniscule roles here and very short screen time, which is definitely not good considering the characters themselves were pretty forgettable. The biggest example of this is Thorton, who only has TWO lines throughout the entire movie, not to mention the blue fish that Dylan's mom fell in love with in the first movie, who only appeared in a four second scene at the beginning of this movie never to appear again. .
- There are some very unnecessary parts in this movie, like the scene where Troy literally kills one of his henchmen ON SCREEN for no reason.
- It's pretty hard to say if the visuals and design got better or worse, however it is noticeable that MANY characters (at least the supporting ones) look far less detailed and poorly polished compared to their designs in the first film, with Eddie and Bart being an example. Most of them got even uglier.
- Speaking of the design, for some reason some characters look completely different from their original selves, with Troy, the main villain, being the most notable example, as he looks more like a Great white shark rather than an actual tiger shark.
- Also, the animation, while looking decent on some characters (notably the main ones), looks terrible and lazy on most of them, with even weirder movement than the previous film and almost non-existent facial expressions.
- The humor is very bland and generic, and furthermore, it still retains the use of gross-out jokes from the first film.
- Some of the characters have been flanderized, most notably Cordelia, who starts acting very ignorant towards her husband for more than half of the movie.
- Percy and his mother, who were two very likeable characters in the first film, do not appear at any point in this film and are not even mentioned.
High Tide Qualities
- Ronny, a major new character in this film, is quite likable, being the only shark to show kindness to reef fish.
- Speaking of new characters, Pi and Cordelia's son and Troy's friends who help him in his revenge plan are also decent characters.
- Although most seem to have gotten worse, some of the new designs are good, like Troy's new design, although it has nothing to do with his self from the first movie, and especially Bobby's, who was the ugliest and most atrocious character in the first movie. Also, considering it's a low-budget movie, the designs of the humans that were shown for a short time are also decent.
- Troy, as in the first film, has a good villain role, and this time he seems more evil and menacing than before.
- As said before, the animation at least looks good on the main characters.
- Some annoying characters from the first movie, such as Dylan and his mother Pearl, are thankfully bearable in this sequel, as the supporting characters' roles have been reduced as previously stated.
Reception
The film has a rating of 3.7/10 on IMDb and a 29% audience score on the Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes based on over 100 ratings.
The Dove Foundation gave the film a positive review, saying, "This movie is a delight and shows that everyone has value and worth."
On Common Sense Media, High Tide was given 2/5 stars by Tracy Moore, with her stating how the film is "less intense than the original but still menacing".
Paul Mount from Starburst Magazine reviewed the movie and gave it a 5/10 rating, with him saying it was "clearly one for the kids with its bright colors and endless knockabout humor", but with a few "sly gags and references that might amuse patient adults who are along for the ride and might spend their time glancing at their wristwatches and waiting for the end credits to roll". When he talked about the animation and voice acting, he described them as "rarely better than cheap and cheerful" and "not exactly A-list", respectively.