Daddy's Home laid the foundations, Daddy's Home 2 further rose them into a stupendous construction that intelligently added more ingredients carefully thought out. It's almost as if the casting director, writers and filmmakers knew exactly what Daddy's Home needed in order to make a better sequel, even with the perfect amount of elements needed, nothing more, nothing less. Of course these elements which I'm referring to are the always warming and family-friendly holiday setting and the obviously salient, hugely welcomed inclusions of two tremendous actors like Mel Gibson and John Lithgow, two polar opposites as already shown with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell. It is truly impressive how well the casting turned out with them, they played their parts perfectly, you can truly see "like father, like son" written all over their characters.
So these newcomers throw in their dynamics and bring along an exciting mixture of associations between the four characters. Mel Gibson cleverly
delivers his hilarious swagger and macho attitude that contrastingly clashes with the soft, gentle and sensitive John Lithgow whom also portrays fabulously and pretty accurately a character basicly designed to be Will Ferrell's character, but older. Many hilarious situations take place, from Brad (Ferrell) and Dusty (Wahlberg) receiving their dads, Don (Lithgow) and Kurt (Gibson) at the airport to a terrible mishap with Christmas lights.
The teasing of John Cena's character at the end of the first film was well-put in, because it felt there was room to explore his character as well.
It proved to be another astute move on behalf of the casting directors, since his inclusion actually made this movie a lot funnier. A new rivalry emerges with him and Rusty, who wants to be liked by his step-daughter, who hates him and unconditionally loves his daddy, Roger (Cena).
The whole family goes to a cabin, where Brad and Dusty find themselves going at it once again. The manger scene is exhilarating, definitely one of the best in the whole film. Overall, I find it to be very consistent, it can hardly disappoint, unless you're biased by dislike or hatred towards either Mel Gibson or Will Ferrell.
The ending puts everything in perspective, as with most holiday movies, this one also leaves a heart-warming and sentimental message about forgiving and family union, along with the classic Christmas carol, this time tenderly singing all together "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
A Christmas classic in my book, I have seen it many times already. If you enjoyed it as much as I did, it can become a classic in your book too.
