With a budget of only $17 million, 2022’s Smile produced a worldwide gross of $217 million. This excellent return on investment assured a sequel, and that second chapter arrived in 2024 with the logically titled Smile 2.

Pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) suffers serious injuries in a car crash that also kills her boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). This sends her into a spiral of substance abuse that threatens to derail both her life and her career.

A year later, Skye embarks on a comeback but hits a snarl when she hurts her back during rehearsals. To ease the pain, she seeks Vicodin from Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Cage), a high school friend who deals drugs.

When Skye encounters Lewis, he seems hepped up on goofballs and eventually bludgeons himself to death with a gym plate. Unbeknownst to Skye, Lewis passes on a curse to her, one that will send her into another mental breakdown as she tries to survive.

Though a sleeper, the 2022 Smile came with a lot of buzz, and that sent me into it with higher than usual expectations. It failed to live up to these, as although I thought it came with positives, it felt thin and it lacked the substance it needed to fill 116 minutes of screen time.

Given that Smile 2 goes 12 minutes longer than its predecessor, running time became a potential concern. If the first movie – which needed to provide more exposition/world building than the sequel does – felt too extended, then an even longer flick comes with greater risks in that domain.

Which ends up accurate. While not a dull affair, Smile 2 does overstay its welcome, as it doesn’t find enough compelling content to keep us occupied across its 128 minutes.

To some degree, Smile 2 remakes the first flick. I don’t mean this in a literal manner, but it doesn’t offer a continuation of the prior movies story or characters in a meaningful way.

Actually, Smile 2 takes care of that side of the coin quickly and brutally. At the end of Smile, Joel (Kyle Gallner) got saddled with the same curse that eventually afflicts Skye.

Smile 2 launches with Joel’s quest to rid him of this problem and resolves his narrative immediately. This seems vaguely clever, as it offers a link to the 2022 flick but nonetheless lets viewers know that the sequel won’t just continue the characters begun in the initial film.

Because Smile 2 really stands as its own movie, I don’t know if it truly needs the preface with Joel. Still, it ensures the audience won’t devote any mental energy to questions about the prior movie’s roles, and it does let us see how Lewis gets the curse, even if I don’t think we require this information.

From there, Smile 2 can feel an awful lot like a reworking of Smile. Skye’s status as a pop star offers a twist, at least, one that allows for some alternate themes to develop.

In particular, Smile 2 can dig into the negative pressures that come with fame. We see how little control she enjoys over her own life, especially given the manner in which her mother Elizabeth (Rosemary DeWitt) seems to use her.

A stage mother through and through, Elizabeth appears much more concerned over the maintenance of “Skye Riley Inc.” than she does her daughter’s emotional and physical welfare. Whereas normally a character like this would act to protect her child, Elizabeth forces Skye to push through the pain because she doesn’t want to hurt the bottom line.

While not a novel concept, a deep dive into the struggles related to celebrity could add depth to Smile 2. Instead, these elements tend to feel like window-dressing, as they don’t tend to go much of anywhere.

Neither does the rest of the film, again largely because it can feel repetitive. Smile 2 delivers a more intense and gruesome affair than its predecessor, but it doesn’t become one that comes with real originality or punch.

A fine lead performance from Sosie Bacon helped redeem Smile, and Scott does the same for Smile 2. She manages to depict Skye’s disintegration in a rich manner that gives the movie a more dynamic through-line than might occur in the hands of a lesser actor.

Unfortunately, Scott can’t carry the whole movie, and Smile 2 fails to turn into a consistently involving journey. Despite some positives at times, the end product feels too spotty to deliver a strong horror flick.

Smile 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.00:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a consistently positive presentation.

Sharpness looked solid. A few shots felt slightly soft, but not to a substantial degree, so most of the movie seemed accurate and concise.

No jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws were a non-factor, as the movie stayed clean.

Like most modern flicks, Smile 2 favored a mix of amber/orange and teal, though Skye’s pop world allowed for intense reds and other hues along the way. Within these parameters, the colors appeared appealing.

Blacks seemed deep and tight, while shadows were smooth and well-delineated. In the end, the transfer proved to be fine.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt positive about the pretty good Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Smile 2. Given the nature of the story, music and moody environmental information dominated the mix.

These elements filled out the speakers in an involving manner. The movie didn’t become a constant whiz-bang soundfield, but it created a decent sense of place.

The more active “scare moments” used the spectrum in the most dynamic manner, but they failed to appear on a frequent basis. Instead, music and creepy ambience became the most prominent components.

Audio quality was fine, as speech seemed natural and concise. Effects depicted the elements with acceptable accuracy and boasted pleasing low-end when necessary.

Music showed positive clarity and range, and they also packed solid bass response at times. This was a perfectly positive mix for the material.

When we shift to extras, we open with an audio commentary from director Parker Finn. He delivers a running, screen-specific look at creating a sequel, story/characters, cast and performances, various effects, photography, music, sets and locations, choreography, costumes, and connected topics.

I thought Finn’s commentary for the first film turned into a bit of a snoozer, but this discussion proves significantly more informative. Even with sporadic gaps in the conversation, Finn offers a pretty worthwhile commentary.

Deleted and Extended Scenes fill a total of six minutes, 54 seconds. We discover “Grieved You (Extended)” (1:48), “Go Again (Extended)” (2:19) and “I Need Some Air (Deleted)” (2:47).

“Grieved” gives us a better look at Skye’s music video, while “Again” offers more of the rehearsal during which Skye gets injured. “Air” provides a follow-up to Skye’s breakdown at a charity event.

“Again” adds nothing to the story, and “Grieved” seems interesting as a curiosity more than anything that should’ve made the movie, even if its ending hints at Skye’s fate. “Air” shows more of the ways Skye’s mother uses her and feels redundant since we get enough of that in the final flick.

We find seven featurettes, and Ear to Ear goes for five minutes, 17 seconds. It delivers notes from Finn, and actors Naomi Scott, Ray Nicholson, Rosemary DeWitt, Lukas Gage, and Kyle Gallner.

“Ear” discusses the short film that inspired Smile as well as the feature’s development, the move to a sequel, the Smile 2 main character, and Finn’s impact on the production. Expect a mix of insights and fluff.

The Rise and Fall of Skye Riley spans five minutes, 33 seconds. This one features Scott, Finn, DeWitt, and costume designer Alexis Forte.

As implied by the title, we get notes about the Skye role and Scott’s performance. Like the prior featurette, it offers some useful material and some praise.

Next comes Behind the Music. It lasts four minutes, 44 seconds and involves Finn, Scott, and choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall.

Unsurprisingly, this one examines the songs and performances created for the Skye character. We get a decent exploration of these areas, even with the standard happy talk.

A New Smile runs five minutes, 37 seconds. We find info from Finn, Gallner, director of photography Charlie Sarroff and production designer Lester Cohen.

This featurette looks at Smile 2’s opening and its connection to the first film. This one delivers some worthwhile material.

After this we go to A New Monster. During this five-minute, 44-second reel, we locate remarks from Finn, Forte, “Monstrosity” creator/puppeteer Alec Gillis and actor Trevor Newlin.

“Monster” details about the creature that appears at the film’s conclusion. Expect a pretty solid little reel.

Turn That Frown Upside Down takes up five minutes, 25 seconds. We get statements from Finn, Gage, Scott, and prosthetic makeup designer Jeremy Selenfriend.

This one covers the Lewis role, Gage’s performance and effects. This turns into a pretty good view of these domains, especially as we see the various stages of Gage’s makeup.

Finally, Show Me Your Teeth goes for five minutes, 11 seconds. Here we hear from Finn, Nicholson, Scott, and Sarroff.

“Teeth” digs into the Skye/Paul elements of the film. We find another quick but fairly efficient reel.

While not a literal remake of the first film, Smile 2 nonetheless repeats a lot of the same beats. It still manages some punch – mainly due to a solid lead performance from Naomi Scott – but the end result doesn’t quite connect. The Blu-ray comes with solid picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Like its predecessor, Smile 2 manages inconsistent horror pleasures.

Note that this Blu-ray only comes paired with the movie’s 4K UHD version. Paramount chose not to release a solo Blu-ray for Smile 2.

This means Blu-ray fans without 4K UHD players will need to buy this package to get the movie’s BD. At least Smile 2’s MSRP of $31.99 seems comparable to what Paramount would’ve charged for a Blu-ray on its own.