The Boy 1 (2016) Directed by: William Brent Bell
Brahms: The Boy 2 (2020) Directed by: William Brent Bell
After viewing the 2nd film in the series, I was compelled to write a compare and contrast.
The Boy 1 (B1) main protagonist is Greta, the babysitter left to care for the doll Brahms. Brahms the Boy 2 (BB2) the main protagonist is Jude and his mother Liza. The story is still similar where the central focus is Brahms the doll.
B1 in my opinion is the stronger film of this series. It held my attention and it really pulled you into the story. You almost feel sorry for Brahms because Greta doesn't seem to take her role as babysitter responsibly. In BB2, Jude stumbles across the doll. He decides to take it in and everything seems okay with the world but I have one major question.... WHERE IS BRAHMS?
The kid behind the mask that was living in the walls. He survived the 1st film so his story line is completely lost at least if memory serves right? Wouldn't it make more sense to continue the film with the character Brahms? He's completely forgotten although mentioned here and there. The doll is once again destroyed but under it is this strange entity? So, if the entity was behind the doll since the beginning why wasn't it revealed in the first one? I'm lost!?! lol It just seemed like this new version or extended version of Brahms just came out of the blue. Then we have this random character Joseph that just appears. He has some connection to the doll. His character was in my opinion boring and morose. He felt the need to harm the family because the doll holds control on him still although it's controlling Jude. He hints that the ending in BB2 is on it's way by saying they are connecting or coming together as 1. Then we have the ending where Jude is sweet and has his voice back. Then it's revealed that Brahms might still be in the seat and pulling the strings after all. It was destroyed???!!! Then not to mention the mask magically appears with Jude. I'm thinking logically the mother Liza or father Sean will make sure this doesn't happen especially considering everything they went through just a few scenes ago? Then Jude says everything is going to be okay as long as they follow the rules?! WHAT rules? There was no mention or hint of anything supporting this.
The second film to me personally read as a hearsay film. Where it seems like a lot of speculation was being told but there was no real connection to the previous installment except for a few mentions and the doll. The first one had less jump scares and effective jump scares. The story really pulled the audience in. The second one was not my cup of tea. It just felt like no real thread connection was visible. It didn't make sense as a part two. Not to mention all my complaints lol
The entity that now resides in the doll, the possession of it's "friend", the brighburn styled drawings, and less connection to Brahms the doll. Not to mention, that the family in part two broke one of his rules which was NO Guests... yet....he's outside and everything is okay until Will picks on Brahms. Yeah, I'm confused. BB2 had potential.
If we are going to keep the route of the strange entity why not slightly hint it in the original one. We were lead to believe that this doll was created from Brahms and he had the connection between it. Not the other way around...If we are going to ignore a key character at least tell us what happened. Maybe I missed it? I'll admit that I possibly missed such an important detail. Wouldn't it make sense if Brahms died then the doll would lose it's power? There again we go back to the entity. Which makes sense as a back story just not being randomly added in. I didn't hate the second one. Let me point that out. I just didn't feel it was consistent to the first film. It felt like a strange offshoot.
The first one was elegant, it was memorable, and it was cohesive. There was no real error in it. I liked the surprise twist ending. I honestly didn't see it coming. That was effective. BB2 seemed like it wanted to recreate that ending but made me confused along the way. The story in B1 was just better in my opinion than BB2.
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