Movie Review: Pup Star: Better 2Gether

Ah Shih Tzu, here we go again...

Turns out, one of my most popular reviews was for Pup Star, which I reviewed a couple months back. Upon asking some fans what movie they wanted to see next, I got a overwhelming response for the other Pup Star movies. Here is the first review in case you haven't read it yet . Anyway, Better 2Gether is much like the first movie, except for the fact that this time it takes on a more "Prince, and the Pauper" (More like Pawper, haha get it?) type story line. Tiny is once again dognapped, but this time is replaced by another Yorkie who looks just like her named Scrappy. 

Better 2Gether immediately opens up with a music video of Tiny's hit new single, "Is This for Real". Afterwards we see Tiny on the Jimmy Kibble Show (Not voiced by Jimmy Kimmel, mind you), Tiny announces that she is excited for the upcoming season of Pup Star where she will have to defend her title. Upon being asked about her dog family however, she goes quiet saying that she never knew her dog family, as she has been with her humans for as long as she can remember. The movie then switches over to a place called "The Barkeasy" (These dog puns are going to be the death of me). Inside it's shown that the owner is none other than Bark, the dog who I thought went to dog jail at the end of the last film, whatever, all that matters at this moment is that apparently cats can now speak in this world as we first see with Kitty Purrey. The cat is kicked off stage because dog's are racist, and we are introduced to Tiny's doppelganger, Scrappy. Scrappy busts out what seems to be a sick rap, as everyone appears to like it. Bark seeing Scrappy gets a idea. He tries to persuade Scrappy to take Tiny's place in Pup Star, and throw the competition so then he can come back next season, and become a star again. Scrappy declines though as she has no reason to, but Bark will give her a reason. He sends a garbage collector to toss out her makeshift home, which forces her to go back to Bark, and agree to his plan. Kano, the dog bounty hunter also makes a comeback, and with a new ridiculous human sidekick as well.

During a press conference, Bark unleashes a skunk into the room, making everyone, but Tiny run out. Roland, the human grabs Tiny, and takes her away before Scrappy almost perfectly takes her place. Later that night on the first episode of the new Pup Star, Scrappy barely scrapes by as her style of singing doesn't exactly matches Tiny's. Meanwhile the real Tiny is taken to the Barkeasy where she is locked in a poorly built cage. The cage breaks apart, and somehow she gets into some clothes before making her escape. Tiny tries to pass through "Cat Alley", only to be stopped by Kitty Purrey, mistaking her for Scrappy she asks Tiny for her long overdue toll. Tiny manages to escape though, and runs into a group of dogs who happen to be Scrappy's friends. Although much rather then telling them outright that she isn't Scrappy, she instead pretends to be her, so she can have some fun with "The Dawg Pound", as they call themselves. Back in Chicago with Scrappy, Scrappy finally gets to know what having a proper home is like as Lou, and her family unknowingly bring Scrappy into their house where she gets into all sorts of wacky hi-jinks. Later on, the street dogs head to a Disco Bar where they allow underage dogs apparently. We then get a very uncanny dance sequence, similar to the bongos scene from the first movie, but worse. At least they fully animated the dog this time, but oh my god, please euthanize this demon spawn.

The next day, the bounty hunter, and his silly human sidekick, find The Dawg Pound's home, and set it on fire, forcing the dogs to leave (Since the dogs are sentient, shouldn't this be arson?). This is when Tiny finally tells the others that she is not Scrappy, understandably the dogs are upset at her for lying when they don't know what happened to their friend. Tiny runs away crying, making her way back to the Barkeasy for whatever reason. The other dogs catch up though, and tell her that it's okay because they like her anyway, and now they'll help her find Scrappy. They sneak into the Barkeasy where they see on the TV Scrappy in a interview. The dogs are noticed by Bark, and his accomplices, and get chased. They return to the Disco place where the freaky disco dog distracts the bad guys. Meanwhile behind the bar counter, Tiny finds a box addressed to Scrappy. The box was apparently shown to Scrappy before by the disco dog, Shampoo who was close to her mother. Wanting to find out more about Scrappy, Tiny opens the box which shows a picture of three Yorkies, a cute little mama Yorkie, and two small puppies. Tiny realizes that she, and Scrappy are siblings. The dogs then escape with Shampoo, and his human friend, Magic, and drive off to Cleveland in hopes of catching up to Scrappy. 

By the time they arrive at the Rock-and-Roll hall of fame however, Scrappy is already gone. At least we get to see a bunch of dog-themed music puns, and jokes during this sequence. They are almost caught by the bad guys, but are able to get away thanks to Rocky, one of Shampoo's old friends. The group then meet with a new John Ratzenburger dog named Salty who is a captain of a ship. He agrees to help them out as he was heading to Chicago anyway. Now this is where my brain broke. You literally cannot take a boat from Cleveland to Chicago as it is land locked, which according to any dictionary means; a landlocked state or landlocked country is a sovereign state entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. Now look up an image of where Cleveland lies on the map. The boat can not go anywhere. I should probably calm down now before I get too off track. Anyway, the dogs somehow make it to Chicago by boat, and are able to get into the building that Pup Star is being hosted at. Tiny makes it to the backstage just in time, but she doesn't need to do anything as Scrappy decides to reveal herself as she felt bad about lying to everyone. Tiny approaches her, and accepts her apology, then has Lou put their lockets together to find that they are a perfect match. Now with Tiny back in the competition she asks if they'll allow a duet, and because this is poorly put together the judges allow it. Tiny, and Scrappy improv up a perfect song, and they win Pup Star effortlessly. Scrappy is adopted into Tiny's family (At least I think), and we all have a happy ending. At least until the next Pup Star season, you'd think they would increase security after this... anyway, the movie now ends.

So, was this movie any better then the first one? Absolutely not, in fact it's almost worse. Like I said the last time folks, just because it has talking animals in it doesn't make it quality child entertainment. Once again Pup Star gets a 1 out of 5 Paws up.