Although ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ isn’t quite as full of original moments as its predecessor, the film is still full of funny moments even if it is hit-or-miss at times.

‘Anchorman 2’ begins with the often quoted Ron Burgundy, of course played by Will Ferrell, out of a job after being fired by veteran anchorman Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford). After hitting rock bottom and becoming a Sea World host, Burgundy is recruited to an anchorman spot in the newly created 24 hour new channel GNN. Soon he is reunited with his trusted team of Channel 4 Anchorman to begin his comeback as the greatest Anchorman of all time.

I was a lot more impressed with ‘Anchorman 2’ than I expected. It was by no means a perfect film, but there was plenty of hilarious moments that I did not expect and more satisfying cameos than one of the Muppet movies. At this point some of the Ron Burgundy quotes and gags are starting to seem a little formulaic, but this sequel has done a good job at building up moments and callbacks that worked well in the first film.

As a sequel, ‘Anchorman 2’ hits the mark. The film is much bigger, including an extremely epic sequel to one of the best moments of the first ‘Anchorman’, and moves each character along in a satisfying way. Paul Rudd’s Brian Fantana has embraced the beginning of the 80s as a kitten photographer, sports anchor Champ Kind (David Koechner) runs a fried “chicken” restaurant and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) has been presumed dead. The whole movie is in essence a collection of great comedic talents being ridiculous together, and for the most part it works.

One thing that really surprised me in the movie was its commentary on how news is consumed in the modern era. Burgundy and his team choose to report on nothing but fluff pieces and small stories blown out of proportion but they still receive huge ratings. It’s not hard to see the parallels with GNN and national news outlets like CNN and Fox News, and the film does satire well.

I really liked ‘Anchorman 2’. It was not quite to the point where I would call it a modern ‘Airplane’, but It has the kind of absurd atmosphere the comedy classic paved the way for. Will Ferrell is still funny even after being barraged with Ron Burgundy everywhere from Conan to Sportscenter the last few weeks. The best part of the film is that most of the humor is visual or in the moment, so hopefully this one won’t be quoted quite as relentlessly as the first film.

4/5