'Norm Of The North: The Keys To The Kingdom' Trailer: Yes, This Is A Sequel

Do you remember the polar bear movie starring Rob Schneider? With a talking bear that decides to visit New York City? Neither do many people, but for some reason, we're getting a sequel.

Norm of the North: The Keys to the Kingdom is the follow-up to the 2016 Trevor Wall movie Norm of the North, which follows up on the titular bear, now voiced by Andrew Toth, as he gets the keys to the city because people love talking bears, I don't know. And in a direct rip-off of the far superior talking bear movie, Paddington 2, he gets framed for a crime he didn't commit. But judging by the Norm of the North: The Keys to the Kingdom trailer, this sequel is nowhere on the same level as Paddington 2.

The poor animation and the potty humor of the first Norm of the North — which for a while held the illustrious 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — becomes even more egregious in what's basically a direct-to-video sequel, except it's getting a limited theatrical release. The awful early 2000s video game cutscene animation coupled with a completely nonsense plot makes The Keys to the Kingdom look profoundly awful. But hey, it was pretty funny when that polar bear fell on that helicopter, right?

I'm just baffled that Norm of the North — which in addition to receiving a critical bashing, bombed at the box office — received a sequel at all. But hey, any way to give kids more mindless movie fodder.

Here is the official synopsis to Norm of the North: The Keys to the Kingdom:

Norm, the newly crowned polar bear king of the arctic, travels to New York to accept the keys to the city. But Norm goes from hero to villain when he's framed for a crime he didn't commit! While he is trying to clear his good name, back in the Arctic a vicious bottled-water company has moved in and is starting to steal the ice. Norm must rely on his friends, both old and new, to clear his good name and help save his kingdom in a winner take all hockey match in this Dove Family-Approved for all ages film.

Norm of the North: The Keys to the Kingdom hits select theaters and video on demand on January 11, 2019.