I walked into the screening for “Once Upon a Deadpool” having no idea what I was going to encounter. Having never seen a “Deadpool” movie, I was not prepared for the lump of humor and hackneyed action scenes that is the PG-13 recut of “Deadpool 2”.

Essentially what 20th Century Fox attempts to do here is to censor the movie while adding a narrator for a family-friendly environment.

The movie follows Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds) as he, after losing a loved one, tries desperately to create a family for himself. However, parts of the film have been so excessively cut that elements of the story seem to disappear and the gory spaces that remain are filled and stitched together with enormous amounts of simple and vulgar humor. Morals are overwhelmed by humor and unpredictable action, while character relationships seem shallow and forced.

The PG-13 concept seems to be creatively done (although in my opinion the gore and cursing put it out of its kid-friendly range), but this movie would be a bad choice for an introduction to the Deadpool series. That being said, the whole idea seems to be a holiday joke by the directors of “Deadpool 2”, meant for viewers of the original film instead of its official PG-13 audience.

–Dec. 14, 2018–