An extraterrestrial menace, once thought neutralized, returns to Earth and threatens the entire planet. Predictably, this draws the interest of the Men in Black, but as the case is so old, none of the current agents know how to handle it. Cue the mothballed Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who’s collected from a mind-wiped retirement and reunited with his old suit, gizmos and memories. K’s return sits well with Agent J (Will Smith), as he’s been struggling to train a suitable replacement since his mentor’s untimely departure at the end of the first film.

Harmless but toothless, _MiB2_ replays the hits but lacks the careful balance and memorable secondary charms that made the original so effective. Running short on fun little bits like the opening confrontation at the Mexican border or the baby delivery scene, the sequel is more flat and businesslike. As K is now secure in his role as an unflappable field agent, the film misses his dazzled rookie’s perspective; someone to gape and goggle at all the weird shapes and colors wriggling under the noses of oblivious New Yorkers. Rosario Dawson’s character is a flimsy effort to replicate that. She plays an adorably doe-eyed pizza waitress who witnesses an alien hold-up, but after a flirty first encounter with the agency, she’s shuffled off screen and forgotten until the climax.

No one should’ve expected a villainous performance on par with Vincent D’Onofrio’s man-skinned cockroach, but Lara Flynn Boyle’s tentacled space queen is still a major step down. She’s all unwarranted arrogance and cold sex appeal, a stuffy foil who waves unconvincing green CG appendages in lieu of a more distinct personality. I’m not sure Famke Janssen would’ve been better in the role, as originally cast, but she can’t have been much worse. The best thing I can say about Boyle is that she adequately fills out the skimpy lingerie she’s inherited from the wardrobe department.

Comparisons to a franchise’s first outing are rarely favorable to the sequel. Such is the case, across the board, for _Men in Black II_. Most of the best jokes fall before the law of diminishing returns, a long preamble hinders Jones and Smith’s efforts to recapture the magic of their first pairing, and the light primary storyline is a case more befitting of the Saturday morning cartoon files than the big screen. Call it fair but forgettable.