Yes, Piranha 3DD is almost a carbon-copy of its predecessor, but on a (slightly) lower budget and with less creativity. For this entry, the producers brought in John Gulager to direct. The director of the Feast trilogy, Gulager has shown that he has a way with over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, gross-out material. But, he's given so little to work with here that it doesn't matter. Let's face it, you come to a movie called Piranha 3DD to see the piranha devour swimmers and the entire film is simply a lead-up to that occurrence. The opening scene (which features cameos by Gary Busey and Clu Gulager, John's father) doesn't make any sense, and we are then treated to two scenes where friends of Maddy are attacked in the lake. Maddy's follows these clues and then the piranhas find their way into the water park...and that's the movie. The only truly interesting thing about the script (which took three people to write) is that it lifts an unused idea from Jaws 2 by having Lake Victoria now be deserted.

With essentially zero story going for it, Piranha 3DD must find other ways to impress the audience. The first film was full of nudity and the title implies that we'll get even more here. And while there's certainly more nudity than we see in the average film, it wasn't the flesh show that the title promises. Then, we have stunt casting. David Hasselhoff plays himself spoofing himself as the guest of honor at the water park's grand opening. This is meant to be funny, but Hasselhoff's act has become so corny that it's almost sad. It's great that he can make fun of his own image, but we've seen it all before. So, all that we have left are the piranha attack scenes. However, given the smaller scale of this movie, they are quite tame and brief compared to the first film. I was very surprised by just how (relatively) litter fish violence gore that there was. Piranha 3DD then must pin its hopes on a decidedly gross scene involving sex and piranhas which feels like something that Gulager would feel at home with. And while this scene does yield a funny line, it's not as shocking at the movie wants it to be.

You know what is shocking? The fact that Piranha 3DD runs only 71 minutes before the credits (which are laden with bloopers) begin. 71 minutes? They should enter this into the Oscar category for Best Short Film. This only serves to illustrate the lack of ideas in the movie. We get characters, we get some boobs and we get some fish and suddenly it's over. I know that some found the first film to be "fun", but the only audience members who would find this movie appealing would be 12-year old boys, and they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near this mess. This may be cliched, but I'll say it, this movie bites.

Piranha 3DD proves that movies can only go downhill after the cow explodes on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of The Weinstein Company Home Entertainment/Anchor Bay. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials. The image is never overly dark or bright and the colors look fantastic, most notably reds. The picture has a nice amount of detail and we can make out textures on objects. The image has impressive depth, even in the 2D version. (The set also includes a 3D Blu-ray, but it was not screened for this review.) The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.4 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. While not a perfect track, it is rather lively and we very good surround sound during the attack sequences. The sounds of the piranha and the moving water are nicely detailed and we can pick out individual noises. The stereo effects are well-done, highlighting sounds from off-screen. A few scenes involve explosions, which are nicely reproduced by the subwoofer.

The Piranha 3DD Blu-ray Disc contains a few extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director John Gulager, Producer Joel Soisson, and Co-Writer Marcus Dunstan. The Disc contains three DELETED SCENES which run about 3 minutes. Oddly all three focus on the Big Dave (Adrian Martinez) character, who I found incredibly annoying, so I had no problem with them being cut from the film. "The Story Behind the DD" (8 minutes) is a fairly-standard EPK which contains many clips from the movie and comments from Panabaker, Hasselhoff, and Gulager (who is turning into his father). This is mainly an informational piece and doesn't really provide any insight into the movie. "The Hofftastic World of David Hasselhoff" (2 minutes) is an interview with the Baywatch icon, who also shows us around his trailer. "Busey's Bloopers" (2 minutes) offers odd comments from Busey both on-set and from the press junket -- more sad than funny. "Wet and Wild with David Koechner" (2 minutes) is brief on-set interview with the funny-man. The final extra is "A Lesson with John McEnroe" (4 minutes), a short which seemingly has nothing to do with Piranha 3DD. (The director of this apparently made some internet shorts for the promotion of the movie.)