Movies that adapt TV series seem risky to begin with, but when those cinematic “reboots” radically transform the source, matters become even dicier. That was the situation that greeted 2012’s 21 Jump Street, a tongue in cheek take on the 1980s teen action-drama. Given the cheesiness of the original, comedy probably was the right way to go, but it came with risks.

Happily, 21 Jump Street did a lot more right than wrong and turned into a pretty terrific little comedic romp – and a successful one, too. With a US gross of $138 million, a sequel became a done deal, and we got that second chapter via 2014’s 22 Jump Street.

After a gig undercover at a high school, police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get a new assignment: to play college students and locate the source of a new drug that killed a student. This leads to challenges in their friendship as well as new relationships with others they meet in school as they balance college life and their investigation.

Going into 2014, I viewed directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as a fine filmmaking team. After all, I’d really enjoyed their prior two movies - 21 Jump Street and 2009’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - as terrific entertainment, so why wouldn’t I like their two 2014 releases as well?

Strike one: the erratic and disappointing Lego Movie. Everyone else seemed to love it, but I thought Lego lacked much inventiveness or cleverness. Oh well, I still could look forward to 22 Jump Street, right?

Strike two – and a bigger whiff than Lego, in my opinion. Lego fell short for me, but it still had some good moments. On the other hand, 22 Jump becomes nearly lifeless, as it does more than rehash the same kinds of gags as its predecessor but with weaker results.

Actually, despite a few missteps, the first act seems reasonably entertaining. The biggest problems come from too many self-referential jokes, as the movie winks at itself too consciously; these gags don’t fly and feel forced.

Otherwise, the initial half-hour or so delivers a mix of amusing bits. It gives us a fairly satisfying combination of action and comedy to set up the story in a likeable manner.

Once it delves more heavily into its main themes, though, 22 falters. Much of the movie concentrates on Jenko’s relationship with football buddy Zook (Wyatt Russell) as well as Schmidt’s romance with fellow student Maya (Amber Stevens). The entertainment nearly grinds to a halt as the movie explores these avenues in a largely tedious manner; although it continues to attempt lots of comedy, these moments tend to fall flat.

The longer the film goes, the less satisfying it becomes. It diverges into various story elements that seem uninspired and that simply tend to plod. When the tale should go to a higher level during a big spring break segment, instead it just grinds its gears with lackluster comedy and action.

I assume all involved will give it another try via 23 Jump Street; 22 made a lot of money, so a third chapter seems inevitable. Hopefully it’ll come with more inspiration, as 22 delivers a mostly flat, lackluster comedy.

Footnote: stick around through the end of the credits for a tag scene.

22 Jump Street appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. For SD-DVD, this was a solid presentation.

For the most part, sharpness looked good. At times, wider shots tended to be a little soft, but those examples weren’t terribly intrusive. Much of the film appeared pretty accurate and concise. No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement remained minor. Source flaws also failed to create problems.

In terms of colors, 22 Jump Street went with “action-standard” orange and teal. As much as I dislike those choices, they made sense here; 22 operates as a parody of Michael Bay-style movies, so I can understand the colors, and they work fine. Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows showed good delineation. Overall, this was a pleasing presentation.

Similar thoughts greeted the good Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of 22 Jump Street. I felt the soundscape delivered an involving experience in which the action scenes offered a nice sense of impact. The film packed plenty of these elements; we got many instances of gunfire, explosions, and other lively tidbits. Overall, the mix filled out the room in a satisfying manner.

Audio quality was positive. Speech came across as natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music showed good range, and effects offered a nice sense of impact. These were the kind of loud, impressive elements one would anticipate, as they showed solid clarity. This was a good soundtrack.

When we shift to the DVD’s extras, we find an audio commentary from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller and actors Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. All four sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast/performances, sets and locations, editing and deleted scenes, stunts, music and other areas.

If you want a sober examination of filmmaking topics, stay away from this chat. The directors and actors joke around much of the time and make this a light, jovial piece – which is good and bad.

It’s good because it adds a lot of fun to the discussion, but it’s bad because it means we don’t learn as much as we might like about the movie. Oh, we get a decent amount of info along the way, but the laughing and happy talk dominate the track. Still, this is a mostly entertaining commentary and an easy listen.

Five Deleted & Extended Scenes fill a total of 14 minutes, 48 seconds. We see “Prologue” (2:53), “Mr. Walters and Eric” (5:11), “Vietnamese Jesus” (1:26), “Schmidt Visits Maya” (3:13) and “Booker” (2:29). These all tend to be pretty interesting – well, except for the tedious “Vietnamese Jesus”. They throw in some cameos and usually seem fun.

We can view the deleted scenes with or without commentary from Lord and Miller. They tell us a little about the sequences and let us know why the moments got cut in their informative chat.

A featurette called The Perfect Couple of Directors goes for nine minutes, 36 seconds and features Lord, Miller, Tatum, Hill, and actors Amber Stevens, Keith and Kenny Lucas, Ice Cube, Jillian Bell and Wyatt Russell. We get thoughts about the sequel as well as the impact Lord and Miller had on the production. A few good notes emerge but this usually seems pretty fluffy.

For more cut footage, we head to the four-minute, seven-second Line-O-Rama. It focuses on the Mercedes character as she comments on Schmidt’s age. These offer some amusement.

The disc opens with ads for The Interview, Sex Tape, The Equalizer (2014), When the Game Stands Tall and Home Sweet Hell. No trailer for 22 Jump Street shows up here.

After the pleasures of the first film, I went into 22 Jump Street with high hopes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t satisfy, as it provides a slow comedy that gets less interesting as it goes. The DVD comes with very good picture and audio as well as some interesting bonus materials. Hopefully 23 Jump Street will work better than this forgettable sequel.