May mean well, but its soapy plot and comparatively flabby execution make for a surprisingly tepid combination.

What becomes interesting is how Ace and Wallace, who have managed to stay outside the violence for the most part, start to get pulled in once they uncover information about their fathers.

City of Men, in Portuguese with subtitles, never quite achieves the dramatic impact of the Oscar-nominated drama that inspired it.

City of Men is an intriguing but incompletely developed heir to the far superior City of God.

There isn't enough heft to the protagonists. City of Men tries to flesh out the victims of harsh favela life, but too often they register as scurrying figures in a human ant farm.

Where City of God was ferocious, grandiose, and glamorous, this movie is modest and intimate, acoustic where the other was desperate to electrify.

I wish I hadn't seen the masterpiece City of God before the current City of Men, which is a more conventional story in the same setting. Judged on its own merits, the latter film still makes a considerable emotional impact.

The story might have been lifted from an old Warner Brothers melodrama, though it's smartly paced, sincerely delivered, and consistently absorbing.

Along comes a sequel of sorts, City of Men, but the difference is clear right from the first frame: Meirelles is gone and so is the intensity. What's left is a mix of credible sociology and tired melodrama, along with a palpable sense of déjà vu.

City of Men at times seems like City of God-lite, which, mind you, still provides for some heavy moments.