What a fantastic movie. I, honestly, never even heard of the first one. But for this, that was ok. It pretty much brought you up to speed on what happened in the last in the first few minutes of the film without any general loss of story.
As a fan since childhood of magic, I'm kinda ashamed of myself that I didn't notice this sooner. It was only from the lookout of a friend of mine that I even went in the first place. It had lots of amusement and I loved the actual story behind it and the whole pitting of the good guys against the bad guys sorta thing. With just a touch of 007 oooo and ahhh.
However, that all being said I felt that the choice of casting could had been a little bit better. It's a mix of no name actors, ones outside of their prime, or trying to keep alive something that's no longer there. I say it as I look at actors like Daniel Radcliffe who played Harry Potter. Ever since those movies, he really hasn't done anything, and this is just another example of that. Or even Morgan Freeman (And don't get me wrong, I'll see even the worst movie with Morgan Freeman in it) as it felt like his role was just a rehashed Shawshank Redemption movie. Literally. Who are the rest of these guys now?
Overall, the story was well played out. Having that magic twist it's different from a lot of other things that are out there. It has quite a bit of good chuckles to it and I could see myself seeing it again once it's on TV or DVD.