In 1980, God returned to the big screen with Oh, God! Book II. This time, he visits a young girl named Louanne (Tracy Richards) dealing with the separation of her parents (played Suzanne Pleshette and David Birney). Her dad is an adman dating a woman who is given the defining characteristics of having large breasts and obliviousness to Tracy.
God appears to Tracy with a goal. Promote God. He sets a few rules, specifically she cannot tell any adults. So she enlists her friends and they start putting up signs that say Think God. She gets kicked out of school and is sent to see a psychiatrist. The film culminates with God walking in on a group of psychiatrists and challenging them.
While I get what they were going for by having God appear to a child, it never works quite as effectively. For one thing, it is a lot easier to write off a kid believing in an imaginary friend as a phase than a grown man claiming he can see God. I question the likelihood that a kid would get hauled before a psychiatric tribunal to determine her mental health. I suspect it would be written off as cute things precocious little kids do.
The other problem is the film rehashes the same questions. Like Jerry, Tracy wants to know why there is suffering. Why choose me? Admittedly, these are questions that come up repeatedly, but still…it would have been nice for them to tackle some other tough questions.
Burns is good as God, but the film tends to drag when he is not around. The overall feeling is this was rushed to the floor, even though there is a three year gap from the first film. Ultimately, I did not find myself enjoying the complete retread.
Tripping Through Gateways 
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