The original already had a little bit of that sly humour, and a hint of that sarcastic tone, but is still at its heart an actual horror movie. The New Batch though changes it up and has that light-hearted, hokey, meta-humour in spades. It's a comedy. But it doesn't suffer for it, Gremlins 2 is an absolute joy.
Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time.