Sequels: Love em or Hate em?

SPOILERS!!!!!!  YOU"VE BEEN WARNED!!!

As a lead in to the eventual blitzkrieg of Marvel Cinematic Universe reviews that will be coming to this site, I've decided to write a post covering a topic that continues to disenchant people with the magic of Hollywood: the sequel.  In a more innocent age, sequels were almost always let downs at the box office and almost never turned a profit.  But as the popularity for movies grew, so too did the demand for more adventures with Marty McFly, Luke Skywalker, Batman, and Buzz Lightyear.  Now, we live in an age where the only films to look forward to are in fact sequels, as the movie world out west is slipping deeper and deeper into a more monetary driven, less artistic driven area of time.

As we all gear up for the epicness that is going to be The Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron, I'd like to take a step back and admire the best and despise some of the worst sequels/prequels Hollywood has ever made.  Why?  Because a franchise is only as strong as it's weakest film and we may be in store for a nightmare era of Cars 3, Frozen 2, The Hangover part 4, and another freaking Ghostbusters movie.

Sequels often give us more time to enjoy with our favorite characters, but it's only a small percentage of the time that we fully enjoy our extended time.  They also expand the universes they create and give us a wider point of view in a world we only dipped our feet into a few years prior.  Most are mediocre, quite a few are bad, but there are still a few that not only build up on the success of their predecessor, but also expand upon it and improve upon it.

Criteria

1. Theatrical Releases ONLY
2. Original Sequels ONLY (No LOTR or Harry Potters)

With that said, let's take a good look at three of the finest sequels Hollywood has ever come out with, starting with two that came our just last year:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 


To say that Captain America is our collectively least favorite member of the Avengers is probably an understatement.  After all, while he is indeed a super soldier with superhuman strength and stamina, he doesn't have the personality of a Black Widow or an Iron Man, or the incredible power of a Hulk or a Thor.  And the campy costume he wore in The Avengers was not exactly intimidating.  Then The Winter Soldier came out and completely changed our perspectives of the character.  We learn not only has S.H.I.E.L.D. been compromised, but it has been so for years by Hydra.  In a twisting, action packed thriller of a movie, we find that even victory has it's price, as despite having brought their former employing agency to it's knees, both Captain Rogers and Natasha Romanov find themselves as potential enemies of the state, being questioned about events that they could not possibly control or reveal due to safety reasons, and needing to pursue their foes and battle their demons on their own.  This film is the perfect lead in to Age of Ultron, as we may find some of our heroic friendships turn into bitter rivalries due to differing views on keeping the peace on Earth.


How to Train Your Dragon 2

Dreamwork's best CGI film is given a sequel that is not only leaps and bounds better than it's competition (this film got ROBBED at the Oscars), but may one day upend The Prince of Egypt as their best animated film in general.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 is not a direct sequel.  Some time has passed between when Hiccup and Toothless showed the rest of Berk about how vikings and dragons could live in harmony and the beginning to the movie.  We find Hiccup wanting to dodge his future responsibility to replacing his father as Chief of Berk, and just want to enjoy his time with Toothless and Astrid.  This brings him to discover a massive army of dragons lead by the wicked Drago, who intends to conquer the world with his dragons.  This also leads him to reunite with his long lost mother, who like him, has a passion for taking care of dragons and protecting them from those who would destroy them.  Hiccup, like many fantasy hero protagonists, must overcome his own doubts and persona tragedies to save his people and the dragons he's come to love, perfectly capturing one of the singularly most important lessons of the Hero's Journey.


The Dark Knight

What can be said about this sequel that hasn't already been said?  I have one thing to say: if a film as good as Batman Begins can teach me a message about the criminal mind that this film is going to just throw out the window, GOD DAMN!  The Dark Knight is now deemed as the greatest super hero movie ever made, for it's dark, edgy, intense take on a difficult to manage cast of characters that ranged from extremely virtuous to intensely psychotic.  This film makes one question one's purpose in life and could perhaps one day make one doubt themselves to he extent of becoming someone like Bruce Wayne.  Aaron Eckhart is a stunning Harvey Dent, while Heath Ledger is a petrifyingly amazing Joker, who even blew Jack Nicholson out of the water.  This is one of those films that I never want to end whenever I've seen it.  It starts on a somber note and ends on a somber note, without being emotionally pandering or unsuccessful at portraying what it wanted us to see or know.  Can any of you guess why it's my all time favorite movie...



Now let's look at some not so great ones...



Spider Man 3

It was certainly not the premise or the story that people hated about this film, or at least for me.  It was easily the actor's portrayals of some of these roles, particularly our three leads (Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco), alongside a weak performance by the horrifically miscast Topher Grace as Venom.  While Franco wasn't bad per say, he was exceptionally annoying with his brooding and the nasty malicious attitude he takes towards Peter and MJ.  Dunst flat out insults the female acting community with this Disney Princess style performance, and need I bring up emo Peter?  Ugh, this movie still irritates me with all of it's potential going to waste on such odd performances.  Granted, Sam Raimi was pretty much on the end of his rope at this point, but I think he could have easily done something with this movie.  This is not a passable film in my eyes...




Fantasia 2000

In a film that was probably 60 years in the making, how could Walt Disney's nephew screw up THIS badly with one of their most cherished products?  Sure there are plenty of amazing things in this film (Rhapsody in Blue, The Pines of Rome come to mind), but the film is such a commercialized pile of crap that it makes any good segment just as bad as the horrendous cameos.  Fantasia was probably as close to a work of genius as Walt Disney would perhaps ever get, but it's sequel is far from it.  Steve Martin, Bette Midler, and Penn and Teller are here at perhaps their worst, and completely ruin the mood created by some really solid segments.  But even the segments are disjointed and confusing.  The Carnival of the Animals is definitely not a Fantasia worthy product while the beginning segment still confuses the crap out of me.  All I have to say is, I guess Jeffery Katzenberg really was the brains behind the renaissance, because this was not Roy Disney at his best...




Trust me, there are a wide variety of poor sequels that I could go on and on about, but I really do want to keep this short and avoid losing the point.  Sequels are not going away until a succession of them bomb miserably, but people will never lose sight of the mediocrity that is a fair share of movies that get sequels (Hot Tub Time Machine, Madagascar, The Hangover come to mind).  There will always be a gem to thrill us, but most are avoidable at best.  I highlighted a few of the best in my Top 10 favorite movies, but I can't speak for dozens of others.