Movies or Films where the Prequel, Sequel or Reboot was better than the original?

[Army Dreamer]

So it seems like most of the votes go to T2 and 2T.

[Rawrajishxc]

Agree with this

Also agreeing with this.

[Miyagie]

I always groan at Terminator 2 being mentioned, the first Terminator is so much better, I don't know what goes on in people's heads.

There's only a few real examples, Aliens is so much different from Alien that its easy to like it better, even if it isn't definitively a better movie, I know I like it better.

Evil Dead 2 is a sequel/remake that is better than Evil Dead.

As someone that actually liked Jurassic World, my mind still boggles at anyone saying its better than Jurassic Park, it just makes no sense.
Mission Impossible 2 is almost unwatchable, so I don't get that one either.

I'm pretty steadfast in preferring originals over sequels, and for remakes, I usually like them as much as the original at best, for example I liked the original Thing and True Grit and also the remakes.

This.
T1 was better, T2 was just a outstanding action movie.

[eschatological]

I too prefer T1. It has more of a horror vibe to it, almost like an unstoppable Frankenstein monster against just a puny couple of humans.

Once Arnie becomes a "good Terminator," it's just always terminator vs terminator, thus making it an action movie with huge set pieces between these better-than-human robots.

[buck008]

• Ben Hur 1959 was the best remake, nothing else comes close

• Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars film.

• Spiderman 2 is slightly better than 1.

• Toy Story 2 is the best Pixar film.

So, off topic and all, but Toy Story 2 is the best Pixar film??? No way. The best Pixar film is Finding Nemo, followed by Wall-E and Incredibles. Hell, I think I'd put Up then Coco next and round out a Toy Story-less top five for Pixar. The first one deserves its props for being the classic that it is, but Pixar has done better work.

[Fencers]

Evil Dead 2013.

[SoundOfGuns]

I would say...
Back to the Future 2 and Star Wars: Empire Strikes back were both a bit better than the first parts...

[Femininity]

Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park?

Put down the crack pipe.

I can't think of a single way in which JW is superior to JP.

[Mirishka]

Ya...when Sam Neill turned Laura Dern to see it..and they both looked up...in sheer wonder, I felt it! It was a magnificent awe-inspiring feeling.

THIS. The way he fumbled to grab her head and turn it was just perfect, it screamed 'my brain is so in awe of what I'm seeing that I can barely operate this hand.'

[Utinil]

How has nobody mentioned Wizard of Oz. The 1939 film that is widely considered to be one of the best movies of all time is actually the 6th time the book had been made into a film (can be considered 5th, 7th, or 8th instead depending on how you classify some adaptations).

Mad Max: Fury Road is best of that series.

Not even close. Fury Road had nothing going for it except action, no decent plot. Thunderdome and Road Warrior are both miles ahead of it.

I agree with the common thoughts of Terminator 2. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Empire Strikes back, Ocean's 11, The Two Towers (although I can understand those upset because it was less true to the book). I am not sure which I would put as the best (none are great) but any of the Friday the 13th movies are better than the original.

My most controversial opinion: The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather. Before you get out your pitchforks, both are absolutely incredible movies and if I were to create a list of favorite movies of all time they would be right next to each other. near the top. The Godfather 3 on the other hand, well lets just pretend it doesn't exist.

[draynay]

My most controversial opinion: The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.

Not that controversial, they're both so close together, I like the first better but anybody who prefers Part 2 has plenty good reason for feeling that way, its one of the best sequels ever made.

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I too prefer T1. It has more of a horror vibe to it, almost like an unstoppable Frankenstein monster against just a puny couple of humans.

Once Arnie becomes a "good Terminator," it's just always terminator vs terminator, thus making it an action movie with huge set pieces between these better-than-human robots.

I always point to The Terminator as my favorite monster movie and favorite movie monster. T2 only had one really good scene where Sarah goes to kill Dyson and was mostly just action besides that.

[Dwarfhamster]

Terminator 2, though the first one was pretty great too. Dark Knight is infinitely better than Batman Begins. The Battlestar Galactica reboot is way better than the original.

[Kyphael]

Terminator 2 is probably the most universally agreed-upon example of this.

This. I've met people who have never seen Terminator, and thought Judgment Day was the first and just part of a fancy title. Empire Strikes Back is probably the second best example.

My original opinion (I think, haven't seen the rest of the thread) is X2 and Spider-man 2.

[McNeil]

No way that Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park. There is so much wrong with the two World movies that its more of a dumb comedy with a poor script and fancy dino's. Not that the other two sequels were that much better, but the first movie simply outshines all of them and is in a league of its own.

As for some of mine:

- Star Wars Episode 5 is better than 4, and for the prequels Episode 3 is better than 1 and 2
- Surprised someone mentioned this one, the second Ouija (Origin or Evil) movie is a lot better than the first
- Child's Play 2 is the best of the Chucky movies, still love the first aswell
- I prefer the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot from 2003 over the original from 1974. Its also the first one I saw and it holds up better for me
- The third Harry Potter movie is probably my favorite, but haven't seen them in a long time
- I slightly prefer Back to the Future 2 over the first one, both are really good though

[Mojo03]

Terminator 2, though the first one was pretty great too. Dark Knight is infinitely better than Batman Begins. The Battlestar Galactica reboot is way better than the original.

Honestly, the parts without the joker in Dark Knight aren't that great, where as Batman Begins is pretty solid all around.

[msdos]

Can't believe no one has said Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. These 2 are top 10. These Marvel picks are such low hanging fruit lol.

Honorable mention: Matrix Reloaded. I watched it more than the first and I thought it was more fun than the first, not sure if it was without a doubt better though, goes in honorable mention.

[Nellise]

- The third Harry Potter movie is probably my favorite, but haven't seen them in a long time

Surprised no one else said this yet. The first 2 HP movies aren't good at all. 3 is the best movie (if not adaptation), 4 is good too, then the rest just seem to jam in as much plot as they could since the books were so long. The rest aren't bad, but they felt more like they were hitting specific plot points rather than trying to make a solid movie (this is how I felt about Solo for another sequel/prequel that kinda fails for the same reason).

[RampageBW1]

I don't like any of the Harry Potter movies because I made the mistake of reading the books first.

How is that a mistake? Well, lets see. Because it makes me nitpick the changes the movies made. Like the opening scene in the Goblet of Fire. The Quidditch match, and the subsequent Death Eater attack was kinda a big deal, and showed you how dangerous the Death Eaters were, and yet in the movie? IIRC it was barely there, as if it were an after thought. I mean, I guess I hadn't seen Goblet of Fire in quite some time, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

I haven't even watched the Half-Blood Prince or The Deathly-Hallows.

Sorry for that little rant there. XD

[Daedius]

- Aliens
- Dawn of the Dead
- Terminator 2
- The Dark Knight
- Evil Dead 2
- Back to the Future 2

[Kaleredar]

the sequels???? i'll admit the prequels are much better after you watch the clone wars series, the show enhanced the movies quite a bit. i can see if a person hasn't watched those why the prequel movies would be too "kiddish" maybe?

but the sequels??? good god man. i only pretend to like those because they're canon. if disney ever grows a pair and decanonizes those movies i'd be jumping on board that ship.

and as far as the movie itself...it's when we get to see anakin's turn. we get to see the heartbreak between him and obi wan on MUSTAFAR (the lava planet none of you know the name of). Lucas was never that good at dialog so it really wasn't haydens acting. he worked with what he was given. natalie portman is a fantastic actor but she doesn't display it on star wars because of the dialog. blame Lucas not the actors.

Don't get it twisted. I'm not confused as to what Lucas wanted the prequels to be.

But what they were supposed to be and what they are are not the same thing.

Seeing Anakin "turn" is not intrinsically interesting if the rest of it isn't done well. Which it isn't.

The fight on Mustafar with obi-wan is not intrisically meaningful or heart-wrenching or whatever Lucas intended because the relationship and dynamic between Obi-wan and Anakin was never well flushed out in the films. Anakin is never well characterized in the films.

As far as things like the Clone Wars tv series (that came after those movies were done anyway,) or, hell, I'll even be generous and roll in the 2D animated Clone wars that did actually come before Episode 3... you shouldn't need an addendum to a film series to give what's supposed to be the focus of the entire trilogy any actual heft. Imagine if the Lord of the Rings films never bothered to explain what the One ring was, and just met that obvious plot hole with "well, go read the books, it'll all make sense and be interesting then." That'd be silly.

You say "Lucas was never that good at dialogue," as if that's supposed to... excuse something? That just means that the movies had bad dialogue, which they did. They were films with bad dialogue. Which really lets the air of the tires on any sort of dramatic heft it was supposed to be carrying, which is kind of the point of the film because none of the other characters beyond Anakin and Obi-wan even have a pretense of some sort of narrative throughout the film. All the other characters are just disposable. The villains are killed off almost as soon as they're introduced and none of the other carry-through characters have any sort of arc or characterization. For example... how does Mace Windu change throughout the course of the prequels? What do we learn about him as a character? Absolutely nothing.

As far as the sequels go, I have my issues with them. The force awakens was too much of a rehash of Episode 4. The side plot in the last Jedi, while supposed to be about the nature of failure, was not executed to that great of effect. And The Rise of Skywalker was just too much fanservice and a rank overreaction to some people's dislike of TLJ.

But they were all acted well. Can't say that about the prequels. The dialogue in the sequels wasn't insipid, whether you liked the directions they took with the individual characters or not (and again, note, they actually bothered to take their characters in a direction.) The plots of the films actually stay pretty focused on their objective, whether you liked that in the context of the series or not (though Rise of Skywalker definitely begins to stray) and doesn't feature random 20 minute scenes where Yoda fights with the Wookies on Kashyyyk because... why, again? (And I don't mean, why, in universe did that happen... I mean... why was it shown to us in the film? How does it forward the narrative? What does it exposit about character?) The action in the sequels is well-paced and doesn't just degenerate into CGI armies clashing or take place on greenscreen sets of platforming video game levels.

Honestly, going back through the prequels and actually watching them as films instead of as memes or through the lens of childhood nostalgia, there's a lot that just doesn't work. A lot of wasted time, a lot of insipid dialogue, a lot of pointless scenes, and a lot of CGI fluff. And again, acknowledging that Lucas might not have had the requisite steady hand to direct them doesn't somehow excuse that they are what they are.

So yes, I'll reiterate. The sequels are more competently made films than the prequels.

btw that obi wan show that's supposed to come out next year is gonna have hayden in it as anakin in flashbacks. so someone out there likes the prequels.

And the mandalorian canonized parts of the star wars holiday special. Doesn't mean the holiday special was good.

It's less a sign of "the prequels were great!" and more of "they happened, they existed, we're moving on from there."