West Nile, Swine Flu, Meningitis, and Sequelitis

[Drtooth]

Home Alone really didn't need any films beyond the first one. Not that the second one wasn't a good film in its own right. But like I said a hundred times, comedy sequels rarely work. It's usually the same story in a different setting on a grander scale with a larger budget. Like I said before, 22 Jump Street and Hangover 2 were written specifically to say "the studio made us do this, we find it unnecessary, so we'll just make subtle nods to how unnecessary it is."

The second option of using the same title for different characters in a similar but dissimilar situation is also a gamble. Never really saw HA3, though so I can't judge.

 

[D'Snowth]

Home Alone really didn't need any films beyond the first one. Not that the second one wasn't a good film in its own right. But like I said a hundred times, comedy sequels rarely work. It's usually the same story in a different setting on a grander scale with a larger budget.

And the ironic thing is that director Chris Colombus even admitted that's essentially what HOME ALONE 2 was. I'd argue that the only major difference in the first two (aside from the setting) is that 2 had a larger supporting cast with the hotel staff, and the toy store owner.

 

[D'Snowth]

But like I said a hundred times, comedy sequels rarely work.

Wow, Drtooth, the trailers for BAD NEIGHBORS 2 is saying almost verbatim what you said in this thread, while also proclaiming that they're the exception to the rule . . . which is odd, considering it's clearly very much a product of today's unnecessary sequeling in cinema.

 

[Drtooth]

The problem is there are logical ways to make comedty sequels. Just when they actually have movies like Ted 2 and Anchorman 2 that actually find those angles, they aren't exactly well received either. Which is a darn shame since Ted 2 was actually pretty good, though not as good as the first, but they found a way for it to work, and Anchorman 2 found a way to turn the concept into a ravaging of 24 hour news networks.

 

[D'Snowth]

If we're gonna go that route, there was absolutely no reason whatsoever to even do EVAN ALMIGHTY, but they did anyway simply because Steve Carell had become a big star by that time, and he just happened to play a supporting character in the original BRUCE ALMIGHTY.

 

[Drtooth]

Kinda think there was no reason for Bruce Almighty either. But then again it was the last successful thing Jim Carrey was ever in. You even put him in a movie now, and the thing crashes and burns.

Though I'm sure that somehow Dumb and Dumber Too: The Prequel Film Never Existed managed to eke out a win due to a low budget. Talk about your unnecessary sequels. I got to admit, other than the ending, I never liked that one, even when I actually liked Jim Carrey movies. Of course, I always thought the Farrelly Brothers were hacks anyway. I only really liked Osmosis Jones and only for the animated segments. And Bill Murray and Chris Elliot were good with a terrible script.

As for Evan Almighty, I still don't get why it was a thing. Bruce Almighty was about a man with the powers of God. Evan Almighty was about God telling Bruce that there's going to be another Noah's arc situation. There's comedy in someone flailing around and using divine powers for mundane situations, not so much in the world ending. Well, at least the way they did it. I got to hand it to them. They found a logical second angle on a comedy concept, but it's a lousy angle. As I said, some comedy sequels are the same movie on a larger scale with a bigger budget, some actually do manage to find a different vehicle. They both get crap for it anyway.

 

[Drtooth]

More like Adaptionitis...

First up, in a long line of other Disney live action remakes of their own movies, The Little Mermaid. Too bad they didn't do this years ago and have Zooey Deschanel play Ariel since that would be the obvious choice. But Disney has been lucky so far. Jungle Book was a smash hit and it easily couldn't have been. It was a fine film, certainly better than that awful animated sequel. Walken has to be heard to be believed as Louie. I don't see the Alice sequel doing that good, but it's bound to be better without Burton pandering to his base with it. Especially since its opposite X-Men (and I'm starting to think Disney was trying to sabotage Fox on that one. Too bad Deadpool was such a hit for them to want to ever dump the X-Men license). Disney has too many of these lined up, and one of them has to give.

And in the odd line of video game adaptions, this year's being Ratchet and Clank, Angry Birds (the two best family friendly adaptions ever, but that's not really much competition), and Warcraft. Now there's an announcement of Mirror's Edge which I know nothing about other than the smoking hot main character. Somehow I just get flashbacks of the completely unnecessary AeonFlux movie out of this. But again, since I have no knowledge about video games that don't feature cartoony characters in them.

 

[Mynameisdean]

More like Adaptionitis...

First up, in a long line of other Disney live action remakes of their own movies, The Little Mermaid. Too bad they didn't do this years ago and have Zooey Deschanel play Ariel since that would be the obvious choice. But Disney has been lucky so far. Jungle Book was a smash hit and it easily couldn't have been. It was a fine film, certainly better than that awful animated sequel. Walken has to be heard to be believed as Louie. I don't see the Alice sequel doing that good, but it's bound to be better without Burton pandering to his base with it. Especially since its opposite X-Men (and I'm starting to think Disney was trying to sabotage Fox on that one. Too bad Deadpool was such a hit for them to want to ever dump the X-Men license). Disney has too many of these lined up, and one of them has to give.

And in the odd line of video game adaptions, this year's being Ratchet and Clank, Angry Birds (the two best family friendly adaptions ever, but that's not really much competition), and Warcraft. Now there's an announcement of Mirror's Edge which I know nothing about other than the smoking hot main character. Somehow I just get flashbacks of the completely unnecessary AeonFlux movie out of this. But again, since I have no knowledge about video games that don't feature cartoony characters in them.

That's actually saying its for television, but still, come on. Also, isn't Mirrors Edge getting a video game reboot even though there's only been one of those so far? That's a strange move.

 

[D'Snowth]

Even though I have no intentions of seeing the new ICE AGE movie (again, the first should have just been a stand-alone one-shot feature), I'm happy to hear they didn't bring in John Powell for the score like they did with the previous sequels - his scores are one of the reasons I dislike the sequels: his style is way too cinematic and it just wasn't a fit for the movies' style, unlike David Newman's score for the original, which matched the movie very well. I see for the fifth one they brought in John Debney; when you consider some of his other scores, like Elmo in Grouchland and ELF, I feel like any score he would do would fit the movie much better, considering his style is always lighthearted and quirky with a certain little off-beat edge to it.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not touching Ice Age 5 either. I'll admit there are things in the trailer that look fun, and they brought back Buck. But I only really went to the fourth one for the Simpsons short at the beginning of the movie and the pirates. Kinda wish I saw it in 3-D, but again, just for the Simpsons cartoon. And while I thought the film was half decent with the pirate story and Sid's insane grandmother (who stole the movie especially when she tries to get Sid to "chew this sandwich for me"), the bit about Manny's kid was just awful, cliched, and panderingly there to get a tweenage audience. Her "friends" were all voiced by pop stars.

Plus, frankly, I think they closed off the Scrat cartoons nicely with the Shangri-La/Atlantis/whatever it was called beautifully at the end of that movie, and topping that would be impossible, if not overkill.