Best Sequels of All Time

Films can be a beautiful and complete medium…if done correctly. Some movies are meant to be stand alone yet for some reason production companies feel the deep need to ruin them with unnecessary sequels. That said, some sequels can help tell a more complete story with rich character development. So what constitutes a good sequel and which movies benefitted from them? I tried to keep this list with films that stopped at 2 but there are definitely a few that kept going. Obviously almost every single one of those fell off eventually and only got the opportunity to keep going because of good 2nd films.

Obviously there are about 1000 Disney sequels but really only some of them are good. Among the best is Lion King 2. Pulling some of its songs from the Broadway version of The Lion King and keeping within the Shakespeare track the first one started, The Lion King 2 is an incredible film all on its own. The second film in the franchise is a clear Romeo and Juliet adaptation with incredible vocals and beautiful songs. Easily one of the best animated sequels in existence.

Still Disney but moving to live action we have the Princess Diaries 2. Now this is definitely a popular opinion which is why there was no way of getting through this list without mentioning it. The killer cast of Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Chris Pine and John Rys Davies made this film arguably better then the first one. The plot is amazing and Mia is back to being her charming, quirky self as she proves that she is fit to be queen. Truly a classic.

I feel like a lot of these are pretty obvious but here we are with Shrek 2. This film contains one of the most iconic performances in music history with Holding Out for a Hero. I think (at least among millennials) this is pretty widely considered one of the best sequels of all time. That might also be because my generation has a weird obsession with Shrek but it led to us getting a kickass sequel so I don’t care.

Back to Disney and Pixar we have Toy Story 2. Now the entrance of Jessie is more than enough to get Toy Story 2 a spot on this list. But the story is just so so good and the other side characters are wildly entertaining. It also gave us a perfect Pixar branded heartbreak scene when Jessie remembers the girl that outgrew her. That scene still makes me cry and it also makes me snuggle my Jessie doll so she knows I love her.

I guess the only sequel I like that is not directed at children, 22 Jump Street. Probably one of the most quotable sequels ever. The Jonah Hill slam poetry hill is seriously still so funny. Also the idea that either of these men could pass for college students is hilarious. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum continue to make a great team in this buddy comedy and honestly the film just knows exactly what it is and it doesn’t try to be sincere or meaningful because that’s not what it's for.

I really wish that production companies would learn that not everything needs to be a franchise. Some movies are only meant to exist as single entities and that's just how it should be. I know Barbie was wildly successful but we really really do not need another one. The only thing you can do at this point is make it worse so just don’t. Let movies be successful and then leave them alone.