I am typically a ‘quel hater I admit it; very rarely do I enjoy the pre/sequel to a favorite movie, *deep breath* mainly because I think they nailed it the first time around and in most cases the sequel or prequel ends up being a failed attempt at bringing back the awesomeness the original movie had. I feel they are only created to profit off the memory and appreciation people have for the original. Many sequels bring back actors who have aged, gained weight, and forgotten how to channel the persona of the character they once took a great deal of time to develop, it is depressing to think about. Although it gets worse; there are also those horrible sequels that bring back maybe one maybe none of the original characters, set in a different time period, stealing the concept of the original all in an attempt to capture a younger generation. Why on earth cant the younger generation be captivated by the original??? It’s madness I tell you!
Please untwist your panties ;-)- I do realize there are plenty of good sequels; I am sure I could come up with a nice list of them and we could debate which order to watch them in, or which villain was best, or why the actor had to die, boo…… but for now I am focusing on the sequels or prequels that had no right to be made, the ones that basically destroyed the integrity of the original franchise.
So here we go!
Anything but Dumb and Dumber:
From the Set of Dumb & Dumber To
Dumb and Dumberer prequel to Dumb and Dumber did exactly what the title said it would: it got dumb and dumberer as each of the 85 painful minutes passed, it did not in any way capture the hilarity that was Dumb and Dumber. I have not much else to say about this one other than it should not have been made.
Dumb and Dumber To: in pre-prodution with a release date 20 years after Dumb and Dumber . I am not ashamed to admit that I really enjoyed Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels where hilarious, it is one of many favorite comedies (for realz). I realize the integrity of this film has already been tarnished a great deal with the prequel but I wonder how this one will do. They again have Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprising their roles and Lloyd and Harry, but they have aged…. after 20 years can they do it again? If you go to the IMDB page you will see the current plot- “20 years after the dimwits set out on their first adventure, they head out in search of one of their long-lost children in the hope of gaining a new kidney.” So far I am not impressed! I feel it is more of a stretch than the prequel and will probably open the door for a fourth movie, just wait I called it here first.
So am I confused about this being some sort of follow-up or sequel to 1994’s -The Mask: featuring Jim Carrey and introducing for the first time Cameron Diaz? (I am not unfortunately) A Mask movie without Jim Carrey seriously, he is the reason the movie did so well in the first place!
I guess the director and writers of this movie did not understand that people were not attracted to the movie because of the mask alone, that it was the brilliant physical comedy and general hilarity Jim Carry brought to the film that people enjoyed. So basically what I see is a few writers and a director got together and decided to capitalize on the popularity of The Mask by making a “sequel” ten years after the original. Unfortunately, Jim Carrey was not interested in doing a sequel so they went with the only other thing they had from the original movie….the actual Mask. From there they wrote a script that focused on the legend of the Mask and featured an entirely new cast; this is all speculation of course I am not sure how this movie came about…I could be over thinking it. If you have not seen this movie and feel like torturing yourself by all means, have a viewing party, make it fun by playing the Son of Mask drinking game courtesy of Nerds on the Rocks.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I am a giant fan of the Indiana Jones franchise; I grew up watching these movies with my Dad and brother… “you call him Dr. Jones”- with my favorite obviously being Temple of Doom, seriously it is by far the best of the three original, I mean it has Short Round, a catchy chant: “Kali Ma, Kali Ma Shakti de,” a crunchy bug infested scene, oh and a cameo by Dan Aykroyd, ha-ha. Anyhow, I’ll save the rest of my Indiana gushing for another article as I am getting off topic… So as a giant fan of Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade I was looking forward to seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the theater, though I did go into it with a bit of reservation given my fear sequels.
To start the good: it was nice to have Marion (Karen Allen) and Indy back I thought their chemistry in Raiders was charming, and Marion was an all around kick-ass character. It had good music as usual… I guess I should be thankful Harrison Ford was available given his age …they could have attempted to replace him. Oh and the motorcycle was cool.
Other than those few things I am not a fan. The production value was off, it screamed sound stage with horrible lighting. The character Irina Spalko was dry and really annoying, though I am not sure if it was Cate Blanchett’s acting or the writing that caused that. Shia LaBeouf, he was obviously cast as an attempt to capture a younger audience, I hope this was not their intention to prepare everyone for a 5th installation featuring only Shia, or Mutt-iana Jones….or something ridiculous. Then… Inter-dimensional aliens WHAT???
Finally, the “special FX” featured during the last third of the movie were awful, and the entire sequence at the end with the flying saucer….the sand. I honestly could not wait for the movie to end so I could go home and watch Temple of Doom or Raiders in an attempt to erase the Indiana torture I just sat through. This movie did not need to be made. You have my permission to buy only the original trilogy on Blue-ray for this one, unless you have a wobbly table??
This is it for now, I have to go watch a good movie! Trust me there are more, stay tuned for Movie Sequel Prequel Madness 4.
Enjoy 😉
