Reel Thoughts - 5 Films that deserves a sequel.

Most of the times I find myself amazed at the horrible money-grabbing decisions studios make to convert a mediocre film into a franchise, simply because they know it will sell well. However financial success of a film does not always come for genuinely good films. Many of the films that are deemed great had underwhelming performance at the box office, perhaps were not even granted a wider release than select theaters, but in retrospect deserved a far better treatment, which would have increased the chance of their continuation to be greenlit (in place of their lesser competitions).

So I have decided to honor some films I consider worthy of sequels. And obviously if you haven't heard of these films before, definitely check them out!


Number 5. Cool Runnings

I watched this film quite a few years after it was released, and despite its silliness, countless cliches and lazy stereotyping of how Jamaicans and sports people behave, it was a lot of fun and touched me emotionally. It definitely motivated me to keep pursuing athletics through most of high school. In fact I too had a moment of "getting up after falling down and walking to the finish line" as well during one of the little athletics competitions. It's one of the very few live action films Disney ever produced that was good.

Now if you've seen the film and remember the general story, you might think that this film was very self-contained. It was based on a true story, and at the end of the film everything was resolved. They managed to compete in an admirable and respectable manner, they learned what it means to work as a team, and they have their entire nation in support of them. Then the ending shows some text saying that they competed again in the future olympics and that's it.

So even if this film was good enough to warrant a sequel, what could they possibly do with it that isn't a carbon copy of the original or a completely arbitrary conflict? Plenty! Ultimately bob-sledding is a winter sport, and while you can train using makeshift environments to practice at the amateur level, the team would have to travel to colder climates from time to time for training. You can explore the challenges of having a family back at home but being away all the time. You can talk about how the Jamaican team decides they want to have a Jamaican coach instead of the chubby white guy because of national representation, which puts a strain on the friendship between the athletes and Irving (the original coach), as well as the deeper meaning of participating in Olympics.

Obviously I don't expect one to be made, since it's already 20 years after the first one's released (though it hasn't stopped some people from making Independence Day 2). I do think that as traditional as this is a stnadalone sports film, I would've loved to see them take it to the next level and focus on the purpose of competitive sport rather than the spirit of sportspeople.


Number 4. As Good As It Gets

Romantic Comedies rarely get sequels. Partly because we expect a happily ever after by the end of the first film, and thus there isn't much more character development you can work in unless you switch genres altogether. However in As Good As It Gets, the film ends with an uneasy beginning of a relationship, where Melvin is still struggling with his neuroticisms, and Carol still has a son whom Melvin has only seen in passing once. The ending is very open, which means they could have made a second movie to explore some of the more complicated issues with their relationship, such as whether Carol wants Melvin to be her son's stepfather, Melvin getting tangled up with one of his book's die hard fans (especially as he humanises through his relationship with Carol).

Okay maybe such a sequel won't be as strong as the original, but these characters were so well constructed, so well scripted and so chemically reactive when put in the same room, I just want to see more of them!


Number 3. Finding Nemo

Looking at the brief history of Pixar, they have made some groundbreaking film, but also some very questionable decisions in terms of which of their original films they choose to make a sequel. In my opinion, Toy Story was the only one that pulled it off into a franchise. Monsters Inc was a bit risky, especially to make a prequel. Cars was perhaps the worst choice to make a sequel for (except to sell merchandise I guess). But I think everyone wanted to see a sequel for Finding Nemo.

Yes they are making one at long last in 2015. But if any of their films they were to make a sequel this is the one I felt like they definitely should've gone with. I don't think I need to talk any more about it; just wait for the advanced tickets! :)


Number 2. Prince of Egypt

Being Dreamwork's most dramatic animated feature to date, and its most musical, Prince of Egypt blindsided a lot of people with its amazing visuals, well composed soundtrack and effective telling of the biblical story of Moses. It not only became a standard in the library of films churches show their kids in Sunday school, but demonstrated that the stories in the bible can be relevant to a modern audience, whether they believe in its divine origins or not. The characters are human, their conflicts very real, and their growth and relationships very convincing. The story is so tragic and personal it's almost Shakespearean. I've never seen the first half of Moses' story the same again.

It is hard to imagine that the same studio that made Shrek created a film that could rival the best of Disney's traditionally animated films. So why didn't they continue the story? I mean the story of Moses doesn't end until his people reaches the promised land, which is a good 40 years with a lot happening in between (including the giving of the 10 commandments, lots of war with resident nations). There's plenty they could have done in the sequel while remaining faithful to the biblical narrative. Instead we got a direct-to-video Joseph: King of Dreams, which I'd rather not talk about, but the fact that it didn't get a theatrical release probably says it all.


Number 1. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Of all the film franchises based on children's books and young adult fiction, this is the one that I enjoyed the most, especially in terms of film adaptation from a source book. It was a very grim but fascinating film, the child actors were actually good, the story was compelling, Jim Carrey as Count Olaf was really fun, despite being slightly overt at times.  It mostly lives up to its title and I think was a faithful adaptation of the books, and more than broke even at the box office. So why wasn't this film continued?

The main reason is due to lot of instability within Paramount at the time, which kept delaying any potential work on developing the sequel. By the time they did get around to reconsidering it, the original child actors were already in their teenage and could no longer portray the same characters if they were to follow the story's chronology.

I would argue that this film, along with The Lord of The Rings trilogy, which were released around the same time, helped pave the way for Narnia, which was the one that ended up becoming the three-part franchise. While it wasn't horrendous, it certainly wasn't in the same league as Unfortunate Events. If they eventually do make a sequel, even if it's with an entirely different cast, I'd definitely go check it out.