A lot of people will complain about how today's mainstream movies have been dominated by sequels, but at least they tend to be good quality (or try to be good). In the past, sequels were shoddily made as a means of desperately trying to accumulate money, and never dared to boast of any value. The regular trajectory of a film series is to go all the way down (see Christopher Reeve's Superman series), so the advent of films like The Godfather 2 and The Empire Strikes Back makes all the more sense — sequels have never been so impressive before.
But the old idea that a sequel means a drop in quality still holds in the field of animated films. Sequels from this year, such as the X-Men spin-offs of Deadpool and Captain America 3 (it's already the tenth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?). Not only is the movie a great movie, it's a box office hit, but it's really hard to find a better animated sequel than the first one.
Since the premise of a family movie is to have an extremely happy ending, it is naturally tricky to introduce a sequel to expand the script, so the second, third and fourth parts of the animated series will easily lose the highlights of the first one. It's even more important to emphasize that the following seven anime sequels that have recently been released or are coming up, we really don't need them.
Of course, there are exceptions. "How to Train Your Dragon 3" has two wonderful pre-episodes and a series of original books as the basis, and there is potential for further improvement, while superhero genre movies have undergone considerable changes in more than a decade, and "The Incredibles 2" is even more impatient. But now let's switch to cynicism and look at these new anime sequels that aren't so much anticipated.
7. Racing Story 3
Ironically, Cars 2 featured a group of crappy new car characters with their own deep flaws as villains — which basically summed up the series, not to mention that the first one had long been resented by some viewers.
Racing Is a lightweight Pixar film that is limited to children and is largely uninteresting to parents. The film prides itself on delivering a resonant message that should not be slammed, but even the film's most solid defenders cannot fail to acknowledge that at least part of the film's purpose is to sell peripheral products. Director John Lasseter, speaking about the film, called it a very personal series, perhaps for him, but in a way, it's clear that the toys in the film are the highlight.
"Cars 2" was Pixar's first downright bad movie, an uncharacteristic and puzzling mess that stumbled to keep its mark with a pungent comedy tone. Suddenly everyone was a little worried about Pixar. Since then, thanks to a short film series called Rhapsody of the Dragging Line and the spin-off "Airplane Story" in which Pixar did not participate in any production, the series has been able to retire completely.
As Disney's cash cow, Pixar launched "Cars 3". Still in production, Lasseter is expected to have his unconditional love for the car characters once again blinding him to the film's flaws.
6. Kung Fu Panda 3
If there's such a Hollywood metaphor, more irritating than going to hell after death, it must be a movie series that forgets their original origin (seriously, it feels like every series is like this, from Spider-Man to Star Wars are all predestined heroes). Throughout the four Pirates of the Caribbean films, Captain Jack Sparrow went from being an alcoholic scruffy ghost to a truly good pirate. He didn't go through any normal character development process – the screenwriter just changed him out of necessity.
Kung Fu Panda 3 faces a similar problem. The first film itself is very rigorous, exactly what a film called "Kung Fu Panda" should look like, and although the pre-selected Dragon Hero is a bit old-fashioned, it also has a certain degree of subversion, which achieves a complementary effect. Voiced by Jack Blake, you would never expect him to be a kung fu master, he's not Neo or Anakin, he's just a panda working for his dad, a chef who sells noodles. Plus, his dad was a goose. This setting is silly but interesting.
The second part deals with the problem of Ah Bao's adoption, adds some bitter past events, and ends with the revelation that Ah Bao's panda father is safe and sound, which is a sufficient preparation for the third part. However, with the intervention of Chinese capital, "Kung Fu Panda 3" shows many problems such as biased concepts and lack of creativity, which seems to be in full swing, but in fact, it is getting more and more biased, and perhaps the series will end with the drama and turn to elaborate "Kung Fu Panda" TV animation, which will be a good choice for DreamWorks.
5. "Cat in Boots 2: Nine Lives and 40 Thieves"
Cat in Boots 2: Nine Lives and the 40 Thieves will be released in 2018. Before talking about this sequel, let me first complain, this title is also too bad. The grammar is a mess (with both Arabic numerals and numeric words), and such a messy title makes Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice suddenly look restrained.
Anyway, they're working on a sequel to The Cat in Boots. After audiences fed up with the endless Shrek movies, DreamWorks turned to focusing on developing as many spin-offs of the Monster series as possible. The Swordsman Boots Cat looks cute, and it's hard not to dislike Antonio Banderas, but since it first appeared in Shrek 2, the character really hasn't had much fun to show. In fact, 2011's "The Cat in boots" seems to be the Spanish cat's masterpiece — it's far less box office and word-of-mouth than any in the original series, and frankly, it's nothing exciting.
According to director Chris Miller, the sequel will take the Boot Cat "to exotic places." It sounds like a perfect and reasonable motivation for the sequel. But the most puzzling thing is that the sequel was released exactly seven years after the first release, which means that anyone who has seen the first one is now many years older, and correspondingly at this age they will only mock and ridicule this kind of money-making sequel.
4. Ice Age 5
Ice Age: Continental Drift was one of the worst films of 2012 (remember this year, super battleships and Daddy's Good Son). The fourth completely misunderstands the meaning of humor, abandoning the semi-realistic style that makes the first film particularly endearing in order for the animal pirates to go on ice boats. In a vain attempt to imitate the 'homage to another movie and spoof' (minus the spoof) routine that only movies like "Scream" are still continuing, even Squirt, the savior of the series, has not been able to make the audience laugh.
This really should already be enough to explain why we don't need a fifth installment in the series (see good, keep the anime series honored with the best ones, and so on).
Blue Sky Studios, the animation production company behind the Ice Age and Rio Adventure series, has been in the fourth place in the Hollywood animation industry for some years, but if they continue to do so, they will lose their qualifications on par with Pixar, DreamWorks or Disney.
"Ice Age 5" has been released overseas, and sure enough, the film will be released in China later this month, when everyone can see the end.
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3. "Rob the Nut Shop 2"
There are also some things Hollywood needs to learn. The old saying "you only have to spend money to make money" is true, but Hollywood's interpretation of this phrase (you have to spend a lot of money to have a chance to make money) is a bit outrageous. Some of the box office blockbusters in film history are empty because they have too much money to throw in, and to break even, they have to become the next Avatar.
It is also for this reason that the seemingly good squirrel animation comedy "Robbery of the Nut Shop" immediately decided to launch a sequel after receiving a certain box office. The film cost about a quarter of the other films in this article, meaning that its slightly less expensive animation style had little impact, as it could make a profit as long as it could sell a certain amount of movie tickets.
Unfortunately, there's nothing wonderful about this movie. Trying to cater to everyone, but excluding small children, and the protagonist is not likable, not only has it been severely criticized by film critics, but it has undoubtedly not won the recognition of parents. The most painful moment is at the end of the film, where a group of colorful animal characters dance the Gangnam Style dance. At least when DreamWorks pays homage to popular culture, their content is closely related and somewhat practical.
The sequel is now on a higher budget, but it's unlikely it will continue to be as successful as the first one.
2. The Lego Movie 2
Isn't The Lego Movie great? Unexpectedly, this seemingly boring and prohibitive long-form toy commercial turned out to be one of the most creative and insightful films of the year. Instead of spending ninety minutes throwing toys in front of the kids (though many of the toy models in the film have to be sold), the film is specifically tailored to the LEGO brand — all beyond your imagination and truly embodying the qualities of plastic bricks.
So, such a delightful movie, why don't we want a sequel? Because it is not necessary. Nothing can replace the cynical sense of fresh surprise in the film, and the film's trick – all the plots are imagined by a kid playing with his dad's toy collection – can't be copied in any way that works. Besides, directors Phil Rod and Christopher Miller are no longer directing, but only as producers, and "The Lego Movie 2" (please change the title of a better film) has no chance to get close to the level of the first film.
We underestimated the first movie, so we hoped that a sequel a few years from now would prove our estimate wrong, but to be honest, we knew it wasn't going to happen.
1. Finding Nemo 2
In March 2012, Pixar master Andrew Stanton's first test of the field of live-action films, "Alien Battlefield", was sentenced to death as soon as it was released, resulting in disney losing hundreds of millions of dollars. In July 2012, Andrew Stanton began planning a sequel to his highest-grossing book, Finding The Bottom Story, creatively titled In Search of Dolly. Although he wanted to clear the connection between the two, it was clear that the two events were related.
Stanton is a talented director who sits on two Oscar-winning animated feature films, Finding Nemo and Robot Story, and to be sure, the core problem with Alien Battlefield isn't him. But immediately after messing up the film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's famous book, he ran back to the safe and risk-free old business, which only covered up this fact.
In addition to Finding Nemo 2, Pixar has many more upcoming sequels, and their original projects are pitifully few in comparison. While Stanton may have been embarrassed after the Alien Battlefield fiasco, the best thing for him to do is to keep moving forward and do something new.
Good movies may start out in a bad way, but Finding Nemo 2 doesn't bring much news that excites us from start to finish. The plot tells that Dolly ends up reuniting with her parents through a mistake, which is far less than the good idea that the sequel to "Toy Story" makes people worship. If only this were another example of the common animated sequel trick – putting entertaining secondary characters in the lead role. Well, I believe that in the near future, we will also see The Octopus Hank as the protagonist of "Finding Nemo 3".
Which of these recent animated films makes you feel hopeful and worth looking forward to? Which upcoming animated films do you think will rot? Feel free to leave a comment to discuss and leave your comments.
原文：10 Upcoming Animated Sequels No One Asked For [Alex Leadbeater]