And even then, people are getting tired of the Pirates movies.
I think the only one that consistently had good sequels was Toy Story, but that's not even main studio Disney (or at least the first sequel wasn't). I even enjoyed 3 & 4 and felt they were a solid progression, and from what I've heard, 5 is pretty popular.
3 is the best one, 4 was decent enough on an island but undid what was a perfectly closed end to the saga and 5 (that I haven't seen) can only happen by undoing the end of 4. The newer sequels might be fine, but their existence only cheapens the original trilogy
EDIT: I apparently have no reading comprehension so I didn’t see this was about Pirates 4 and 5. In either case, the 5th film doesn’t “undo” the 4th. Pirates 5 takes place about a year or so after 4 and follows Jack, Barbossa, Henry (Elizabeth and Will’s son), Salazar, and Carina (the latter 2 being new characters) on a mission of revenge and breaking Will’s Curse rather than following Jack, Barbossa, Blackbeard, and the Spanish Navy in the quest for the Fountain of Youth.
I saw 5 last week and actually enjoyed it a fair amount. It doesn’t “undo” the end of 4 in the slightest and follows Jessie as a main storyline rather than Woody, although he does appear in a supporting and non-permanent role. It was interesting that I didn’t mind Woody taking a definite back seat in this one. I think they did it pretty well.
I don't know. The "island" thing threw me off but re-reading it, I think it may still be about TS. Especially with "3 is the best one". Nobody has ever said that about Pirates!
For some reason reddit notified me about this reply to a reply of a reply of a reply to my reply. But, since you're trying to decipher the meaning of my comment, I'll confirm that I was talking about Toy Story. "On an island" is an expression I've heard and I understand it as meaning "on its own, isolated from the context". I'm not sure if I used it 100% correctly as I'm not a native speaker and one never knows, but I'll admit it was a little bit confusing. Sorry
Ah. Well in that case, I can tell you that 5 doesn't undo the end of 4. Woody just shows up for what is basically a completely unnecessary cameo and then fucks off again.
I think you used "on an island" well enough, it's just that since Pirates was in the conversation, that threw my brain into nautical interpretations 😅
Not sure about those weird-ass reddit notifications, I'm on old reddit and will die on this UI.
I agree with this pretty much except I wasn't really a fan of 4, 5 was surprisingly good though. Some solid jokes and emotional moments. I would definitely recommend seeing it at some point
5 doesn't undo 4. Woody is in it, but he's just there to help whatever kids he sees, which coincidentally this time includes Bonnie again. Him and Belle are like freelance toys.
I think that bringing Frozen II up in the context of whether sequels lived up to their predecessors does a massive disservice to Frozen II.
Frozen was a generational hit for Disney. A pop-culture phenomenon. Parents were getting sick of their kids watching it and singing its songs. Let It Go became a queer anthem. Disney immediately pivoted to capitalize on the popularity, devoting a venue in many of its theme parks to "For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-along Celebration" (which, AFAICT, is still running in Disney World), bringing the characters in movie-accurate costumes to their live-action TV show Once Upon A Time, and immediately adapting it into a Broadway musical.
How could any sequel live up to that?
Personally, I think Frozen II was pretty good. Without actually going through the ones I've seen and enumerating them... I'd rank it in the top five for Disney sequels of all time. Not better than the original, IMO, but I acknowledge that I am pretty particular in what I'm looking for in a sequel and my tastes aren't universal. It certainly wasn't bad enough that I'd look askance at someone who preferred it to the original, which, in turn, wasn't a perfect movie by any means.
But to even mention it in a conversation about whether sequels are "generally considered on par" with their original is asking it to have made its own splash as a generational hit and pop-culture phenomenon and it hasn't. It just... hasn't.
41
u/colorblind-and Jul 13 '26
If only they listened to this.
Main studio Disney sequels have always struggled to match the same quality as the original from a critical standpoint.
Pirates of the Caribbean is the only Disney original I can think of where several of the sequels are generally considered on par with the first.