For decades, sequels have been a familiar feature of Hollywood, constantly resurrecting popular properties and trying to cash in on the success of the original.  Over the last few years, prequels have become an interesting fad.  Periodically there have been prequels, but it wasn’t until George Lucas resurrected his Star Wars franchise with his trio of prequels several years ago that everyone from comic heroes to mainstream action franchises have adapted this idea.  Why prequels?  With some movie properties, Hollywood realized that the cinematic formulas and character dynamics had cashed out.  Once all the plot threads and characters had been played out to monotony, the only way to go is back – to the beginning, that is.  With some movies, this works beautifully and deepens the overall story.  It helps give new looks to once familiar characters and perhaps expands or beautifully explains the mystery of some stories.  Prequels can especially be warranted with properties that have been mishandled and the previously released installment was such a commercial disaster that it only makes sense to start over and try to undo all that was gotten wrong.  But they have to be carefully crafted, since the viewer knows the true ending of the story.  But with some handling of prequels, it just kills the original fans.  Here are some examples of when prequels work, when they don’t, and why.

Batman Begins

This is a clear example of a franchise that deserved a complete revival.  After Joel Schumacher completely ruined the Batman franchise with in his installments, it would take a new start to undo the damage done.  And this wasn’t even a simple remake of the 1989 hit.  Director Christopher Nolan went into the full origin of Batman, something that had only been hinted at previously, and really developed how a man could get to the point of running around in a costume at night.  While the film tried to stay relatively realistic, it did still maintain the dark and mysterious feel that made the Tim Burton installments hits. 

Exorcist: The Beginning

Horror movies picked up on prequels a couple years ago.  Most are total bust and pointless, but this one wasn’t.  After growing up with CGI, the original Exorcist wasn’t that impressive to me.  As a rule, I’m not much for horror movies in general.  But even for those that don’t get scared easily, this provides an interesting story of spiritual warfare and the like.  It resurrected Father Merrin’s character in a reasonable manner (i.e. decades before the original).  Plus the director knew what it had on its hands and delayed the inevitable, constantly putting off the obvious appearance of a spirit or the Devil, playing on the audience’s knowledge of the explanation for what is going on.

Casino Royale

Perhaps the perfect prequel.  Again, you have another series plagued by various director’s visions diluting the original idea.  Corny dialogue, hokey villains, and idiotic gadgets were about all that was left of the James Bond series.  Many were skeptical of Daniel Craig’s abilities for the main role.  But his cold piercing stare and extreme dry sense of humor was exactly what was needed.  Striping away all the excess, the filmmakers managed to resurrect everything that made the series popular when Sean Connery was 007.  Also, the film added a new level of depth to the once two-dimensional character of Bond that had never been seen before.  It still stayed true to its history with music, quips, and feel.  The film didn’t set to completely undo everything about Bond (much as Batman Begins did), but worked well as an origin story that had never even been hinted at before as well as give the series a fresh, modern look for a new generation.

Dumb and Dumberer

Ok, so this is a clear case of desperation.  Apparently the filmmakers wanted to make a sequel of some sort but couldn’t get Jim Carrey for the role.  Casting anyone else in Carrey’s role would be complete disaster.  So where do you go? To the beginning.  Fairly simple.  The actors did a fairly good job of mimicking Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, but the original magic was lost.

Hannibal Rising

Another blatant attempt at squeezing out any money possible.  After the original trilogy, it would seem as if either they couldn’t get Anthony Hopkins to reprise his famous role or they decided just continuing the story forward would be monotonous.  Hannibal Lector is an interesting character, so maybe they felt investigating his origins would be worthwhile.  Except they got him wrong.  The movie instead made him out into a tragic hero and glorified him as a hero.  Hopkins’ Hannibal is a villain.  A wickedly cool one, but a villain nonetheless.  This movie completely undid the previous held notions of what Hannibal was – a vastly intelligent person who killed for pleasure.  They even go the acting wrong.  This younger version of Hannibal had a thick East European accent very different from the playful British accent sported by Hopkins.  All in all, this is perhaps the worst attempt at a prequel.