3 of the Best vs 3 of the Worst is exactly what it sounds like – 3 of the best examples of either an actor, film series, genre, etc. versus 3 of the worst. It’s also an opportunity for you to have your say on my choices and whether you would have placed something ahead of my best or my worst.
After seeing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I decided to revisit a 3 of the Best vs 3 of the Worst that I did way back in July 5th of this year. You can read the first version here but below are three more suggestions for both sides of the coin, showcasing the best and worst of prequels in movies.
3 of the Best
Monsters University
Although it didn’t reach the quality of it’s predecessor, Monster’s Inc, the story of how Sully and Mike met at University is a very good one. It had some great characters, very funny scenes and showed that Pixar can pretty much squeeze creativity out of even a dry-well like a prequel.
The Hobbit Trilogy
Cheating slightly as the books were in the opposite order but The Hobbit is a technically a prequel to The Lord of the Rings so it counts. Building on what made that original trilogy so great, The Hobbit has an epic journey, glorious battles and does one better by introducing an impressive dragon.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Could well take the crown for one of the best ever prequels. Fantastic Beasts is a great example of how to make a prequel. Not too many references to the original movies, a clear identity of it’s own and loads of time between the two franchises so over-lapping between stories won’t be a problem either.
3 of the Worst
Prometheus
I liked Prometheus but as a prequel to Alien it does a poor job. Prequel in name only, the actual links to the Alien franchise feel shoe-horned in poorly. The film feels like it is trying to tell a different story and may have been seen as a better film if it hadn’t tried to be a prequel at all.
Minions
There is a lot to like about Minions as supporting characters but once they were given their own film, the lack of depth to the henchmen shone bright. It also broke one of the cardinal prequel rules and directly connected itself with the original movie (Despicable Me) so there is no chance of any sequels to the small creatures original solo-outing.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
The issue with Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift is that it wasn’t aware it was a prequel. In fact, it isn’t really. If you watched it in the intended order, Tokyo Drift sticks out like a sore thumb, not being about heists but in fact being a poor rip-off of the original movies and a film so poorly received that the studio felt the need to reboot the series instead. Stick with the original series and characters and leave Tokyo Drift for dead.
Overall, another six movies designed to spark some conversation. If you include the first prequels post then twelve movies. Let me know if there are any you think I’ve missed or if you disagree with my choices.
