Watch A Video Essay Explain: What Makes A Sequel Good?

Since it's summer, we've seen our fair share of sequels from The Avengers: Age of Ultron to Terminator: Genisys to Magic Mike XXL and the pseudo-reboot Jurassic World. Audiences have varying opinions on these sequels, sometime saying they're not as good as the predecessor, others saying that they're missing something. But what?

Well, a new video essay aims to answer that question by asking "What Makes a Sequel Good?" The video does this by comparing original films like Toy Story and The Terminator to their sequels, Toy Story 2 and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. But those aren't the only examples, because there's some bad sequels that need to be discussed too.

Find out what makes a sequel good after the jump!

Here's the video essay from Now You See It (via The Playlist):

If for some reason you don't have five minutes to spare (what are you doing even reading this article?), according to this video, making a good sequel basically boils down to doing something unexpected that isn't just a retread of the first movie and developing your characters beyond what they already learned or experienced before. Those might seem like very simple observations, but these are things that some of the biggest sequels, such as The Hangover Part II or Speed 2: Cruise Control, did not achieve.

At the end of the day, while some studios think that audiences just want more of the same after the success of the first movie, something new needs to be brought into the equation so it doesn't feel like we're just having leftovers of the same meal we had last time.

The video is right to commend the Marvel cinematic universe for constantly changing things up and adding more pieces to the puzzle, even if that puzzle is getting a little complicated and needs too many pieces from other puzzles to come together. And it looks like Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (watch the new trailer) is on the way to the same success.

What do you think makes a good sequel? What are your favorites?