Top 10 Worst Movie Sequels - continued

"Clerks II" (2006)

Why a sequel? After the critical and commercial drubbing of his laboured labour of love "Jersey Girl," Kevin Smith needed a hit, and figured that going back to the low-rent, minimum-wage workers of his breakout hit "Clerks" would be a good place to return to his roots.
Plot: Following up "Clerks," "Clerks II" brings back motor-mouthed Randal (Jeff Anderson) and sad sack Dante (Brian O'Halloran) after a 12-year hiatus. Now working at a fast-food place, Randal and Dante try to find real work and true love.
Why it sucks: Smith should have known that the potty-mouthed bravado of his debut was the kind of lightning in a bottle that can't be reproduced, and that making a career out of screeching, swearing sex talk isn't the wisest choice. Also, taking Dante and Randal out of their grubby, real convenience store and video shop and plopping them into a gleaming, overdesigned fast-food place just highlighted O'Halloran and Anderson's limited acting skills. "Clerks II" was about people on dead-end, humiliating career paths; it might be one of the most autobiographical things Smith has ever done.

"Caddyshack II" (1988)

Why a sequel? With a startling profit-to-cost ratio, 1980's "Caddyshack" was an instant cult classic. Eight years later, star Chevy Chase returned alongside a group of B-list replacement players to try to make a box office hole-in-one again.
Plot: Once again, a blue-collar snob (Jackie Mason, subbing in for Rodney Dangerfield) tries to get into Bushwood country club, with a snooty club leader (Robert Stack, subbing in for Ted Knight) blocking the attempt while a demented goon (Dan Aykroyd, subbing in for Bill Murray) tries to stop a gopher and Chase makes bad jokes in the background.
Why it sucks: Because Mason is no Dangerfield, Stack is no Knight, and Aykroyd is no Murray. And Chase wasn't Chase. Director Allan Arkush sucks the life from every laugh, and the eight-year wait between instalments only made the original grow all the more beloved in hindsight.

"Weekend at Bernie's II" (1993)

Why a sequel? Because America had already laughed at the sight of two underachieving leading men (Jonathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy) contorting a corpse into various positions and dragging a dead man from Point A to Point B in 1989's "Weekend at Bernie's." Add in surprising profitability on home video, and a sequel became a -- ahem -- dead certainty.
Plot: Silverman and McCarthy, just as in the first film, have to drag their dead boss (played, surprisingly well, by Terry Kiser) around in the pursuit of safety and riches.
Why it sucks: The first film kind-of-sort-of got every possible joke out of the dead-man bit, while the second film adds a vaguely insulting voodoo subplot. Add in the fact that "Weekend at Bernie's II" picks up the action the day after the first film while McCarthy and Silverman both look four years older and terribly, terribly tired, and the entire movie feels like, uh, beating a dead horse.

"Grease 2" (1982)

Why a sequel? "Grease" turned a little-known musical into a cult-favourite sing-along smash; why wouldn't you want to try to recapture that? Add in a $394 million take at the box office, and going back to Rydell High is a no-brainer.
Plot: "No-brainer" might, in fact, describe the plot, as "Grease 2" simply inverts the first film's romance between bad boy John Travolta and virtuous transfer student Olivia Newton-John, as English exchange student Maxwell Caulfield embarks on a risky romance with bad girl Michelle Pfeiffer. This isn't a sequel; it's the same movie in drag.
Why it sucks: Directed by "Grease" choreographer Patricia Birch, "Grease 2" even has lame songs, like a rousing anthem to the pleasure of bowling ("Let's Score") and another number set in a sex-ed class ("Reproduction"). Pfeiffer has a certain scrappy appeal, but Caulfield might as well not even be there; he's blond, bland and disposable. Plus, "Grease" was an exercise in nostalgia; "Grease 2" feels like it's asking us to get nostalgic over nostalgia, and that's the most depressing thing imaginable.

"Speed 2: Cruise Control" (1997)

Why a sequel? "Speed," with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, became the little action movie that could, with a bus rigged to blow if it dipped below 55 mph thanks to mad bomber Dennis Hopper. Who wouldn't want to bring that team back?
Plot: Apparently not Fox, who subbed Jason Patric when Reeves refused to come aboard, and plopped Patric and Bullock into a danger-at-sea plot as Willem Dafoe hijacks a cruise ship. (Rumour has it that the original script was intended as a possible "Die Hard" installment.)
Why it sucks: Patric isn't Reeves, and the decision to move ahead with a sequel without Reeves made the film feel like even more of an empty exercise in money-mad marketing over storytelling. The plot also lacked the original's pure pitch -- if the bus slows down, the bus goes BOOM! -- offering fairly generic action stunts instead.