With Star Wars, it really comes down to personal preference when it comes to determining which is better, Star Wars: A New Hope or Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The argument for either one is perfectly solid. With How to Train Your Dragon, there are just as many people who prefer the second one as there are those who cite the first time as the best time. When it comes to Jumanji, it would be fair to call either the Robin Williams installment or Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as the best of the three (soon to be four). And, even then, do you count the Williams one as the first or the first Dwayne Johnson one as the first of its own thing?
But the following fantasy film franchises? The first time was the best one. We’re not saying it wasn’t close in all cases (really in just one), but let there be no doubt the franchise peaked the first time out the gate.
Even if they weren’t quite on Harry Potter’s levels, the movie adaptations of C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books were fairly popular. But, financially as well as critically, it was definitely a case of the first one being the biggest deal.
As well it should have been, because there’s a night and day difference between the level of heart and narrative strength in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and its two sequels. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a pretty generic actioner, but even it is far better than the stale The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which wasn’t worth watching even with a returning Tilda Swinton on the cast list. There’s a reason it put the IP on ice, though we’ll soon be getting a Greta Gerwig helmed adaptation of the sixth novel, The Magician’s Nephew.
This is a pretty easy one, because John Milius’ 1982 Conan the Barbarian is the only great one of the franchise. Conan the Destroyer is awful, as is Red Sonja if you want to count that (Schwarzenegger isn’t playing Conan by name but…c’mon).
Jason Momoa’s reboot is fun enough, but it’s about on par in terms of memorability with Marcus Nispel’s other sword and sandals movie, Pathfinder. That’s not a compliment.
Elephant in the room: all three installments of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy are masterworks. Almost entirely devoid of dull moments, loaded with great acting, gorgeous visuals, and convincing practical effects, it is the definitive film trilogy.
But The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is still the best, even if The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the one that won Best Picture. It goes without saying, too, that Fellowship is better than the entire The Hobbit trilogy and the animated The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
The odds were stacked against Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but it defied every valid trepidation to become a classic. The swashbuckling subgenre had finally become financially viable, Johnny Depp’s off-kilter performance was actually note-perfect, it just all worked so very well.
And, frankly, the magic held on in the first two (shots back-to-back) sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Are they classics like the first one? Not quite, but they’re not as far off as their mixed reception in 2006 and 2007 would have served to indicate. Either way, they’re far better than the next two movies. By Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, even Depp was emotionally checked out (and it showed).
It may skew action/adventure, but the Indiana Jones saga is, indeed, fantasy. Mythological artifacts that unleash ghosts which melt your face or turn you into a skeleton when you drink out of them? Even with the religious and historical focuses, it’s fantasy.
And it’s a fantasy saga that definitely peaked with round one. Not all that many big studio movies out there can easily hold the title of “Perfect,” but Raiders of the Lost Ark is definitely one of them. But, to the franchise’s credit, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is also excellent, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was the return to form the franchise deserved after the execrable Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
