MaeleeSmith
“Happy Gilmore” came out in 1996. This summer, 29 years later, a sequel was released: “Happy Gilmore 2.” Along with “Happy Gilmore,” a sequel to the popular 2003 movie “Freaky Friday” came out called “Freakier Friday.” With a gap this big between movies and their sequels, it raises the question of whether or not a sequel was necessary.

 “Happy Gilmore,” starring Adam Sandler, is about a wannabe hockey player named Happy who becomes a professional golfer.

 “Happy Gilmore 2” features Happy, now 30 years older, as a single dad trying to support his five kids. To do this, he decides to start golfing professionally again after he had quit due to his grief over his wife’s death. 

Junior Madeline Waters is a big fan of “Happy Gilmore” and watched the second one, which was released to Netflix on July 25, hoping for a movie just as good as the first. 

“I liked the first a lot more because it’s more nostalgic. I don’t know if I liked how modern the second one was because I was so used to the nostalgia of the first,” Waters said.

Waters said that she also didn’t love the plot of the new movie. According to her, there were definitely some parts that seemed wild and unnecessary, such as when Happy’s wife was killed within the first few minutes of the movie. 

“There 100% didn’t need to be a second one, but the references in the second movie made me appreciate the first even more,” Waters said. 

Sophomore Nora Klein also watched both “Happy Gilmore” movies and came to a different conclusion than Waters.

“I really liked the second movie! It was definitely funnier,” Klein said.

Klein said she liked how the second movie had so many celebrities, such as Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Eminem and Post Malone, to name a few, along with many real professional golfers because it made for a fun and appealing movie.

“I think it was definitely worth the watch,” Klein said.

Another movie that came out this summer was “Freakier Friday,” which was released in theaters on Aug. 8 and is a sequel to Disney’s 2003 version of “Freaky Friday” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. “Freakier Friday” takes place two decades after the original movie. 

“Freaky Friday” features a mother, Tess, and her daughter, Anna, who have a bit of a strained relationship. One day, they wake up and find that they’ve switched bodies. Despite its challenges, the experience of physically walking in each other’s shoes brings the pair closer together.

“Freakier Friday” is about the same mother and daughter, but also Anna’s daughter, Harper, and future stepdaughter, Lily. Anna and Harper switch bodies and Tess and Lily switch bodies. 

The focus of both movies is the relationship between mother and daughter, so it’s fitting that senior Aubrey Mattox watched both with her mom. 

“The first one is nostalgic for me because I would always watch it with my mom on the weekends when I was younger. I watched the new movie with her, too, which was really special,” Mattox said.

Seeing actors, such as Lindsay Lohan, as a kid in the first movie and as an adult in the second was fun, according to Mattox.

“The second movie was really funny and I definitely think it’s worth a watch,” Mattox said.

Mattox’s mom, Holly Mattox, said she enjoyed both “Freaky Friday” and its sequel because it portrayed the struggles that occur in different generations. 

“It was a good movie to watch with my daughter because it was lighthearted, relatable to the both of us, and very funny,” Mrs. Mattox said.

However, not everyone has this positive attitude towards these movies.

Junior Madison Schnell said she thought that the original “Freaky Friday” was cheesy.

“I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first movie,” Schnell said.

To Schnell, “Freaky Friday” was a low-quality, typical 2000’s Disney movie.

“I don’t think the sequel needed to be made,” Schnell said.

With movie sequels that come out way after the original, it can be a hit or miss with the audience. Some people love the nostalgic feeling of the sequel and see it as a worthy continuation of the story, while others dislike the sequel because, in their mind, it is a cheap knock-off that doesn’t compare to the quality of the first.

 According to screenrant.com, “Happy Gilmore 2” has been the most successful movie in its opening weekend compared to any Netflix movie in the US and “Freakier Friday” made its budget of $45 million back after just three days of being in theaters. Looking at the numbers, these movies might be considered a success, but what really matters is the opinions of the people who watched them.