Submitted by trolley_dodgers t3_zcg3hr in movies
I have been watching the Santa Clause movies (and show) with my kids. The Santa Clause was one of my favorite Christmas movies as a kid. There was a restrained sense of realism and drama to the whole story.
Santa Clause 2 comes around, and the whole time becomes cartoony and over the top. Even the head elf, Bernard, who was a grumpy no nonsense character in the first film, became a flailing clown in the second one.
Are there other notable film franchises where sequels inflict a large shift in tone/quality/style to the original?