Movie sequels better than the original
 

List your favs (in no order):

1. Home Alone 2
2. The Dark Knight
3. Batman Returns
4. Shrek 2
5. Terminator 2
6. Toy Story 2
7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
8. Madagascar 2
9. The Conjuring 2
10. Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (Japanese version)
11. High School Musical 2
12. Happy Deathday 2U
13. X- Men: Days of Future Past
14. The Purge: Anarchy
15. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
17. Thor: The Dark World
18. Batman v Superman
19. MIB 2
20. Despicable Me 2
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
22. Jumanji: The Next Level
23. The Wolverine
24. Sinister 2
25. IT: Chapter 2
26. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
27. Mad Max: Fury Road
28. Logan
29. Avengers: Infinity War
30. Avengers: Endgame
31. Iron-Man 2
32. Captain America: Civil War
33. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
34. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
35. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Kung Fu Panda 2 comes to mind. The original set the bar pretty high, so seeing the sequel surpass it was pretty significant, especially on a franchise with such a dumb sounding title.

Kung Fu Panda 2 had much better jokes than the original, more action, higher stakes, and unlike its predecessor, got pretty dark at times.

Godfather II. Maybe.

The Color of Money.

The Road Warrior.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Yeah, pretty much all of the Harry Potter movies after #2 or #3 are all way better than the original.

Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerds in Paradise.

Superman II.

Spider-Man 2.

That's about it. Batman v Superman better than MoS? No way. Happy Death Day 2U was way worse than the original. IT Chapter 2 was definitely not as strong as the first one.

I'd argue Back to the Future 2 is better than the 1st...but it may be my bias for the "future".

Aliens
Back To The Future 2
Gremlins 2
Harry Potter 2 & 4
Shrek 2
Superman 2
Terminator 2
The Dark Knight
Toy Story 2 & 3

Not counting Harry Potter as it’s a defined series heh.

The list isn’t long. Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Dark Knight, maybe Toy Story 3 over 1 (don’t think 2 is quite as good).

Terminator 2
The Dark Knight
Batman Returns

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Back to the Future Part II and Empire are definitely the two that come to mind.

Can Logan even really be called a sequel? I don't think many regard it as, like, "Wolverine 3." It's kind of its own thing.

Gremlins 2? While I think it's aged better than I imagined (and I like it way more now than when I was young) there's no way that's better than the original. It's not even close. Iron Man 2 better than 1? You can't be serious with that. It was barely a movie at all.

And as a kid I would have said Aliens and T2 are better than the originals. Now I don't think so at all. Still great sequels, though.

TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze, I liked it better then the first one because it has what I liked more about TMNT, The mutants.

Airplane 2: The Sequel, I liked this one more then the first movie because of the scifi twist.

There is no such thing

I'd say it's better than the first but a lot of it relies on you knowing the first movie and all the characters relationships with each other. The part were Doc and Marty go back to 1955 very much relies on you seeing the first one.

Part I and III work better as their own movies even if I enjoy the second the most.