Growing The Beard / Film

Films — Animation

• Walt Disney Animation Studio has fluctuated in quality throughout the years, but there's have been various definitive starting points for when their studio rebounds in quality. The first instance of this was Cinderella, the first film to come close to capturing the critical and commercial success of their first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Before that, the studio was finding themselves struggling to find a strong title. Disney would go on to have another string of successes until Walt Disney's passing signaled a decline in quality after The Jungle Book. Their next stage began with The Little Mermaid, which saw the starting point of the Disney Renaissance. Eventually the 2000s would result in another Audience-Alienating Era for the studio. The late-2000s and early-to-mid-2010s had John Lasseter as the head honcho of the WDAS, with movies like Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen bringing the studio back to the critical acclaim and commercial success.
  • While nearly all of Disneytoon Studios Direct to Video sequels remain divisive among fans of Disney Animated Canon, many note the 2000-onward era as the point they were often at least attempting to make sequels that complemented the originals, with some even validated fit to release in theatres in certain regions. Due to high budget animation, scripting and acting, the likes of Bambi II, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time and Return To Neverland, even if not considered on the same level as their predecessors were, are often considered good pieces in their own right.
  • Chicken Little was the first fully CGI movie in the Disney Animated Canon, but it unfortunately ended up being considered the worst in the entire canon. The second, Meet the Robinsons was much better received, but not enough to be considered a classic. The third, Bolt was good enough to be considered the start of the Disney Revival, producing many hits, the most popular being Frozen (2013).
• DreamWorks Animation:
  • When they started their animated movies, they were seen as a Follow the Leader of Disney, and later on a Follow the Leader to Pixar, despite having a few hits like Shrek and their collaborations with Aardman Animations. However, by Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks started to be seen as less of a Follow the Leader and more of a company who developed their own style, while the How to Train Your Dragon films were considered on par with the best of Disney or Pixar.
  • The first Madagascar film, while popular, was considered So Okay, It's Average by most critics. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is where many say the franchise takes off, thanks to abandoning most of the forced pop culture references, focusing more on each of the four characters of the Zoo Gang rather than just Marty and Alex, and embracing a sense of humor that is Denser and Wackier, which better compliments the art style. This newfound quality continued with its spinoffs and an Even Better Sequel in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.
• In The Pixar Story, John Lasseter said that Toy Story 2 was the film that defined what Pixar is perhaps best known for: the ability to drive a story with interesting hilarious comedy, poignant pathos and interesting characters.

Films — Live-Action

• The Dark Knight served as this for The Dark Knight Trilogy, which in turn is considered one of several instances of this trope for the Batman franchise as a whole (not all of which, similarly, were limited to the comics). Batman Begins was well-received - and rightly so - but it was nothing in comparison to just how well Heath Ledger pulled off The Joker and how The Dark Knight delved into even more complex themes.
• While Dr. No was considered a good film, From Russia with Love is where things started to grow for James Bond. It was a stronger film and introduced many of the things we would think of with the series. It was an even greater hit and is among the fans often (and by Sean Connery himself) considered to be the greatest Bond of them all and put the series on the map. Goldfinger is another strong contender and was the start for the Bond-fever.
• The Fast and the Furious has always had its loyal fans who watch it for the awesome car chases, but critics didn't start to warm up to the movies until the fifth installment — which surprised most non-fans with its positive reviews.^note  It actually managed to earn a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where none of the previous movies had even managed a "Fresh" score. The general consensus is that the movies noticeably improved when they stopped taking themselves entirely seriously, and decided to proudly embrace their own cheesiness by ramping the spectacle up to eleven with action sequences that wouldn't seem out of place in a James Bond movie. It also didn't hurt that they moved away from the original movie's "Point Break with sports cars" premise, and reimagined it as a heist series centered around a band of close-knit True Companions; many critics felt that the series gained some much-needed heart as it began to focus on the Undying Loyalty of the crew, spotlighting Paul Walker and Vin Diesel's excellent chemistry. The series received fresh ratings for four straight installments. ^note This streak was broken with F9, which ended up barely below the threshold to receive a fresh rating at a 59%.
• The original series of Gamera movies made little effort to be anything more than a cheap knockoff of the far superior Godzilla franchise (which had more than its fair share of bad movies to begin with), and are most notable today for providing Mystery Science Theater 3000 with some good comedic material. But thanks to such talents as director Shusuke Kaneko, special effects director Shinji Higuchi, writer Kazunori Ito, and composer Kow Otani (of later Shadow of the Colossus fame),^note all of whom, with the exception of Ito, worked on Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!, nigh-unanimously considered the best Godzilla movie of the "Millenium" era (1999-2004) by far the rebooted "Heisei-era" Gamera trilogy (released between 1995 and 1999) quickly became known as representative of the height of the kaiju genre alongside even the original 1954 Godzilla movie. This is all particularly true of the third film.
• The first two Harry Potter films were enjoyable, but suffered from squeezing in as much of the original books as possible, with little in the way of cinematic imagination. Prisoner of Azkaban however, embraced itself as a film first and foremost, and the rest of the series followed suit.
• Marvel One-Shots kicked off with The Consultant a short comprising of nothing more than a clip from The Incredible Hulk (2008) bookended by clips of SHIELD agents conversing at a table. The following shorts rely more heavily on original footage, and boast more interesting plotlines. And now Marvel's thinking about using them to test new characters and see if they're received well enough to make the jump to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
• The Pink Panther (1963) is generally considered a comedy classic in its series, but the beard started growing with A Shot in the Dark (which introduced us to Dreyfus and Cato) and had grown completely by the time The Return of the Pink Panther came out. Once Peter Sellers died and Trail of the Pink Panther was released, however, the beard was shaved off completely.
• The Three Stooges started growing their beards when they broke away from Ted Healy. Although their first short ("Woman Haters") was a bit of a misfire, the beard was full in their next effort, "Punch Drunks". The beard was trimmed when Curly's declining health hampered several promising shorts, but the beard grew back, albeit slightly less fully, when Shemp replaced Curly. Most fans would agree, though, that the beard fell out completely and took the whole jawline with it when Shemp died and was replaced by Joe Besser.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • Universe-wise:
    • While all the early movies were financial successes, critical reception was hit or miss. Things turned around with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which some have even compared to The Dark Knight as one of the best superhero movies of all time and a great case of Genre-Busting the superhero movie. Every MCU movie since has gotten glowing praise, with the only ones not breaking 80% on Rotten Tomatoes during its first three phases being Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain Marvel.
    • Based on both box office and reviews, Phase 3 is widely seen as this for the MCU as a whole. An important reason frequently cited was the restructuring at Disney that remove the infamously intrusive Creative Committee from the process. Most notably, the Phase 3's Black Panther became the first movie in the franchise to win an Oscar with 3 awards for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score.
  • Individual Series:
    • Among Captain America fans, Winter Soldier was the film that forever cemented him as a fan favorite. While Cap wasn't disliked in the beginning, some fans felt he lacked a compelling flaw or relatable personal struggle, his fighting style wasn't entertaining, and his costume looked unintentionally silly. Winter Soldier tackled these issues with its moral complexity, gritty realism and brutal melee combat that would define the later films, but without undermining Cap's idealism and heroic outlook. It also significantly redesigned his costume, which most fans loved.
    • The same happened with Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. While Thor wasn't exactly hated before, he wasn't the most popular superhero and was seen as a dull Invincible Hero when compared to the other Avengers or his own brother Loki. One of director Taika Waititi's stated goals was to change this by giving Thor a more engaging character arc this time. Most would agree that he succeeded, given that it's the best received of all the Thor films. It also helps that Chris Hemsworth gave Thor a 180 change of personality. The beard continues to grow in Avengers: Infinity War, reminding viewers why Thor is known as the god of thunder in the fight against Thanos.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Wonder Woman was a major improvement for the franchise. The first 3 DCEU movies Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad received mixed-to-negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with many criticizing the movies for having underdeveloped characters, lacking coherent narratives, and being excessively dark. However, Wonder Woman became the first DC Extended Universe movie to earn an overall positive response from critics, currently sitting at a 93% approval rating, with many praising the movie for having a straightforward story with well-defined protagonist and a balanced tone, while also grossing over $822 million worldwide. Furthermore, the DCEU actually beat the MCU to a landmark moment by releasing the first acclaimed female superhero movie, proving that the DCEU can compete with the MCU after being mocked for constantly playing catchup to its chief rival.
  • 2018 is considered a turning point for the franchise. After 2017's Justice League received mixed reviews and bombed at the box office, Warner Bros. reorganized the DC Films division with New Line Cinema producer Walter Hamada as president starting in January 2018. The first film released under Hamada's leadership, the James Wan-directed Aquaman, received positive reviews (albeit not to the extent of Wonder Woman) and managed to gross over $1.133 billion worldwide, making it both the highest grossing movie in the franchise and the highest grossing film to be based on a DC Comics property. The following SHAZAM! (2019), directed by David F. Sandberg, became another winner with a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a satisfying $360 million on a comparatively small budget ^note  Production budget was roughly $90 million and marketing $40 million. Yet most importantly, as Hamada had previously worked with Wan and Sandberg on The Conjuring Universe, the DC movies didn't experience any significant Executive Meddling, allowing the franchise to recover its public image and recruit new talent like Matt Reeves, James Gunn and Cathy Yan. Hamada also won a lot of goodwill for allowing (with the blessing of the new WB studio head Toby Emmerich) Wonder Woman 1984 to be pushed back a full seven months. The creative team had wanted a June 2020 release date all along but the studio had wanted to rush it for a November 2019 date. Timing issues had plagued the productions of both Suicide Squad ^note  David Ayer had six weeks to write the script and Justice League. ^note  The execs at WB knew the project needed more time but wanted to stick to the original date to get bonuses as there wasn't another big movie that quarter. The movie released in November but the cast couldn't get together to film reshoots until July due to the cast being all around the world and Gal Gadot's pregnancy
  • The new direction truly came to fruition in early 2020 as Birds of Prey (2020), which is the first project produced solely under his leadership, has also been released to rave reviews. Even if afterwards there was the divisive Wonder Woman 1984 and how The Suicide Squad, in spite of great reviews, could not break the overall box office slump of COVID-19 Pandemic times.
• Star Wars: While the original 1977 film was a smash box-office success that changed the course of movie history, many consider the follow-up sequel to be when the franchise grew a beard, stepping out from the shadow of Samurai films, Cowboy adventures, and pulpy Sci-Fi serials from which the original drew much inspiration. The much expanded budget allowed the creative team to pursue new ideas and technologies while the story more character driven and less dependent on Mythic archetypes.
  • For the prequel-era Star Wars films, Revenge of the Sith addressed the flaws of the previous two films by reducing the focus on galactic politics and concentrating more on the action-adventures of the original trilogy, and paving the way for the well received Star Wars: The Clone Wars series. Coincidentally, Obi-Wan began growing a beard during this era, after being clean shaven in The Phantom Menace.
• The first three Mission: Impossible films received mixed to positive reviews. While fairly popular, it wasn't until Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol that the series really broke out. Every subsequent film in the series to this point has received glowing reviews from both critics and moviegoers.
• Years prior to being the Trope Namer on TV, Star Trek was this on the movies, and also because creator Gene Roddenberry was sidelined - though while in The Next Generation on his own accord due to failing health, this time on studio imposition: Roddenberry had plans for a follow-up to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Paramount decided that his excessive input was what led to that movie getting over budget and being tepidly received as boring, so he was instead Kicked Upstairs to being just an executive consultant and other people assigned with the sequel. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was a remarkable Surprisingly Improved Sequel, and the ensuing success of further movies also ensured there was the return to TV. No matter if the film quality became inconsistent.

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