Tarantino has championed sequels that change the tone, expand a franchise or find a convincing farewell. His comments on Temple of Doom, Mad Max: Fury Road and Toy Story 3 come from separate conversations and do not form a single ranking of sequels.
Temple of Doom and the freedom to change course
In his August 2022 conversation with ReelBlend, Tarantino singled out Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom among his Spielberg favourites, placing Jaws in a category of its own. MovieMaker has drawn on that assessment when discussing his views on the franchise. The praise should not be confused with his comparison, also from that same meeting, between The Last Crusade and Crystal Skull.
Temple of Doom was released in 1984 as the second Indiana Jones film, although its events take place before those of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is an industrial sequel to the series and a prequel in the internal chronology. Keeping both dimensions in view avoids a discussion of sequels beginning with a muddle over dates.
The film offers its own journey, with different companions and a tone that alternates humour, adventure and horror. It does not depend on repeating the first film’s relationships exactly. Its lead remains recognisable, but the circumstances alter the kind of discomfort and danger he must face.
As a critical reading, that decision shows one of the possibilities of a sequel: keeping a central figure and allowing them to enter a different kind of experience. The audience gets familiarity without every scene having to serve the same function as a previous scene in the series.
The result can also divide viewers. A greater grotesque intensity or a different comic dynamic does not produce the same pleasure for everyone. Tarantino’s preference documents a particular response; it does not make the film mandatory viewing, nor does it remove the debates it provokes about its portrayal of other places and cultures.
Mad Max: Fury Road and the renewal of a franchise
In December 2015, Première asked Tarantino directly about his film of the year during the Paris presentation of The Hateful Eight. He chose Mad Max: Fury Road. The 15 December article also records his initial doubts about Mel Gibson’s absence and his later enthusiasm after seeing it. It is a clear example of an expectation that changed.
Fury Road belongs to an earlier franchise, but it does not require a painstaking reconstruction of every instalment in order to follow the conflict. The world is presented through bodies, vehicles, resources and power relations. The viewer learns what is necessary as the action moves forward and can understand the objective without a long backstory explanation.
The presence of Furiosa also changes the place of the character who gives the series its name. Max takes part in an escape he did not initiate and must find a way to cooperate. The film retains recognisable elements of its universe while redistributing initiative and emotional weight in a different way.
This capacity for renewal helps place Tarantino’s praise in context. Continuity does not depend solely on the actor or on repeating a story that has already been resolved. The profile of George Miller and the Mad Max franchise develops the relationship between that admiration and the Australian filmmaker’s choices.
It is not necessary to transfer the 2015 comment automatically to Mad Max 2, nor to claim that Tarantino ranked all the instalments in the same way. Each film requires its own attribution. Fury Road has here a direct, dated statement that is sufficient to justify its inclusion.
Toy Story 3: continuing in order to end
In his 2024 conversation with Bill Maher, aired by Entertainment Weekly, Tarantino defended the first three Toy Story films as a set that had found a satisfying ending. He explained his lack of interest in seeing Toy Story 4 on that basis. His position concerned preserving the experience of a trilogy, not offering a negative review of the fourth film.
Toy Story 3 uses the continuity of its characters to make the passage of time visible. The toys remain linked to Andy, but the conditions of that bond have changed. The film cannot resolve its conflict simply by returning everything to the state of the first adventure: growing up is part of the problem.
A third instalment therefore has a different task from a second. It can gather the weight of an already familiar relationship and decide what deserves to continue in another form. The farewell gains force because the audience recognises what is being left behind, even if the immediate story also works on its own.
These three cases allow us to observe different possibilities for extending a series. Temple of Doom changes course; Fury Road reorganises an action world; Toy Story 3 uses familiarity to shape a loss. Tarantino’s оценation cannot be explained as a blanket approval or rejection of all sequels.
The criterion that can be drawn from this comparison is critical, not a literal rule laid down by him: a sequel needs to offer a concrete experience that justifies returning. It can do so through surprise, renewal or closure. Repeating a familiar name opens the door for the viewer; what happens next decides whether that return makes sense.
See the selection of films recommended by Tarantino.