Sequels

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
 The eighth film based on a series of seven books, “HP 7-2” promises to answer all the unfinished questions for moviegoers who haven’t gotten around to reading J.K. Rowling’s final installment of the series, which came out in July 2007. The last film left us with a dead elf and a lot of confusion from those pesky plot details lost somewhere along the way in the process of translating fiction to cinema. Maybe this time we’ll learn that as cool as fight scenes are, you can’t leave out all the stuff that came before it and expect the story to make sense.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
Falling deeper and deeper into self-referential parody as the franchise gives birth to more and more children, the newest “Pirates” film promises zombies, mermaids and the fountain of youth. Replacing Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane, finally addressing the tragic lack of pirates wearing eyeliner until this point in the series.

“The Hangover Part II”
Clues, wild animals and Zack Galifianakis being crude. Director Todd Phillips is sticking with the formula that made the original a hit, but we’ll see if the bachelor party gimmicks survive another incarnation. Will the same circumstances be plausible? Will we care? Instead of a missing tooth Ed Helms gets a tattoo? All we can do is shrug and hope lightning strikes twice.

“Cars 2”
Pixar adds a James Bond twist in the sequel to its least critically acclaimed release, the original “Cars.” Admittedly, this is like being the shortest giant, but Pixar must have decided the revenue off all those Lightning McQueen lunchboxes was worth taking another spin at the wheel. At least Michael Caine is in it.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin found a Transformer on the moon. If you didn’t just laugh out loud, by all means, get out there and give your money to Michael Bay.