Warning: This article contains major spoilers for both "Gladiator II" and "Moana 2."

Two major blockbuster sequels are barreling into theaters this Thanksgiving weekend that, to most normal people, might not seem to have much in common. Sure, both "Gladiator II" and "Moana 2" (with more than a little help from "Wicked") are about to super-charge the box office in a late-year push that theaters sorely need. But beyond the fact that both are bringing in boatloads of fans and both happen to feature curly-haired, shirtless warriors who return years after their first appearance in defiance of gods and men -- okay, yeah, even typing that out makes the latter feel like a serious stretch -- there's not much else to link them together. One is a swords-and-sandals drama set amid the dust of the Colosseum, and the other's an animated Disney movie about a Polynesian-influenced wayfinder who's most at home on water. However, we are not normal here at /Film and couldn't help but notice one crucial way that both films handle their respective stories.

As it turns out, the key is all about putting the "legacy" in "legacy sequel." "Gladiator II" might as well be the dictionary definition of that franchise trend (as pointed out by /Film's Chris Evangelista in his review), essentially remaking large swaths of the original "Gladiator" to reflect the decades that have passed since the original. Compared to that, "Moana 2" is releasing a relatively brisk eight years after its own predecessor, but still takes the passage of time into account and directly addresses the idea of our heroes coming to terms with their own legacies. (For more on that, check out /Film's review by BJ Colangelo here.) And yet, only one of these succeeds at doing what legacy sequels ought to do ... and, believe it or not, the kid-friendly adventure accomplishes its aims far better than the bloody, adult-minded epic from one of our greatest living directors.