Unlike most sequels, 35 Up is really more for people who failed to see its immediate predecessor, 28 Up. For the people who did not fail to see the predecessor, this is apt to seem a too-soon reunion (not unlike your latest high-school reunion) of the diverse group of Britishers whom filmmaker Michael Apted has followed at seven-year intervals since they were seven years old. So much of it is old material that it hardly amounts to a new movie. Perhaps the same thing could have been said at earlier increments as well, but the fact is that American audiences never had had the chance to get in on this unique sociological experiment till the prior installment in 1985. And the difference between seven-year-olds and twenty-eight-year-olds is perforce more dramatic and revelatory than the difference between twenty-eights and thirty-fives. If such a thing can be discussed in terms of storytelling — plotting, pacing — we would have to agree that 35 Up, although several minutes shorter than 28 Up even with its new footage, runs out of steam. And out of invention. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd