In the summer of 2012 – mere weeks after Marvel unleashed "The Avengers" onto the public and grossed about as much as the GDP of Djibouti – "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" humbly unveiled its own super-team, albeit of supernaturally delightful grayed British thespians. The effortlessly sunny and even lightly poignant piece of summer counter-programming didn’t make Marvel’s Olympic swimming pool of money (but really, who does?) but it still snagged $136 million worldwide on a $10 million budget – certainly enough to impressively overflow a kiddie pool.

Three years later, it was also apparently enough to turn the once pleasant franchise alternative into a franchise itself with "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." And while the returning parade of wrinkled Brit scene stealers may not resemble your typical Hollywood sequel, the end result – disappointment – feels sadly all too familiar.  

At least things begin well, with energetic powder keg of optimism Sonny (Dev Patel) and grumbly straight-talker Muriel (Maggie Smith) charmingly playing off each other while cruising down Route 66 and pitching a second hotel to investors (led by series newcomer David Strathairn). The two play odd couple quite well. Few throw blistering barbs and perturbed side-eye as enjoyably as Smith, while the "Slumdog Millionaire" star sells the inevitability of death with such entertainingly bright-eyed sweetness and hope. For five or ten minutes, it’s pleasantly as though nothing’s changed.  

Unfortunately, that feeling wears off shortly after returning to India, the titular hotel and the increasingly crowded tangle of contrived subplots playing out inside. Seemingly a couple by the end of the last film, Douglas and Evelyn (Bill Nighy and Judi Dench) are now unsure of their relationship’s next step, especially with the potential of a promotion several hours away for Evelyn.

Meanwhile, Madge (Celia Imrie) is stuck deciding between the two wealthy suitors she’s been seeing, and the now-leashed lothario Norman (Ronald Pickup) battles suspicions that his girlfriend (Diana Hardcastle) is cheating on him … and that he’s accidentally hired a hit on her. But really.

Even the perpetually gleeful Sonny isn’t immune from the drama. His obsession over expanding his hotel – perhaps a writers’ surrogate situation going on here? – and impressing a new guest (the comparatively fresh-faced new addition Richard Gere) who he assumes to be an undercover agent for the potential investors distracts him from his impending marriage to Sunaina (the lovely Tina Desai, stuck mostly playing exasperated). The fact that a handsome old rival is not only helping to organize the wedding – including teaching Sunaina her Bollywood dance choreography all too well – but also interfering with his franchise plans does little to put the cheerful pep back into Sonny’s step.

It’s hard to be disappointed that none of the sequel’s plot threads manage to reach the heights of Tom Wilkinson’s touching arc, the beautiful and deft highlight of the last film. What’s far more disheartening is that returning screenwriter Ol Parker’s script can’t even reach the level of its predecessor’s second tier plotlines.

A majority of the stories before were fairly predictable, but they were sweet, easily affable tales of not just surviving but thriving in one’s final act – charmingly performed, of course, by some Brit legends. This time around, they’re just as predictable – if not more so – and while the endearing actors are the same, the frustratingly forced dramas put all of their considerable charms through the ringer.

It should go without saying that Norman’s "Strangers on a Train"-lite situation is, um, a bit of a dramatic stretch, and the easily foreseen infidelity concerns that follow aren’t much more effective. Madge’s romantic woes are vaguely established at the beginning, and as soon as the movie introduces her sweet, humble chauffeur, it’s pretty clear where her subplot is going.

Meanwhile, Douglas and Evelyn’s formerly sweet burgeoning romance gets strained through a tedious, dramatically timid will they or won’t they routine. Similar to most of the film’s sitcom-y subplots, one doesn’t need to be well-versed in the practice of reading tea leaves to predict where it’s leading. As for the delightfully displeased Smith, she’s unfortunately sidelined as an occasionally snappy spectator for much of the film – that is, until an ending that’s much too quick and tidy to earn the emotions it desires.

In fact, most of the hotel’s elderly inhabitants are sent to the back burner while Sonny takes the spotlight. That’s not inherently a problem; Patel is a perkily charismatic and likeable performer. However, his sprawling web of plotlines is also "The Second Best Marigold Hotel" at its most irritatingly trite and manufactured. Characters behave doltish at best and ferociously rude at worst – especially Sonny to a customer in his desperate hopes to appease Gere – and much of the drama revolves around a dopey misunderstanding that could be solved with a simple, easy conversation the script refuses to have. Plus, continuing in theme with the rest of the subplots, the inevitable twist is exceedingly transparent.

And while we’re talking about Gere, his character’s growing romance with Sonny’s mom in the film is rushed just enough to add a dampening touch of sleaze to what should be a sweet, fluffy love story. There’s just a scene missing; instead, the audience seemingly jumps from Sonny asking for his mom to convince Gere’s investigator to report good news to his mom and Gere spending the night.

The problem isn’t the actors. Gere is his usual grey fox debonair self, and the rest of the cast is way too talented and naturally pleasant to let the first film’s generally affable sense of well-meaning disappear completely. These actors are beloved for a reason, and they’re enjoyable company even when the material is well below them. A movie where Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith share the screen is never a bad thing.

But even they can't overcome the grave sense of disappointment I had while watching "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," the feeling of a forced grin slowly forming where an effortless smile used to be. Forget old age; it's the demands of a satisfying sequel that come for us all - whether superheroes or super actors.