I think the great thing about Part II is that it made me appreciate Part I a little bit more. I really enjoyed the back story about Vito and where he came from, what he struggled with -- I think it gave Vito from the first film a lot more character and I now watch Vito in Part I with a different persona.

Another great thing about Part II is that it really transformed Michael into a different person. Part I only gave us the beginning of Michael's power, but Part II opens to a different chapter of the story. It shows how powerful he has become and at the end, he can still make mistakes that he would regret for the rest of his life.

Part III is different from the first two films so I don't think I can seriously compare them. When the first two are like one book with two chapters, the third film is a completely other book with its own chapters.

But there is no doubt in my mind that Part I is still a great film. Without Part I, there would be no Part II -- I just prefer Part II better because I thought it was more intense and had richer storytelling.