VIDEO : IF YOU LIKED IT THE FIRST TIME ...

Byline: Robert Bianco Special to the Daily News

Not all good things bear repeating.

``The Brady Bunch Movie'' was one of 1995's happier surprises. An affectionate send-up of the plastic-coated sitcom, ``Brady'' humorously flipped our expectations: Instead of taking us back to the '70s, it brought the Bradys into the '90s, with their sensibilities and outfits intact.

Unfortunately for ``A Very Brady Sequel'' (1996, Paramount; priced for rental), we've already heard the film's best joke - which leaves us with 90 less-than-stellar minutes of repetition. There are still some funny moments, many of them provided by the wickedly on-target sibling rivalry between Christine Taylor's Marcia and Jennifer Elise Cox's Jan. But instead of being amused throughout, you may find yourself counting the minutes between laughs - and wondering why Shelley Long decided to make that distracting attempt to mimic Florence Henderson's voice more closely.

The truth is, when it comes to making sequels to good movies, Hollywood just can't help itself. But you can. In honor of this ``Sequel,'' here are some sequels to embrace, and some to avoid.

Worth a second look

Superman 2: (1980, Warner; $19.99) Although it lacks the epic scope of the first film, it compensates with better villains and an even more assuredly charming star turn from Christopher Reeve.

Aliens: (1986, Fox; $14.99) The original was an outer-space variation on the old haunted-house genre. The sequel ups the stakes by putting a child at risk and turning our heroine into a maternal avenger.

Addams Family Values: (1993, Paramount; $19.99) With all the set-up out of the way, writer Paul Rudnick was able to concentrate on giving this sequel some of the funniest one-liners of the decade. This film is an underappreciated comedy that revels in the old-fashioned joy of clever dialogue.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: (1991, Live; $19.99) The original ``Terminator'' made Arnold Schwarzenegger a full-fledged movie star, and stars don't play rampaging robot villains. So, they reprogrammed him to be a hero, fighting a morphing monster who is one of the screen's great creations.

The Godfather Part II: (1974, Paramount; $29.99) Perhaps the best sequel ever made, ``Godfather II'' enriched the original by filling in its past and future. (You can rent the two films separately, or see Francis Ford Coppola's made-for-TV combined version that puts the story in chronological order.) Unfortunately, like the producers of ``Superman 2'' and ``Aliens,'' Coppola didn't stop while he was ahead; he went on to make the misguided ``Godfather Part III,'' which was not ghastly, but was definitely refusable.

Leave well enough alone

Butch and Sundance: The Early Days: (1979, Fox; $19.99) What do you do when the lead characters die at the end of the film? You do a ``prequel'' that purports to tell an earlier story. Just don't do it without Robert Redford and Paul Newman, or you may find that nobody cares.

Jaws 2: (1978, Universal; $19.99) And when the monster's dead? You dredge up another great white shark, an act of desperation that undercuts the thrust of the original. If there are a thousand ``Jaws'' to catch out there, we've moved from myth to ``The American Sportsman.''

Rocky II: (1979, MGM; $14.99) Actually, ``Rocky II'' isn't so much a sequel as an almost frame-by-frame re-creation of ``Rocky.'' It's the worst kind of rehash - one that makes us feel like saps for having liked the original.

The Empire Strikes Back: (1980, Fox; $19.99) When ``Empire'' was first released, many of us went expecting to see a freestanding film and were disappointed to find we'd been sucked into a cliff-hanger bridge between ``Star Wars'' and ``The Return of the Jedi.'' Now, of course, its place in the trilogy is clear. At the time, though, it seemed like a cheat - and some of us have long memories.

Exorcist 2: The Heretic: (1977, Warner; $19.99) There are few firm rules in filmmaking, but surely this is one of them: Nobody should be possessed more than once.

Elsewhere on video

One of last year's most critically acclaimed films, ``Trainspotting'' (1996, Buena Vista; priced for rental) was also one of its most controversial, largely because of its sympathetic view of young heroin addicts. Clearly, you wouldn't want to schedule it for an elementary-school assembly, but saying it glorifies drug use because the addicts enjoy their initial rush is like saying ``All's Quiet on the Western Front'' glorifies war because the recruits are initially excited by combat. Anyone who stays through to the end is unlikely to find either activity particularly glamorous.

Critics and viewers alike embraced ``Fly Away Home'' (1996, Columbia TriStar; $15.95), Carroll Ballard's beautifully shot, fact-based story about a young girl who comes to the rescue of an orphaned flock of geese. Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany star.

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Photo: The introduction of a house guest (Tim Matheson, center) does little to enliven sh In'

anything about ``A Very Brady Sequel.''