I like the fact that NoES 1 and 2 both just sort of do their own thing, don't have a lot of interest or concern about anything making sense or following their own rules, etc.

Like in the first one, they pull Freddy into the real world. So he's supposed to be destructible like a mortal man now, right? Except the way Nancy defeats him is completely supernatural in nature, and he like vanishes into a dime store Quantum Leap special effect at the end. Then Nancy goes outside, and it's day suddenly, and everyone's come back to life, calling into question whether Nancy ever *really* woke up in the first place. Then Freddy's glove comes through the door and pulls a blow-up doll version of Nancy's mom through the window - it's glorious.

3, on the other hand, is where the powers that be seemed to decide, If we're gonna keep this series/franchise going, there have to be rules, there has to be continuity. So we start learning about Freddy's origins (Son of a Hundred Maniacs and all that), we meet his Ghost Mom, we establish the ability some people have to pull other characters into their dreams (which will go on to figure in at least the next few movies). None of this is bad, necessarily, but it's just the exact polar opposite of what the first two films were trying to do.

All that being said... while it probably *was* the first movie to bring back the original heroine for a rematch with the killer after she'd been missing from the series for at least one installment (a well that both this and the Halloween franchise would return to a second time, along with the Terminator and, after a fashion, Jurassic Park films ((and you just know Alien is gonna try and get in on that action at some point)) ... I don't think being gone for one film is enough to constitute a "legacy sequel/reboot/requel/whatever the Hell they're calling it right this minute." She's gotta be gone long enough to make us miss her, and in this case - not so much.