What Do You Think Of Movie Remakes?

[naomi24]

So often movie remakes seem to be a pale imitation of the original so I wonder why the makers bother. I watched a recent version of 'Little Women' - well, I tried to watch it and after about 20 minutes gave up on despair. When something is a classic, like the 1949 version of the story which stuck faithfully to the book, I have my doubts that any other production can ever out-perform it. I feel the same way about music. New versions of classic songs are rarely an improvement.

Now a new version of the supreme classic West Side Story is hitting our cinemas. The wonderful Spielberg is in the driving seat and it's reputed to be better than the original. Wow!! Can that really be? Fingers crossed.

[Untitled]

the remake of Suspiria is better than the original though not by much… i like the original True Grit but I think the 2011 version outshines it… likewise i think there is a good case for remaking films that were made under more controlled/oppressive rules like the Hayes Code, which imposed quite big limitations…

I don’t have a problem with remakes in principle… i think of it as a little bit (and only a little bit!!) like seeing the same play more than once with a different team… sometimes if an original version of the film already exists then the remake is “free” to do different things with the story… the 1980s film Manhunt is not a faithful adaptation of the book Red Dragon, and so there was space for another one that was closer to the book… in the event I think Manhunt was much better but I like some things about the later film too!

something i do think is a problem is the film industry relying on the same old ip’s over and over… we’ve now got nine star wars films plus spinoffs and tv series (only one of which was any good), endless superhero flicks that are all the same from the Marvel backlog, then millions of old - especially 80s - ips being mined (Rambo, Terminator, Batman, Alien, Halloween, etc…)… i think that an imaginative different remake is in some ways preferable to pinching out yet another sequel or prequel with the same aging characters that just repeats or references the first one… either way let’s have some fresh ideas please!!

[emmie]

i doubt if WSS is better than the original, as that is near perfect, yes Natalie Wood wasn't a Latino and she was dubbed but the music score is probably one of the best.

[jim360]

Sometimes remakes are successful, sometimes they are not. I suppose it depends on what you're trying to achieve with the remake. There's manifestly little point in doing a beat-for-beat copy of the original if you're going for artistic merit points, so you ought to be aiming for at least *some* sort of fresh take. A new angle, a different emphasis on themes, a new interpretation of the characters, or whatever. The 1946 Great Expectations, that got rave reviews here, wasn't the first adaptation of that book on the screen, so is clearly a "remake", and a thumping good one at that. Or you have the 1995 Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, that is by far superior in most people's eyes to every adaptation that came before it (and certainly, to my eyes, than the most famous adaption that succeeded it, 2005's film with Keira Knightley).

Of course, if you have something new to tell, then maybe that "new" stuff won't work -- at least not for everybody. But we can perhaps get too invested in preserving the integrity of the original, so I don't think there's a harm in trying. As long as your aim is to find something new to do, then we have to expect that sometimes it'll fail.

The real scandals are the "obvious cash grab" remakes -- see, most recently, the live-action Disney remakes of Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King, Aladdin, etc., most of which are pale imitations of the original and, inasmuch as they *do* deviate, do so in ways that seem to misunderstand the source material. Then again, the Lion King remake pulled in like $1.5 billion in ticket sales, so it probably succeeded at its main aim...

[Untitled]

i quite liked the live-action jungle book Jim… in fact I would even say I prefer it to the original… the others however… thhhrrrrrp.

[pixie374]

I think it often just depends which you saw first, as you compare. There are lots of films and music I have really enjoyed, and only seen the original afterwards, which often seem a bit wishy washy.
It's a bit like the book is always better than the film, because once you imagine or get used to something first, anything else is unlikely to match up.

[jim360]

By the way, I would guess that the "recent version of 'Little Women'" mentioned is the one with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh etc? If so, I have to say I liked that film, although on the other hand having neither read the book nor seen any previous version I might simply be incapable of appreciating its flaws as an adaptation/remake. Still, it seems to have been well-received by most, so maybe it is just one of those things where there's room for subjectivity in art.

[Untitled]

Other very good remakes that come to mind…

fistful of dollars (remake of yojimbo)

magnificent seven (remake of seven samurai)

never seen yojimbo so can’t really say if it’s better… but I do prefer magnificent seven to seven samurai!

[pixie374]

I read Little Women, saw the recent version and it seemed fine. I don't remember the original well, would have been a lot younger.

[jim360]

// I think it often just depends which you saw first... //

Yeah, I agree with Pixie's take here. It's not wrong to be biased by what you saw first, of course!

[jennyjoan]

whatever happened to Baby Jane remake - acted by the Redgrave sisters was absolutely dire, like that 20 mins done me.

Nobody could do it like Davis and Crawford

[andy-hughes]

Untitled - // Other very good remakes that come to mind…

fistful of dollars (remake of yojimbo)

magnificent seven (remake of seven samurai)

never seen yojimbo so can’t really say if it’s better… but I do prefer magnificent seven to seven samurai! //

I don;t think those films can be dsecribed as 'remakes' in the same way as other films mentioned.

To me, a 're-make' has the same characters and plot as the original - in the films you mention, they are a re-interpretation of a story in a different way, rather than simply telling the story over again with the same plot and characters, but different actors, and in some cases, in a different country.

[davebro]

Pale Rider was essentially a remake of Shane but I found both very enjoyable.

[naomi24]

The Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice. although not the first, is, in my opinion, unbeatable, the casting, acting, and script superb, but most importantly it followed the book. That said, it was made for television and spanned several episodes so not 'a movie' as such. Additionally, I think a viewer who is acquainted with the book is more likely to find fault with movies that deviate which is probably why Jim found the 2019 version of Little Women watchable and I found it an assault to my senses.

There are just some movies that I can't see ever being surpassed. Omar Sharif will always be Dr Zhivago and Vivien Leigh will always be Scarlet O'Hara.

[naomi24]

JJ, I'll add Joan Crawford and Bette Davis's Baby Jane to those that, in my opinion, can't be surpassed. An absolute classic!!

[jim360]

Yeah, that's fair enough. I'm not claiming for a second that you're wrong about your reaction to the 2019 film. I'm just not sure I'm "wrong" either, ie even if it were different, what would be the point of an adaptation that sets out to do exactly the same thing as any previous iteration? Of course, not everything different is good, but everything exactly the same is in some sense pointless in exactly the way you posited in your original post.

[davebro]

I dare someone to re-make "Pulp Fiction"!

[Khandro]

The remake of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' is rubbish compared to the original with Michael Rennie whom I believe was born to play the part of Klaatu

[naomi24]

Jim, // I'm not claiming for a second that you're wrong about your reaction to the 2019 film. I'm just not sure I'm "wrong" either//

I'm not in competition. This is just a friendly chat about movies.

When I wrote 'the original' in the OP I was thinking of West Side Story and the new version. Of course the discussion can be expanded into 'best versions' which is has. Perhaps the new question should be 'When a movie is, like Mary Poppins, 'practically perfect in every way', why do film makers think they can improve upon it?'

Incidentally, speaking of Mary Poppins, I tried watching the sequel, 'Saving Mr Banks'. Oh dear …..

I gave it an hour so no one can say I didn't try.

[jim360]

I didn't think that there was any competition either, just alternative viewpoints. Hopefully that's made clear now.

[naomi24]

Jim, It never occurred to me that there was anything other than alternative viewpoints so no 'right' or 'wrong' involved and nothing to clarify as far as I'm concerned.