BY VICTORIA ESTRADA
It’s not every day that we come across a movie that blows our minds. Lately, it has become really difficult to find a movie that is worth sitting through and leaves one saying “Wow, that was amazing!” But recent movie remakes are especially dull. Rehashed versions of everything from Alice in Wonderland to Footloose have all failed miserably in trying to improve the classics they were based upon.
Alice in Wonderland
In 2010 Tim Burton added a twist to Alice in Wonderland. That twist was supposed to introduce a completely different side of the Disney favorite. In the new movie, Alice is a nineteen year old that has accidentally fallen down a hole and into a world called “Underland.” This “Underland” wasn’t in the original film; leading viewers to wonder where it came from. During the movie, we see that there are new characters introduced, such as the White Queen and the Knave of Hearts. These characters weren’t in the movie that was made in 1951. Considering the extreme they went to make the character of Alice older, one would think that the creators would at least try to stay as close as possible to the story of the original. But no, they decided to add characters that no one has ever heard of before and completely change those from the original movie. There is a limit to how many times a movie can be remade, no matter how good it may be. The original film is unique, funny, and makes the viewer feel as if they are in a fairy tale and a true “wonderland,” but Tim Burton created this reboot that ruined our outlook of the clever and funny Alice in Wonderland.
Snow White
By now, everyone is aware of the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1937, Disney introduced to the world this simple yet cute film. Since the original was released, movie producers have been making their own versions of this classic for a long time. This tale has been reinvented to fit any genre imaginable; a TV show was even based on the timeless story. In the history of all the remakes, however, one would think that the producers would go to an extreme and make this movie stand out from all the others, but apparently not. In Mirror Mirror the actors were poor choices; apart from Lily Collins playing Snow White and Armie Hammer playing Prince Alcott, Julia Roberts had to be the worst actor for this role. We are all so used to seeing Roberts act in serious movies, her acting in Mirror Mirror was like watching SpongeBob in an action film. In the classic, violence was out of the question for the lovable seven dwarfs, yet in the poorly revised Snow White and the Huntsman, they fought on stilts. It’s obvious to any viewer watching this movie; the producers didn’t put any effort into it as far as making it any better than the countless other remakes. Once again, this is another flick that has definitely improved the viewer’s outlook of the original.
Footloose
For a movie that has never been redone, you would expect that this one would leave you speechless. “I was a huge footloose fanatic, and I count footloose as one of the most
important films of my young adult life.” Director Craig Brewer said in an interview with Katey Rich. Hearing that, audiences expected an improvement in the movie, which they did not get. The remake kept far too many lines from the original. Not only that, but Footloose also poorly imitated many scenes from the original. When watching the first then its reboot, a spectator feels as if they are watching the same movie only with different, poorly chosen actors. No matter how old viewers are, the soundtrack from the original Footloose was simple and yet very upbeat. In the remake, they completely changed all the songs, many of which didn’t belong, such as: “Where the River Goes” by Zac Brown and “Walkin’ Blues” by Cee Lo Green. Even though many viewers’ expectations were shot down, children of the 80’s had to have been the most disappointed. They were around when the movie first came out, and seeing this version in the works, they probably expected their childhoods to be brought right back. Instead, their hopes of a great movie were killed. The whole point of a remake is to improve an original, not take memorable pieces of it and ruin them.
