Unnecessary Remakes: Why Fix What Ain't Broken?

[Oxynia]

Thanks for the thread suggestion, smitten.

Here's where you can vent about films you loved growing up that have been senselessly remade for a new generation...Karate Kid, anyone?

[Brookie]

I'll see you your Karate Kid and raise you the Pink Panther movies. The "old" ones were and still are perfect. I enjoy Steve Martin, but nobody beats out Peter Sellers.

[Deleted]

Ugh...Karate Kid. I think we can safely blame Will Smith for that one. And Jackie Chan? You are not fit to lick Pat Morita's boots. Step off.

[divasahm]

Agreed.

My contribution is Fame. They just had to go and mess with it and the results were appalling. *clasps worn, scratchy vinyl copy of original soundtrack to chest and sighs with disappointment*

[kateln]

I think I have owned up to my huge crush on Keanu Reeves elsewhere on the boards...so imagine my disappointment when I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still in which not only was he stiff as a board, but what a dull, lifeless film.

Also starring Jaden Smith. Star of the remake of The Karate Kid.

So not hitting puberty yet, and already King of the Pointless Remakes. Good for you, kiddo!

[Spinderella]

I'm cheesed off about the Footloose remake on the horizon. You just don't mess with a good thing like Kevin Bacon in tight jeans.

And the whole Karate Kid thing has me peeved to no end. Everytime the trailer airs, "I will teach you REAL Kung Fu!" and then the announcer says, "The Karate Kid", I have to scream, "THIS IS ABOUT KUNG FU?!" Shit!

I had a big vent about this on my FB awhile back, I should go drudge it up.

[Witchie]

Soapdish & Overboard do not need to be remade. Neither does Red Dawn.

[Strawberry]

I was thinking about this the other day and about what all these remakes mean culturally. I was wondering if it had to do with nostalgia, but now I'm thinking it has something to do with some sort of relevance crisis. Times and technology are moving so quickly now that I wonder if being cutting edge or innovative seems near impossible. The minute you get the hottest thing on the market, it's already replaced with something better, we go through celebs quickly, hit songs and artists are on and off the market in a minute... I wonder if maybe now it's just a matter of falling back on something familiar and trying to update it, and because it's already irrelevant there's no harm, no foul?

I'd love to hear some thoughts from others. I know I'm definitely no expert and probably have it all wrong, and I'm curious as to what the deal is.

[yournamehere]

Anything at all that elevates Jaden Smith is a big black mark in my book. I read about "The Karate Kid" in Black Belt magazine this month and it said he trained a whole seven months (!!) for this movie. Please. He could have looked like Angus T. Jones at the start of Two and a Half Men and would have still gotten the part. (I want a movie franchise for my birthday...thanks, Dad!)

Plus (OT), am I the only person who thinks Jackie Chan is overrated? (Give me Jet Li any day.)

[ElleCee]

Hello Working Girl, your thread is calling. I never did watch that Jessica Simpson redux so I don't know if that one was an homage or an actual remake.

witchie, I am so there with you about the Soapdish remake. That makes no sense at all to me.