JamesG
10-14-2011, 04:57 PM
Movie Reviews: Footloose
There haven’t been a lot of musicals that have managed to succeed at the box office since the advent of MTV. An exception was 1984′s Footloose, and it’s back — with virtually the same script if not the original stars (Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer).
In fact, Roger Ebert remarks in the Chicago Sun-Times:
“This 2011 version is so similar — sometimes song for song and line for line — that I was wickedly tempted to reprint my 1984 review, word for word.
A bad movie, if faithfully remade, will produce another bad movie.”
Nevertheless, the original Footloose was a whopping success — and several critics are predicting that this one will be, too.
Kenneth Turna in the Los Angeles Times writes:
“Completely understanding that proven commercial formulas need not be tampered with, this new Footloose … stays remarkably close to its predecessor in all the ways that count.”
Several critics remark that the few tweaks to the story and remarkable dancing brilliance by the cast represent a significant improvement on the original.
Kyle Smith puts it in the New York Post:
“The remake retains the strongest elements and improves on some of the weaker ones of 1984′s version.”
But a number of critics emphasize that there really isn’t much of a difference between the two versions.
Steven Rea remarks in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“As remakes go, Footloose is fine, serving up slightly fresher batches of cheese and corn. But why? Why?”
Mick Lasalle has an answer to that question in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The truth is, the old vehicle needed a tune-up. If you were to watch the original right now, you’d be surprised at how a movie remembered in its day as a shot of adrenaline is actually rather languorous. And the dance scenes that seemed so exuberant a generation ago? They’re just Ok.”
-IMDB News
There haven’t been a lot of musicals that have managed to succeed at the box office since the advent of MTV. An exception was 1984′s Footloose, and it’s back — with virtually the same script if not the original stars (Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer).
In fact, Roger Ebert remarks in the Chicago Sun-Times:
“This 2011 version is so similar — sometimes song for song and line for line — that I was wickedly tempted to reprint my 1984 review, word for word.
A bad movie, if faithfully remade, will produce another bad movie.”
Nevertheless, the original Footloose was a whopping success — and several critics are predicting that this one will be, too.
Kenneth Turna in the Los Angeles Times writes:
“Completely understanding that proven commercial formulas need not be tampered with, this new Footloose … stays remarkably close to its predecessor in all the ways that count.”
Several critics remark that the few tweaks to the story and remarkable dancing brilliance by the cast represent a significant improvement on the original.
Kyle Smith puts it in the New York Post:
“The remake retains the strongest elements and improves on some of the weaker ones of 1984′s version.”
But a number of critics emphasize that there really isn’t much of a difference between the two versions.
Steven Rea remarks in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“As remakes go, Footloose is fine, serving up slightly fresher batches of cheese and corn. But why? Why?”
Mick Lasalle has an answer to that question in the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The truth is, the old vehicle needed a tune-up. If you were to watch the original right now, you’d be surprised at how a movie remembered in its day as a shot of adrenaline is actually rather languorous. And the dance scenes that seemed so exuberant a generation ago? They’re just Ok.”
-IMDB News