When Did Remakes Go Bad?

D'Snowth

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I'm watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie on Hub, and I got to thinking: remakes of older TV shows have been around for a looooong time, and as a matter of fact, a lot of remakes used to be GOOD. Well, okay, maybe not "good", but tolerable. Dan Aykroyd's version of Dragnet in 1987 was a funny tribute to the original series, much like the 1995 Brady Bunch Movie, and the following Very Brady Sequel; the 90s Little Rascals movie was fun to watch as a kid, as was the 1994 live action version of The Flintstones. I don't even mind the aforementioned Rocky and Bullwinkle movie.

So, yeah, remakes have been around for a long time, and I know they'll be around for as many more years as there will be entertainment... but WHEN, exactly, did remakes start going south and became pretty much travesties that tarnished the originals? It kind of seems like that phase more or less started happening during the mid-2000s or so... the 2005 remake of Bewitched wasn't just bad, it was godawful.
 

Drtooth

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There are two factors.

One, we're older and more cynical and jaded about things. If we were kids, we would have loved these crappy remakes because we would have been far more open to the dumb overused jokes that, being kids, we haven't heard our entire lives and got very sick of. Even looking back at some of the remakes we liked, a lot of them don't hold up because now we only notice the flaws. I liked both Flintstone movies, despite various levels of odd casting choices. I mean, Rosie as Betty Rubble? She barely did the laugh correctly. Then of course, as far as I go, there are ones I liked at first then grew to dislike quite a bit. The Inspector Gadget movie I dug in theaters, only to get very bored with on home video (I think the VHS tape I have is still at the 3/4 way mark after I watched it over 10 years ago). Dudley Do-Right I liked the first viewing, the second one however...

Secondly, there's far more of them than ever before. The Chipmunks brought back something that was considered a completely commercial failure of a concept, and I to this day believe that Fox believed it would be a flop. Otherwise, why would they wait for the second movie for merchandise? And most of these films are indeed flops, The Smurfs being a very obvious, completely shocking exception. Even then, they almost put the movie out in August, which goes to show how much confidence they had in the project.

The thing is, these projects have the same exact level of not quite researched enough to care. They always did. Well, maybe not The Flintstones at least as far as background detail is concerned. Not to mention the Bullwinkle movie was well researched, just had that lame female lead the studio forced on them.

So, basically, they were always some level of bad, we just were too young to notice.
 

minor muppetz

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I still like the majority of remakes that I liked as a kid. I wonder if the majority of people still like the remakes they liked when they were too young to know better (for nostalgia sake at least) or if more people dislike the remakes they liked as kids (I know The Nostalgia Critic tends to hate them, ignoring any nostalgia value).

I saw The Little Rascals movie before I saw any of the Our Gang shorts (and I think I didn't see any until at least two years later). In fact I saw many animated adaptations (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Real Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, James Bond Jr., Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, etc.) before I saw or even knew about the source material. For a long time I thought that the animated shows came first and the live-action movies were based on the TV shows.

I thought The Flintstones was great and its sequel almost as good (can't think of anything I don't like about it, but it doesn't feel as good as the first). I really like the live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but feel The Cat in the Hat is real mediocre. I was turned off by the fact that in Inspector Gadget Dr. Claw's face was shown for the majority of the movies (and promos), especially with him looking so human. Heck, that had too many differences from the cartoon, the chief never got blown up with any self-destructing messages, it contained some main characters (Gadgets love interest, the talking car), and until I saw the movie I thought Penny and Brain would be absent (seems they didn't appear in promos at all). Bewitched wasn't too bad, but then again, it's about the making of a new Bewitched series.

There's also film adaptations I've seen but haven't seen much of the shows they are based on. George of the Jungle was good, while I liked My Favorite Martian a lot better when I first saw it, and I don't know what to make of Lost in Space. All of these properties I have rarely seen the originals.

I have also seen a number of more recent remakes. I saw Underdog but never really wanted to and feel it's as bad as I expected (in fact it's also as forgettable as I expected). I saw the first two Chipmunks movies and feel they're not that bad. I even liked The Lorax.

One adaptation that I liked a lot better as a child but a lot less as an adult but still like a little (a very little) is the Super Mario Bros. movie. But even when it came out I had a problem with Bowser being a human for most of the film and might have been bothered by the Goombas being big lizards, and I was confused by the princess being named Daisy instead of Toadstool (I had not played the Super Mario Land games yet, so was not familiar with her). All of the other differences that are too different from the games I wasn't bothered by until I was older.

I am mixed about the Rocky and Bullwinkle movies. I really like the Boris and Natasha movie, which many fans seem to hate (if they are aware of it). I recently saw the film again after 15 years, and there are problems. There's a lot of funny material, but some of the humor doesn't come out too good, and at times the movie seems to be a more generic crime drama. The actors are good in their roles (even if they seem to bring in too much personality to the characters), but neither of them have the right hair: Boris has a full head of hair while Natasha's hair is too short (and yet the film makes a big deal about her hair, not sure if that was intentional or not). I didn't like the Dudley Do-Right film too much, but Dudley Do-Right is not my favorite segment of the show. And Rocky and Bullwinkle was both good and disappointing. I wish it would have included more characters from the show (Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Dudley Do-Right, Captain Peachfuzz), wish Boris and Natasha would have been in more of the film (seems Fearless Leader actually gets more screen time), and Natasha's hair is not right here, either.

I also consider the Garfield movies to be guilty pleasures. Garfield the character is fine, but he shouldn't move his lips when he talks, and the other animals should have been cgi as well. Or they could have used a real fat orange cat and had no lip movements (they wouldn't have had to worry about that effect). Jon is portrayed more as an average guy than the loser he is on the show, and Liz seems to be an average hottie. I admit, though, I hadn't been reading the comics as much and had no idea that Jon and Liz had become a couple (after many years of her rejecting Jon and giving sarcastic comments, with only occasional moments where she does date him, some of which actually do seem genuine).
 

Drtooth

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One adaptation that I liked a lot better as a child but a lot less as an adult but still like a little (a very little) is the Super Mario Bros. movie. But even when it came out I had a problem with Bowser being a human for most of the film and might have been bothered by the Goombas being big lizards, and I was confused by the princess being named Daisy instead of Toadstool (I had not played the Super Mario Land games yet, so was not familiar with her). All of the other differences that are too different from the games I wasn't bothered by until I was older.
Technically, not a remake. It's an adaption. And video game adaptions kinda have a terrible history. The Resident Evil films are supposedly getting to the point of being better remembered than the video game depending on who you ask. I remember the Tomb Raider ones being a hit. But every other video game based movie (and I'm not counting Wreck it Ralph or Tron because those games were made up to begin with) has been a flop and a big middle finger to video game fans. And shockingly enough, the newer Street Fighter movie (the one about Chun Li) is regarded as even worse than the campy, goofball bane to SF fans. At least the original didn't take itself seriously, and Raoul Julia, knowing he was about to die, picked the role for very heartwarming reasons and hammed the heck out of it.

The problem is that there's too much room for adaption with these things. They have a very threadbare plot, and we can either go for something ingenious like Sonic the Hedgehog's SATAM and Archie comics continuity, or someone comes up with something extremely foreign to the plot, but at the same time very much uncreative. It really is a shame we didn't get a Super Mario movie that actually WAS about Super Mario. Blame it on the technology at the time. There's no way you could have done a live action one without lots of CGI. Yet, they made Luigi too young (as cool as John Leguizamo is), everyone was some weird evolved into human form dinosaur because there are NO humans besides Mario, Luigi, and the Princesses in Super Mario, and made the Mushroom Kingdom into Blade Runner for some reason. If it wasn't named "Super Mario Bros." it almost would have been a decent film.

I also consider the Garfield movies to be guilty pleasures. Garfield the character is fine, but he shouldn't move his lips when he talks, and the other animals should have been cgi as well. Or they could have used a real fat orange cat and had no lip movements (they wouldn't have had to worry about that effect). Jon is portrayed more as an average guy than the loser he is on the show, and Liz seems to be an average hottie. I admit, though, I hadn't been reading the comics as much and had no idea that Jon and Liz had become a couple (after many years of her rejecting Jon and giving sarcastic comments, with only occasional moments where she does date him, some of which actually do seem genuine).
The problem I have is how they portray Jon. Jon is consistently the funniest character in Garfield. That's how Garfield Minus Garfield got its start. They played him so bland in the movie. And not even a funny over the top bland.
 

Dominicboo1

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Well some are really good like The Addams Family movies. They have good lines, good cast,and good humor.
Lets' talk about bad ones-Scooby Doo. This movie tried to spoof the original to a fault. SCRAPPY DOO IS NOT EVIL?!!!! WHAT THE FROG WAS UP WITH THAT? Ok so he's hated, but that would be like Jar-Jar binks being a villian in Star Wars spinoffs.
I can't judge Alvin and the Chipmunks nor The Smurfs as I enjoyed both. (Hello men in white coats), but have not seen enough of the original versions to judge.
Rocky and Bullwinkle I saw the movie first, but I think that one did a fairly good job at continuning the story of the series.
 

D'Snowth

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I'm almost certain the Smurfs movies (yeah, they're doing a sequel) are just another vehicle so they can continue to shove NPH in our faces (much like how now, you can't swing a dead cat without Jennifer Lawrence popping up somewhere).

The Chipmunks movies kind of ruin the characters' personalities since they basically try to "update" them to appeal today's younger audiences (not to mention Jason Lee is just totally miscast as Dave).
 

Drtooth

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Scooby-Doo tried WAAAAY too hard to be the Brady Bunch movie. It's not a bad film, but the jokes are cloying and get tired after a while. The second one is far superior. Too bad the first one didn't use a more subtle approach. Actually, I hear the two made for CN films were better films than the theatrical ones. But at least it wasn't as boring and poorly cast as a certain other HB cartoon character. Only thing they got right in Yogi Bear was Yogi and Boo-Boo, and they went for every tired cliche they possibly could for a plot line. The sad thing? It's still not the most embarrassing thing Yogi bear was ever associated with...


(vomits profusely)

The Smurfs's only fault is the fact they simply had to make it a current day film. They even went back and corrected the HB cartoon, making Greedy Smurf not the cook (he wasn't in the original comics. The HB Greedy Smurf is three Smurfs combined, with a cook and a baker). The worst part is, those first 10 minutes when they're in the Smurf village are the best thing about the movie, and the Smurf village looks absolutely gorgeous. And Hank Azaria should get some sort of award for that film. He carried the project, he didn't so much chew the scenery as much as he violently torn it apart with his teeth and ate it like Cookie Monster. Of all these poorly cast live action CGI hybrid films with lackluster acting from humans that don't want to be there, he was a great exception to the rule.
 

Dominicboo1

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Yogi Bear was...dull. The jokes weren't funny. I might have smiled once when Yogi quit being a smarter-than-average bear, but ran back to eat his pie. I only saw a few episodes of him, but that movie wasn't terrible, just nothing that enjoyable. In Smurfs I actually got some good laughs. "Passive-Agressive smurf"
As for Scooby-Doo 2, I don't really want to see it, because I'd rather just ignore that the live action exists totally. Nothing personal, it's not "Gosh darn awful" but it's not a good movie for fans of the original.
 

Drtooth

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The second Scooby film is much better. They dropped all the lame Brady Bunch movie style riffs and used the shows continuity for good. It's a film the first film should have been. And best of all, it's coherent. Plus you get to see Scott MacNeil in a rare live action role.

But I agree. Yogi was more boring than anything. I cringed a couple times, but it was just dreadfully dull.
 
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