Remakes/Re-Adaptations - Better, Worse, Just As Good

[t hedge coke]

Because remakes and new adaptations get a bad rap, and I think the 90s Captain America is still better than First Avenger even if no one else does. I started thinking about how many times we talk about it, here or anywhere, without establishing - as it were - the playing field. So, in your opinion, three categories, no particular ranking to 1-5...


Five Remakes/New Adaptations That Are Better Than the Earlier
1 The Maltese Falcon
2 Friday 13th
3 Little Shop of Horrors
4 Ever After
5 The Wizard of Oz


Five Remakes/New Adaptations That Are Just as Good as the Earlier
1 Halloween 2, inasmuch as it's a remake
2 Sorority Row
3 A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing (as good to watch, not as influential or innovative)
4 Father of the Bride
5 Escape from LA


Five Remakes/New Adaptations That Are Worse than the Earlier
1 The Bachelor
2 Sabrina
3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though not worse than the sequels
4 Assault on Precinct 13
5 Cat People

[ed2962]

I haven't seen Escape From LA...I thought it was a sequel rather than a remake?

[t hedge coke]

Five Remakes/New Adaptations That Are Better Than the Earlier
1. Robocop

Inspired to watch the remake, now.

I haven't seen Escape From LA...I thought it was a sequel rather than a remake?

It's both. In-story, the earlier movie happened, in terms of structure, etc, it's the same movie with louder satire. Carpenter compared it to Howard Hawks remaking Rio Bravo as El Dorado in the 60s and Rio Lobo in the 70s.

[batnbreakfast]

Oh, common! No way, that there's a better Robocop than the first PeterWeller/Verhoeven one.

better remakes

1- Dredd (Karl Urban)
2- Beware the Batman and Brave and the Bold (both better than BTAS)
3- Man of Steel
4- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5- Bond/Daniel Craig

not as good

1- Conan (starring Aquaman)
2- Nightmare on Elmstreet (starring Rohrschach)
3- Star Trek (starring WW's boytoy/love interest)
4- Djungle Book (from the director of Iron Man)
5- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (still being a great movie but Sweden got it right like 2% more Hollywood)

[t hedge coke]

2- Nightmare on Elmstreet (starring Rohrschach)

I finally got around to this the other night and I think it was as good now as the original, and at least not close to the weakest of the sequels. I've never been a huge Nightmare fan, though, so that might skew my rating. Some of the nightmare stuff looked really good, and I liked them bringing the child molester stuff up front, even if I couldn't quite buy that the teens thought it was really the revenge trip of an innocent man, as game-playing and laughing as Krueger was int their dreams.

[mathew101281]

Oh, common! No way, that there's a better Robocop than the first PeterWeller/Verhoeven one.

better remakes

1- Dredd (Karl Urban)
2- Beware the Batman and Brave and the Bold (both better than BTAS)
3- Man of Steel
4- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5- Bond/Daniel Craig

1. No, because the remake fails to understand that judge Dredd is suppose to be a parody, and takes it self way to seriously.

2. I'd like to see someone explain how those two cartoons are better then BTAS. I liked the Brave and the Bold for what it was, but I feel BTAS was the most influential non comicbook Batman property of the last 50 years.
3. Only if you completely forget what Superman is suppose to symbolize.
4. Didn't see this one but horror movies in general aren't as scary as they use to be.
5. Agreed.

[t hedge coke]

1. No, because the remake fails to understand that judge Dredd is suppose to be a parody, and takes it self way to seriously.

I thought it was very deadpan, but also very funny. Even if the crime statistic used as justification wasn't a stealth-joke, it works as one.

I liked the Brave and the Bold for what it was, but I feel BTAS was the most influential non comicbook Batman property of the last 50 years.

The movies might give it a run for its money. Or, lap it fives times while it's making that left turn at the back of the track.

BtAS is probably more influential than Brave and the Bold, but I can rewatch Brave and the Bold much easier than pretty much any of the DCAU.

[ChrisIII]

Does Star Trek really count as a 'remake' though? Although it mostly takes place in an alternate universe, it has continuity with the other shows and films via old Spock and the future Romulans; and many of the events of the film-Kirk's academy years for example-were never portrayed in any Trek lore, just mentioned (Although Spock's Vulcan past was heavily inspired by an episode of the animated series) although in the movie they presumabely unfolded a bit differently due to Kirk having a father. So it's kind of more a sequel/reboot than a direct remake.

[Midvillian1322]

Oh, common! No way, that there's a better Robocop than the first PeterWeller/Verhoeven one.

better remakes

1- Dredd (Karl Urban)
2- Beware the Batman and Brave and the Bold (both better than BTAS)
3- Man of Steel
4- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
5- Bond/Daniel Craig

not as good

1- Conan (starring Aquaman)
2- Nightmare on Elmstreet (starring Rohrschach)
3- Star Trek (starring WW's boytoy/love interest)
4- Djungle Book (from the director of Iron Man)
5- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (still being a great movie but Sweden got it right like 2% more Hollywood)

You saw the new Jungle Book already? Doesnt come out for another month. If you were talking about the one with Jason scott Lee id be with you. Also dont agree with beware the batman being better then TAS just my opinion though

[Jim Kelly]

When movies are adaptations from another source--such as novels, plays and comics--then it seems fair to me that a new adaptation can always be done. Every movie can interpret the source material in a different way.

However if it's an original movie--not an adaptation--then I can only see the point if the first movie failed. Perhaps the first movie had some good ideas but it didn't succeed in using those ideas to their full potential. Yet if the original movie was a success (in terms of quality if not box office) then I don't want to see anyone trying to re-do that movie. The first movie is always going to be better.

And now we have access to all these old movies. They don't need to be replaced with new ones. Of course, there were many movies made in the past that have been completely destroyed--or only a few fragments still exist. It might be a good idea to try to replicate some of those movies.

[simbob4000]

I finally got around to this the other night and I think it was as good now as the original, and at least not close to the weakest of the sequels. I've never been a huge Nightmare fan, though, so that might skew my rating. Some of the nightmare stuff looked really good, and I liked them bringing the child molester stuff up front, even if I couldn't quite buy that the teens thought it was really the revenge trip of an innocent man, as game-playing and laughing as Krueger was int their dreams.

That remake very well may be the worst Nightmare on Elm Street thing ever made, maybe even worst than the practically unwatchable Freddy's Dead; although I may give Final Nightmare the edge. The child molester twist was such a stupid waste of time in the remake...did anyone care, did anyone not see him actually being a child molester not coming? It also looks terrible, none of the effect play even half as well in that movie as they do in the original. It's actually kind of remarkable that a movie about a kill that kills you in your dreams was made as boring as it was in the remake.

Jackie Earle Haley is terrible in the part. He has no presents in that movie, and as opposed to being scary looking, he looks like a tiny goofy cat man. Why does Freddy look like a cat person? That was maybe the dumbest decision made on a movie that is completely made up of dumb decisions.

[simbob4000]

1. No, because the remake fails to understand that judge Dredd is suppose to be a parody, and takes it self way to seriously.

2. I'd like to see someone explain how those two cartoons are better then BTAS. I liked the Brave and the Bold for what it was, but I feel BTAS was the most influential non comicbook Batman property of the last 50 years.
3. Only if you completely forget what Superman is suppose to symbolize.
4. Didn't see this one but horror movies in general aren't as scary as they use to be.
5. Agreed.

Literally the whole of Dredd is a joke. It's one long setup for the punchline at the end.

I would stay the Burton movie was more influential, even influencing BTAS.

[Panfoot]

Better:
1. The Thing (1982)
2. The Evil Dead 2 (considering that it's a semi-remake of the original movie)
3. The Fly (1986)

Couldn't really think of anymore that i've seen the original and the remake of for better.

worse:
1. Total Recall
2. Robocop
3. The Wicker Man (though still an amazing film for all the wrong reasons)
4. The Planet of the Apes
5. Batman and Robin

[kalorama]

Does Star Trek really count as a 'remake' though?

Half the stuff people are listing don't qualify as remakes or re-adaptations. A completely new movie with a new story featuring an old character isn't a remake (which is taking an old movie and using the same story to make a new version of it) or a re-adaptation (which is taking a specific story from the source material and making a new movie based on it). Winter Soldier, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher et al, are just new movies featuring familiar old characters. If you need to put a label on them, they may qualify as reboots, but that wasn't one of the categories in the OP.

[Osiris-Rex]

The 1939 movie remake of the 1925 Wizard of Oz movie has to be the best remake ever in the history of film.