Movie Redos – Remake, Reimagine, or Regret

People love to blast modern Hollywood for a lack of imagination. They see remakes of past movies and television shows, and they shout about a desert of new ideas. News people: Hollywood has been doing remakes almost since movies were being made. I think the big complaint is really about how more likely than not a redo will be of dubious value. Must it so often be so?

The Why

There are only two good reasons to redo a previous work. The first, of course is a deep-seated belief that you can tell the story better. Sometimes its because of the creative collaboration, sometimes it’s because of technology, and sometimes it’s both. Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments (1956) is much superior as a whole to his 1923 version. By most measures, the reimagined Battlestar Galactica (2003) is much elevated from the 1978 original upon which it was based.

Unfortunately, sometimes the young don’t like to dip their toe into the waters of the past and sometimes it’s necessary for some works to be redone so that they can claim them as their own. I would put the new Star Trek (2009) in that category.

The Wrong

Where things can turn ugly is when a redo is done for the wrong reasons.

I think the most egregious stumble is in trying to redo something that is already unambiguously great. You can parody it, but trying to recapture the magic inevitably fails. I think the easiest example of this is Casablanca (1942).

Too often, people want to redo vehicles that they loved and are great movies in their own right. That’s asking for trouble. The odds of success are very long indeed, in fact just scoring a draw is going to usually be a stretch. Still, if you honestly believe that you are doing it for the right reason, go for it. Sabrina (1954) has long been considered a special film by many, and the 1995 version wasn’t greeted with the warmest of receptions. This movie was at best, a draw.

Too often, though, you get attempts like Bewitched or Land of the Lost. The single most important reason why these movies are less than the material upon which they are based is clear: a lack of respect.

The Respect

The key to any redo is that you have to have respect. Respect of the source and respect of the audience. It’s really just that simple. Reimaginings work because they respect the premise and they respect the audience that comes in with expectations. Remakes work if you are able to bring to the table the respect necessary to not sully the memory of the original.

When I saw the Land of the Lost commercial during the Super Bowl, I immediately commented my woe on Facebook. It was clear that there was no respect. The premise was obviously little more than a backdrop. Sure, in some ways Land of the Lost suffered from the legacy of Jurassic Park, but even so the expectation was that it would be treated with the respect it deserved.

When many commentators have talked about Land of the Lost, the word they use the most is “cheesy”. That, too, shows a lack of respect. It must be remembered that this was a Saturday morning show targeted at kids. There were going to be limits. Even so, the show was penned by SF writers with serious credentials. Yeah, the stop-motion graphics were low-budget, but the story was still sound.

So…think of Land of the Lost having been made with that sort of respect. A family is lost in a recognizable but parallel universe where the dinos didn’t die out, one primate species has only a tenuous foothold, and the reigning powers are anthropomorphic reptiles who have no love of mammals (or marsupials for that matter). What does that family do: find a way out, or stay and survive? No running around in underwear. No mugging. No dumping of dino urine. No…in this version you respect the source material and you respect the audience.

Is it really so difficult that I have to explain it?

The Solution

Amazingly the cure is to want to make good movies; understanding that if the movies are good that profits will follow. Too often, it seems, the motivation is “what will make money”, with the result that “high concept” holds sway over storytelling. So we get star packages attached to established vehicles. Just as you’d not try to tie a 6-pc sectional to the roof of your VW Beetle, neither should some of these packages be festooned to certain projects.

You’d think that after so many failed blockbusters and “high concept” sure-bets that Hollywood would have learned that you make money by doing what you do best: tell stories. Sometimes that means, yes, re-telling stories. Just tell the right stories and treat them in a respectful way. The audience will not only come, they will be happier. A happy audience is a spendier audience. Remember that.

Oh…and it’s not about how many polygons you can realistically render for your CGI.