Days After I Buy This Footloose
I just skimmed the one-star reviews decrying the messing with of a classic. When I rented this I was skeptical and thought I was going to be among that group as I was just a very young - under 21 - adult for the first go-around. I've seen what Hollywood can do to a classic TV show like Dukes of Hazzard and also The Brady Bunch and some remakes of other movies have been less than decent. So I was not about to plunk down my hard-earned at Walmart money to see basically a "High School Musical" or "Glee" dumb-down of this in the theater.
I have to say that I was impressed at the faithfulness this rework exercised - like a great cover of a favorite song. While the time-frame of the story is set in the present time, it's the same. I like how they revisit some of the original music of the 1984 but give it a new twist. The acoustic rendition of "Holding Out For A Hero" was superb. Also I like a few of the changes for some of the scenes such as the racing of the school buses in place of the chicken game with the farm tractors, the dance at the drive-in instead of the hamburger joint and the dance lesson scenes for the cowboy kid were adorable. Making changes like these does not diminish the movie in anyway, there is not need to make a carbon copy, no more than Whitney trying to make a country version of "I Will Always Love You", her rendition captures the spirit of that song.
While the original movie is still and always will be my classic, there are some elements that give this version an advantage over the original:
The Opening: The tragic car wreck and what led up to it and the subsequent laws that were passed as a result. Here we see that the laws being passed in the wake of the tragedy came from love and genuine concern for the well-being of the adolescents from a heart-broken community.
The Court Scene: The concern stemming from the heartbreak from the loss is once again communicated by the preacher when Ren wants to appeal against the no-dancing law. The original movie paints the adults as oppressive and uncaring toward the youth because you don't see that love and concern that spawned the law, also the committee are rather condescending with Ren in the original. In this remake, the preacher sounds empathetic and sensitive to what Ren is asking for. Overall, the court scene in the remake is rendered much better in my opinion.
Preacher/Daughter Showdown Scene: Here we see that the daughter is not merely being a rebel, she - like her mother - are frustrated by him, that because of losing his son he is over doing it in trying to protect her to the point that he is basically smothering her.
Preacher and Ren Scene: Finally Ren's asking the preacher if he can take his daughter to the dance that was going to happen anyway in the neighboring town since Bomont was to remain a no-dance town. Here we see the preacher and the person he considers his enemy beginning to see eye to eye.
I like how this movie - though depicting the typical "teenage rebellion" and showing drinking of alcohol and explicit dancing, I feel it's conveys the message that it isn't espousing such behavior but showing how it can lead to bad consequences - the accident - and that while adolescents may want to "act stupid" as Ren said in the courtroom, there is a way to do it without harming yourself. The movie also - like the original - espouses that parents and adults concerned about adolescents have to find that balance where you can set boundaries to protect them but not so much you are stiffing them and even giving them a reason to fight against you.
Congratulations on a job well done.
Get your
Footloose Now!
