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Delaware, United States
Deborah Hawkins, penned Debra Renée Byrd, began writing after a blank book project in elementary school and never stopped, fashioning stories based on her favorite TV shows and movies before creating more original works. She studied at the University of the Arts and Florida State University before settling down and graduating from Temple University. She now resides in her hometown of Dover, DE, where she spends most of her time at work or at church. She loves fantasies, superheroes, is a trekkie and a brown coat. She loves television and lives for Final Fantasy video games, having collected most of them. She has read a myriad of authors, and her favorite authors change whenever she finds a new book that changes her life... "When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl...well, you know the rest." -Tracey, Firefly, "The Message"

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Friday Freeday: The Best & Worst Movie Remakes!

This Friday Freeday is a BLOGFEST!


I didn't have time to watch all of the originals or remakes of the movies I've seen (I've seen so many movies), so I will have to go with the movies for which I have seen both the original and the remake. That narrows it down to like 5 movies.

Best Movie Remake: Beauty and the Beast
Weren't expecting that, were you? I was 7 or 8 when Disney put out this tale as old as time. From the opening tale of the mean prince turning away a fairy queen disguised as an ugly, haggard woman and being cursed until someone could love him for his inner beauty (or something, it's been a while), to the spectacular fight scene and the revelation of the hot prince Beast was (yes, even for a cartoon, the Prince was sexy), this movie captivated me and became my favorite Disney movie. Now, what made it better than the 1946 Jean Cocteau French film? What the heck didn't? I saw the original in my History of Film class, and my teacher for some reason hated the Disney remake. Admittedly, the set was beautiful (there were people in the furniture if I remember, so the candles were moving around, etc.), but the movie was boring. Even worse, the Beast was so not scary. When he first appeared, my classmates and I laughed. He looked like a regal Zoobilee-Zoo character. There was also some elaborate story about a rose garden (is this in the original story?) and when Avenant (Gaston in the cartoon) goes after Belle (I'm not sure he was rescuing her at this point; it's been 9 years), the garden turns him into the Beast, who gets Avenant's handsome features, at which Belle wasn't all that happy. At least in the cartoon, Belle is happy to get the Beast she fell in love with and his true hot self. lol

Worst Movie Remake: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I had originally chosen The Wiz, but then I remembered this tragedy (You get to live another day, The Wiz). I actually wrote a review about this on IMDb.com; that's how much I hated this movie. I find Tim Burton highly overrated anyway, and this might have been the first time I thought, "You know what? Johnny Depp is, too!" Apparently, Roald Dahl didn't like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and neither did Burton, but the original is a classic, and I love Gene Wilder. I've only seen him in two movies, and I absolutely love him. Johnny Depp's Wonka was (as I described it) Stepford Wives meets (as others described it) Michael Jackson. The rush to get to Wonkaland and the lack of mystery sucked all of the magic from the movie, and the Oompa Loompa pop songs ruined the rest for me.


BONUS: The Best & Worst Song Remakes
Being a big music lover, this one was a little harder, because I've heard A LOT of remakes (sometimes haven't even heard the original first), so I had to go with what popped into my head first, because your first instinct is usually the strongest thought.

BEST: (I Believe I Can)/Fly by Glee (orginally by R. Kelly/Nicki Minaj)
Buy it on iTunes, look it up on Youtube, SOMETHING! DO it! Glee's really cheesy (it's like FOX's version of Kids Incorporated), especially when a student breaks out in song, and the others jump in as back-up like they knew the arrangement already (c'mon man). But sometimes, the remakes they come up with melt my heart! The one above was a mash-up of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" and Nicki Minaj's "Fly" in a way that when it started with "Fly," I didn't expect "I Believe..." to come in, and when it did, I almost went into worship. It's beautiful.

WORST: Papa Don't Preach by Kelly Osbourne (originally by Madonna)
I think everyone scoffed when Kelly decided to do this. First, the child can't sing all that well. Second, I haven't heard it in years, but I remember being SO bored, and her staccato "Ooh-ooh" is now playing in my head over and over. This was a big moral-of-the-story moment that screamed "just because Daddy could, doesn't mean you should."

Thanks, as always, to the great Ninja Alex-Sensei and his co-hosts, Stephen Temp, Livia Peterson, and Father Dragon Al, for doing this blogfest. <3 Stop by their pages to find the other contestants, as well as their Best & Worst Remakes!

17 comments:

Rhonda Albom said...

I picked Willy Wonka as well, and almost for the same reasons. This was fun to read.

Rhonda from Laugh Quotes

Dani said...

Yeah, Charlie/Chocolate was horrible!
I like your music choices!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

If I'd thought of Charlie and the Choc Factory, that one would've been on my list for worst as well.

nutschell said...

oh i loved beauty and the beast! that library was to die for.
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Laura Eno said...

I didn't know there was an earlier version of Beauty and the Beast! I love the Disney movie.
Willy Wonka never did anything for me. I saw the first but not the second. Just didn't like it. Meh.

Jackie said...

I love Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast! :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I remember when Osbourne performed that song for the first time.
I do remember the original Beauty and the Beast. I saw it thirty/thirty-five years ago and just thought it was an old film. There have been several others over the years as well.
And only Wilder can play Willy Wonka.
Thanks for participating in the blogfest.

Al Diaz said...

I am all the way with you about Willy Wonka. I listed it too as my choice for worst remake. Glad to see many think the same. Thanks for participating! :)

Heather R. Holden said...

Love Disney's Beauty and the Beast! Never knew about that version from 1946, though. (And based off your summary of it, I'm guessing that's a good thing, haha!)

farawayeyes said...

Don't know the original B and the B, so no comment there, but "Willy Wonka', yeah, Gene Wilder will ever be Willy for me.

Some interesting song choices here also.

LD Masterson said...

Johnny Depp's Wonka was just creepy.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Disney's Beauty and the Beast rocked it, the french version you described just sounds weird. Guess I'm the only one who loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder was also a great Willy Wonka but I see his version and Depp's as two separate versions. You can enjoy either or both and I enjoy both. Also I like it when risks are taken and the darker version of Wonka paid off in my opinion and Charlie's Oompa Loompas were hilarious, in Gene Wilder's version I found their songs more ironic than funny. So I guess we have to agree to disagree about your worst.

Anonymous said...

I didn't even think of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST -- probably my favorite animated Disney. Depp is no Wonka, that's for sure.

Unknown said...

I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; but based on all the other spots I've stopped at, I'm in the minority.

Tammy Theriault said...

i love beauty and the beast..i'll even sing "tale as old as time...." just randomly. thanks for coming to my blog. newest follower!

Trisha said...

I'm not even sure if I've seen Beauty and the Beast, even though I absolutely love Disney cartoons! I very much need to remedy this problem. :)

Didn't know Kelly Osbourne did that cover, and now that I do I'm glad I haven't heard it!

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by! It's great to see who agreed and disagreed. lol I hope to get to the other 2/3s of the hop soon. <3