***Spoiler***
Generally speaking remakes are very much a hit and miss affair.
I loved the first Footloose with Mr Bacon an' all. The music and story were great,as was Bacon's
performance along with the supporting players.
Obviously comparisons will be made between the classic and the new.
The new version is a worthy remake.
The story is pretty much word for word,even the car was the same, however story wise there are
two main differences. When the film starts, we actually get to see the back story of when Ariel's
older brother gets killed in the car crash, even before Ren turns up. It is actually quite dark in tone.
This sets up the story in a more vivid way than the classic. In the classic they talk about the car
crash on the bridge,but you dont see it. The car crash lead to the back story as to the reason dancing to music was banned by Bomont town council.
In the remake after we see the crash, Ren arrives in Bomont by bus from Boston (not Chicago-as in the original
classic) by himself without his mother. Unlike the original. In the new version we are told his
mother died of Leukemia and Ren is taken in by his uncle. I actually thought the beginning of the
remake was much better than the original and made more sense and flowed better.There have
been a few other tweaks here and there and whether you like them or not will come down to
personnel choice. I won't spoil them for you, it will give you something to look forward to.
Personally I thought it was a great remake, but for me I think the first is slightly better because of
Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow's performances. The part in the council chamber in the original with
Bacon and Lithgow is amazing and shows the quality of both actors. This is not to say Wormald or
Quaid didn't do a great job, they did, I just think the original actors pipped it.
Something that viewers may not like is the soundtrack in the new film.
There are a few songs from the original in the new
version such as Footloose by Kenny Loggins, but some of the other songs are country and
western,so it will come down to choice again as to which soundtrack you prefer. I liked both
soundtracks. This is a great remake and there are many things that I thought were slighty better in
the remake, such as seeing the back story and the actress who played Ariel, but like i said before
overall it depends on the individual's taste.
I think of it as the best of both worlds. They are both great films. Watch both and see which you
like more!
The picture quality and audio on the Blu-Ray are top notch, sharp and detailed with a great colour
palette to the picture.
Lots of extra's,so all in all a great package.