Footloose (2011)

What do you think about remakes of movies?  Good… or bad?

            

INTRODUCE

I chose this movie because it is a remake of the 1984 Footloose and I had heard from my sister and mother that the new Footloose was really really good.  This movie stands out to me because a lot of remakes are not very good, but of the two movies I actually enjoyed the new movie better, which is not usually the case.  I don’t recall seeing this movie in the news, but I did seem to hear about it more than other movies at the time.

DESCRIBE

This film shows how religion, ethics, and politics can all overlap in the lives of teenagers.  The film shows how all three of these can express themselves very strongly within different groups of people from teenagers to adults, religious leaders and laws.   This movie has a law set in place so that loud music and dancing is not allowed.  A new guy (Kenny Wormald) comes to town and catches the eye of the reverends daughter (Julianne Hough) and tries to get the law banned so that they can once again listen to music and dance in public. 

This film as well as the first, is known for the Footloose song so click here and watch the music video of this well known song!

The main actor is Kenny Wormald who plays a character by the name of Ren MacCormack.  IMDb says, “Kenny Wormald grew up in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and began taking dancing lessons at the age of six. He won a string of dance contests throughout the North East in his teens and took to dancing professionally.  He worked as a dancer and choreographer, appearing in a number of music videos and touring with Justin Timberlake. He made his TV debut in an episode of "The Drew Carey Show (1995) in 2002, but he rose to worldwide fame in 2010 when Paramount announced that he was to star in the remake of Footloose (2011).”

In the first Footloose, Lori Singer was the lead actress and she beat out Madonna who also auditioned for the part.  Lori Singer also won over Madonna in the movie Fame.  Another interesting fact is that Craig Brewer had originally turned down the invite to remake Footloose because he didn’t think there was a way to remake Footloose because what town would ban music and dancing these days.

ANALYZE

A few of Craig’s work seem to surround the idea of music, not any certain type of music, but music within itself.  Other movies of his, Black Snake Moan and Hustle and Flow are two examples that are surrounded by music.  I haven’t seen either of these movies, but from what I have read it seems to me that these three movies also have a “slut” character and an “abusive” character in them which I think is a bit weird; it shows how times have really changed I think and how our society thinks that these ideals are okay.  In an interview with Home Theatre Forum, Craig says that Hustle and Flow was made by inspiration from the original 1984 Footloose so I think it’s pretty cool that Craig was able to remake a movie that he already enjoyed very much.

As you can see from the pictures above, the two movies are very different.  You could easily guess without knowing when the movies were made, that they were made in two very different times.  The first picture shows the main character by himself and the second picture shows the main character with a girl.  If the second film had just the man on the cover now-a-days, I think that it would not appeal to as many people as it does with the man and the woman on the front cover.  The two films are very similar as they have the same story plot, but they are so different because of how the characters react to the same situations completely different because the stories are meant to be played in two completely different times.

INTERPRETATION

This movie matters because it shows the difference between the first movie and the second.  The second movie shows how times have changed and how movies have really changed.  This movie definitely reflects our culture, the type of dancing and the type of music that is played throughout the film shows how and what we do with music now-a-days, especially compared to the 1984 Footloose.  Because this movie is a remake from 1984, it targets the majority.  My younger brother who is eleven liked this movie, my sister, roommate, and I enjoyed this movie and so did my mother.  Footloose is an all around good movie for anyone.  Footloose shows stereotypes throughout the film, some examples include the popular girl in school and that her boyfriend, it displays her as a slut and him as an abusive boyfriend.

EVALUATE

Remaking a film is not always easy, you usually have to out dazzle the first make and sometimes that just makes a crappy movie that no one enjoys.  Craig did a very nice job keeping the main idea of Footloose and did a very good job in making a modern twist throughout the entire movie.  I really liked this movie, I thought it was put together very well and was one of my favorite remakes.  I like this movie better than the first and so does my sister, but my roommate likes the 1984 version better than the new one, so it really depends on the person if they enjoy this film but overall I haven’t heard any bad comments.  Overall it was a good movie, but you have an older version to compare it to, so it is up for interpretation.  I would have to say that because Craig Brewer loved the 1984 Footloose that he probably enjoyed making/directing this film more than any of his other films.  After all, some of his other films were inspired by the 1984 Footloose so I would imagine that he had a lot of fun remaking the movie.  This movie is memorable to me because I remember watching the 1984 Footloose with my mom when I was younger, I thought it was kind of a weird movie because I wasn't in to musicals and that is what it reminded me of with all the music.  Now I find myself appreciating the 1984 version so much more because the two movies show the differences in times and how our society, values, and beliefs have changed, but in the same way they have stayed pretty similar.  The 2011 Footloose is way more modern which catches the eyes of a younger crowd and since it the second film or more related to our generation it makes it memorable for us.  If you were to show my generation the 1984 version, we probably wouldn't like it much if we hadn't seen it before the 2011 film.  Most critics really enjoyed this movie; Mike LaSelle of The Charlotte Observer says that Craig Brewer did everything he needed to, to make this new film as good as the first.  He says that Brewer did an excellent job in making Footloose appeal to our youth today who would most likely not be interested in watching the older version because times have changed so much.  I also read that some critics didn’t like the way dancing was filmed because it did not show that the two main characters (Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough) were really professional dancers, they said that the short clips were not portraying that these two had the dance experience that they claim to have.

ENGAGE

I have not bought this movie on DVD, but I do plan on buying it since I also own the 1984 Footloose.  I looked up some of the characters online because I had not heard of them and I was surprised to find out that one of the actresses was a member on Dancing with the Stars, I thought that was really cool.