SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
This year's live-action adaptation of Disney's 1937 classic, "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs," disappointed, both critically and financially. But that has not stopped Hollywood from churning out more remakes. In theaters right now is "Lilo & Stitch," a live-action remake of the 2002 original.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LILO & STITCH")
SYDNEY AGUDONG: (As Nani) Ew. We are not keeping this thing.
MAIA KEALOHA: (As Lilo) Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.
AGUDONG: (As Nani) Or forgotten.
DETROW: And soon to come will be DreamWorks' live-action version of "How To Train Your Dragon."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON")
MASON THAMES: (As Hiccup) Maybe they're not as bad as we think they are.
DETROW: Also ahead of us, "The Naked Gun," with Liam Neeson starring as the son of the detective played by Leslie Nielsen in the original series.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE NAKED GUN")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Who are you?
LIAM NEESON: (As Frank Drebin Jr.) Frank Drebin, Police Squad - the new version.
DETROW: I could go on, but the fact is that remakes are a long established and controversial well that Hollywood returns to time and time again in the hopes of capturing fans of the original and bring in newer generations. But how many of those remakes actually measure up to the original, and what distinguishes a good remake from a bad one? To discuss, we have brought in NPR movie critic Bob Mondello and NPR Weekend Edition producer Ryan Benk. Welcome to both of you.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Good to be here.
RYAN BENK, BYLINE: Hey there.
DETROW: Liam Neeson and Leslie Nielsen - hard to say in the same sentence, I'm just going to say that.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: It's tricky, but I made it through. Bob, you watch a lot of movies, and I'm going to make an assumption here. I would guess that you are a hater, that you do not like it when Hollywood returns to the same well time and time again. Am I right or am I wrong?
MONDELLO: You are wrong. I actually endorse the whole idea of going back. In fact, I think film is the - is almost the only art form where people are skeptical about the idea of going back to the well. I - you know, in music, if somebody wants to do a jazz version of your original song, nobody questions it. In theater, another production of "Hamlet" sounds like a great idea if it's a star you like. Also, historically, a lot - maybe even most - Hollywood remakes have been English language versions of foreign films - "Some Like It Hot," "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," "True Lies," "Scent Of A Woman," "The Departed," to name just a few.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DEPARTED")
JACK NICHOLSON: (As Costello) When I was your age, they would say, we could become cops or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this, when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?
MONDELLO: I mean, I don't think anybody would argue that those are not good movies. This is not about nostalgia. It's not about a fan base or a familiar title, or even the Hollywood lizard eating its own tail. It's studios appropriating stuff the American public doesn't know about. And I think that's a good thing. I think the reason many film fans don't like it is because film is such a new medium. It's only 100 years old. And if - you know, if the original is still around and you can watch it, that makes it a little hard to justify it unless some good artist is working on it.
DETROW: Ryan, I had my point totally destroyed by NPR icon Bob Mondello.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: Help me out here. How do you feel about remakes?
BENK: All right, look, so I'll start by saying that I obviously see where Bob is coming from. And, you know, it's an interesting point that a lot of people don't think about. At the end of the day, though, for every "Departed" that you have and every "True Lies," you have this, like, rash of early 2000s remakes of - I'll call them cash grabs of Japanese ghost flicks. You have "The Ring," "The Grudge," "Dark Water."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE RING")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Have you heard about this videotape that kills you when you watch it?
BENK: And while at least "The Ring" and "The Grudge" kind of had some success in the States, and they stood on their own a little bit, most of them are just, like, photocopies of photocopies. So, look, I think there's a right way to make a remake and to do that with heart and soul and care. And then there's the Disney method. And I think that there's a perception right now for good reason that most these days are the latter.
(LAUGHTER)
MONDELLO: That is so mean. I think - I also think it's not fair. I - take "Snow White." I think we can all agree this is - the new version is not a great movie, right? And the old one is a beloved classic that has serious problems. I - but I think you can dislike the new one and still respect Disney for what it's trying to do there. They were faced with the 1937 property that everybody loves but that is insensitive on issues of gender, social mobility, of - it's all white. It's utterly crazy on dwarfs. I mean, you look at this and you think, well, you ought to fix it. And the folks who did it made a Latina Snow White, turned the prince into a pauper, created a whole second band of seven characters that aren't stereotyped and made their Dopey character not only smart, but also the moral conscience of the piece. They brought a lot of new ideas to the table. And I'd argue that that justifies doing a remake in the first place, whatever you think of how it worked.
DETROW: Though, there's been this Disney formula of remaking all of these movies that, like, people who are parents now would be nostalgic for. And some of them like - like, we're going to make a live-action version of "The Lion King." Like, well, no, you're just going to animate it in a different way unless you have a camera on a lion who's suddenly talking. You know, like, I would think that there are some bad remakes (laughter).
MONDELLO: Oh, no, I'm not suggesting...
DETROW: Yeah.
MONDELLO: ...There aren't bad remakes.
DETROW: Yeah.
MONDELLO: It is possible to make a bad remake. What I'm suggesting is that if you start with IP...
BENK: Yeah.
MONDELLO: ...Intellectual property, that is basically strong, then you have a leg up. And it's not necessarily a bad thing to do that. And it's something - I mean, Shakespeare stole from, like, folk tales and things like that.
DETROW: Yeah.
MONDELLO: "King Lear" was not an original story, and it's not a bad play. I don't think anybody would argue there was.
DETROW: Ryan, are there common threads, though, to when it goes awry?
BENK: I mean, I hate to be this guy, but you can always...
MONDELLO: (Laughter).
DETROW: But be that guy.
MONDELLO: You don't hate it. You're reveling in it.
DETROW: You don't hate it.
BENK: (Laughter) OK, so maybe I don't...
DETROW: Oh, no. Don't make me this guy.
BENK: Yeah, I mean, maybe I don't hate it that much.
DETROW: (Laughter).
BENK: But just for the sake of it, I'll just say, like, I'm all for thoughtful reinterpretation. Sometimes movies get made, stuff gets left on the cutting room floor, mysteries or questions remain. And it can feel good to get another chance to explore some great stories, you know, or right a wrong, as you described with "Snow White." But if all you're offering me is - hey, remember this - that was cool, right? - I'm going to pass.
MONDELLO: Except that it's always cool to explore a story that is sort of time-honored. I mean, if you look at the new "Dune," nobody's going to argue that they shouldn't have made that. I mean...
BENK: And I enjoyed that one a lot, yeah.
MONDELLO: ...Concentrating on the ones that don't work strikes me as not very interesting. I get that it's popular to diss them. But speaking as a critic, I'm more interested in what the filmmakers are trying to do this time and whether they're doing it well. And so that's the way I approach them.
DETROW: Let me ask this, then. I'm thinking of a few examples of remakes that I think really did surpass the original even when the original was good...
MONDELLO: OK.
DETROW: ..."Ocean's Eleven"...
MONDELLO: Yeah, yeah.
DETROW: ...The "Ocean's Eleven" remake that spawned a whole franchise. That was great.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OCEAN'S ELEVEN")
JULIA ROBERTS: (As Tess Ocean) You're a thief and a liar.
GEORGE CLOONEY: (As Danny Ocean) I only lied about being a thief.
DETROW: You know, another one, I will say, the '90s "Parent Trap" - excellent movie...
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: ...With Lindsay Lohan - really, really good movie. I'll stick with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PARENT TRAP")
LINDSAY LOHAN: (As Hallie Parker) I have a brilliant idea. I think we should switch places. I'll go back to London as you, and you go back to California as me.
(As Annie James) If we switch...
BENK: I can't argue with that.
DETROW: It was great.
BENK: Yeah.
DETROW: Ryan, like, what do you - is there a formula for making a remake that transcends the original source material?
BENK: I don't know if I can give you, like, an exact formula, but I can tell you that there are plenty of examples where it works and where the remake is even better than maybe the original or that I enjoyed more than the original. David Cronenberg's "The Fly" with Jeff Goldblum is a fantastic movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FLY")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) What does the disease want?
JEFF GOLDBLUM: (As Seth Brundle) It wants to turn me into something else. A fly got into the transmitter pod with me that first time, when I was alone.
BENK: But since I'm from Miami, I think I want to go back to a little movie called "Scarface."
MONDELLO: The perfect film (ph).
BENK: This is - yeah, you know, a 1983 movie, based on this - or the original gangster film from 1932, which told this, at the time, really relevant immigrant story of a gangster from Italy rising through the ranks of the Chicago mob.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SCARFACE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Everybody says, Tony Camonte, he's a big shot; he got everything he wants. Yeah, I got everything but what I want.
BENK: And then you have, in '83, Brian De Palma directing Al Pacino in this movie that's pretty much eclipsed its source material.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SCARFACE")
AL PACINO: (As Tony Montana) Me, I want what's coming to me.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Yeah, well, what's coming to you, Tony?
PACINO: (As Tony Montana) The world, chico (ph), and everything in it.
BENK: You know, he took the same story concept but made it relevant to the 1980s, and he weaved in all these plot points ripped straight from the headlines - you know, broad daylight assassinations, chainsaw massacres, cocaine bank fronts. It was simultaneously loyal to the essence of the first one while also offering this kind of - creating this entirely modern storyline. And, of course, you know, at the time, there was a lot of controversy. A lot of Cuban Americans protested the film because they were afraid of the way it would portray Cuban immigrants at a time that they were just coming to the U.S. There's also that really horrible Cuban accent from Al Pacino (laughter)...
MONDELLO: I was going to say...
(LAUGHTER)
BENK: ...You know? But, you know, what was once considered then offensive had become this ubiquitous story of immigrant perseverance. And so yeah, I think that's one great example of something that really got it right. It gave something new.
DETROW: That is NPR's Bob Mondello and Ryan Benk. Thanks so much.
BENK: Thanks.
MONDELLO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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