Footloose ~ Not Your Every Day Remake

So, right now it’s the last day of August and I just finished watching the new Footloose. I was a bit apprehensive as I was a young teen when the first one came out with Lori Singer and Kevin Bacon.

I knew this one would be different in that the sexual tension would be heightened and there’d be more swearing. I know, I’m a prude. Get over it.

Let me say I loved the original Footloose and even though it’s been remade, it can’t be replaced. So here’s my review!

First of all, I LOVE that they used so much of the original Soundtrack! Right from the get-go you know that you’re going to love this movie. Almost like they are giving a gift to us old-timers saying, “we loved the original, too”.

It’s been a long time since I saw the original Footloose and as we watched the movie, it would come back little by little and I started to have expectations of what else would be reminiscent of the first.

There was the car Ren drove, the old VW Beetle, his pal Willard he meets at school is as bumbling and adorable, the girl is supposed to be good, but has a bit of a wild streak, and all they want to do is DANCE! When Ren teaches Willard how to dance. Of course it wasn’t exactly the same, in fact this one part was much cuter, but I remember Kevin Bacon teaching Chris Penn to get the beat by snapping his fingers, and of course the angry dancing in the granary, wearing the red jacket to the dance at the end of the movie…

I really had goosebumps throughout the movie. It was like deja vu.

Julianne Hough’s performance was good. I was surprised that she could act so well. Her emotional scenes left me wanting, but she had so much enthusiasm throughout the entire film. I wasn’t a big fan of Lori Singer in the original, so what Julianne brought to the character of Arielle won me over.

I really enjoyed the new Ren played by Kenny Wormald. He had a good ol’ All-American boy feel about him. Kevin Bacon’s part was going to be hard to compete against and I think it was stellar to bring in someone who is somewhat new to the Hollywood scene to play this role. And Kenny can dance like nobody’s business and I felt he was very much equal in this area to Julianne’s Arielle.

Dennis Quaid’s character wasn’t as “hellfire and brimstone” like John Lithgow’s performance. So that was a departure from the original. Quaid was still a stern father, but he didn’t bring the same harshness.

I love that Craig Brewer put his own spin on this movie. He changed it enough that I felt like I was watching a mostly new movie. I had concerns that it would have a High School Musical feel to it since it had the dancing element and I wasn’t sure who their target audience was going to be. It could’ve gone spectacularly wrong.

Thankfully, the dancing was amazingly well choreographed, but it wasn’t a musical. Brewer made sure the storyline was the move, not the dancing. I was so pleased with how the movie was remade that I hope to see it again in the theater with my best friend this week!

*I was given passes to see the movie in August. The opinion expressed is my own and never influenced by the company!