Johnny Is Great but My Heart Belongs to Gene.

I have always loved Johnny Depp as an actor. He was my first on screen crush when I was first introduced to his charms on 21 Jump Street. He was numero uno on my wall of favorite actors, his picture carefully extracted from Teen Beat. I love watching him in anything and everything he does including Mordecai which I can watch a thousand times over just to watch the gag scenes. Yet when I watch him in Willy Wonka I get a sudden pang of nostalgia for the original. No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot connect to this reimagining of a film which holds so much of my childhood. It's not that I thought the remake was bad. Quite the country, I thought Tim Burtons version was fun and interesting yet for me it couldn't compare. So there I sat staring blankly at the screen longing for my dear sweet Gene Wilder. 

When we go to a movie and the film truly speaks to us, our hearts energetically connect with it. We link it to some of the greatest moments in our lives which of course is the magic of movies yet also the reason people get so attached to films. So when Hollywood announces a remake of our favorite story we go bat shit crazy. 

I am no exception to this. Take the latest television remake of Dirty Dancing, in my mind there is no one on earth who can play Baby except Jennifer Grey and no man alive that could ever be Johnny other than the late great Patrick Swayze. That movie brings me right back to summers at my favorite Aunts house and for that reason alone I didn't bother to watch the butchering of my favorite tale.

 While I sat there seething, a new generation of film goers were being introduced to a story they might not have ever heard of which is why the theory of remakes can work. If they are made with enough passage of time for a generation gap to occur, the target audience will not be the same as that of its predecessor. The heartthrobs of our generation are certainly not the heartthrobs of this generation and this stands to be true throughout the passage of time.

 To put the time theory in perspective, lets take Oceans Eleven. Back in 1960 when the original hit the big screen it donned an epic cast of high profile talent; Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Dean Martin. My mother would go ga ga for this film. These were the men of hertime, the biggest stars and the ones all the women loved. While she swooned at the television, I couldn't be more bored. While I could appreciate the talent I couldn't connect to it in the same way my mother did. Conversely, when Soderberghs version hit theaters in 2001 I couldn't be more ecstatic. George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt (among others) were the heartthrobs of my time and so naturally I love the remake.

It stands to reason that when hollywood reimagines a film for newer audiences we somehow feel cheated. It is simply nostalgia that keeps us inextricably linked to films of the past. All those memories we corded into the films of our childhood make it very hard for some of us to embrace a retelling of favorite stories. Now don't get me wrong, there are quite a few movies whose remake far surpasses the original; True Lies, You've Got Mail, The Departed, and True Grit are just some examples of these. But in my opinion, there are many more instances where the remakes just suck and there is nothing anyone can do about it... except maybe never try to make it again (I'm talking to you Spiderman). And yet while we agonize over the audacity of Hollywood to dare reimagine our beloved film, our children might be cording that very movie whose predecessor we linked to so many moons ago. For that reason alone, the remake has its place in the world.

The beauty of films is how they touch us emotionally. Watching younger generations become excited about their favorite stories is nothing short of thrilling. And like us, one day when a film is retold by the hottest new director with the most amazing cast of that time, our children will scoff and turn their little noses up in much the same way. That dear friends, is the power of film. So while I could sincerely confess to you that I deeply and madly love Johnny Depp and there will never be another Captain Jack Sparrow, when it comes to Willy Wonka my heart belongs to Gene.

Angelique Adelina

www.starr-films.com