Yesterday, I finally sat down to watch the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp. Thinking it was maybe 3 years old, I was astounded to learn that it was actually 12 years old... argh!
Anyway, I'm a big fan of the book by Roald Dahl and a huge fan of the 1978 film with Gene Wilder and even though I knew I wouldn't prefer the remake, I really didn't think it would be that bad. It was abominable. AH-BOM-INABLE.
Last week on the show, we discussed cover songs that were better than the original, and there were plenty. I wouldn't have thought that there were many remakes of films that people preferred - but I was wrong. Have I left any out?
- “Paula, The remake of The Thing wasn't a bad effort; the first was a 50s Japanese movie. The first remake was in the 80s starring Kurt Russell and then a couple of years back, the third version wasn't quite good, but I'm with you on Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!” - Shay
- “Paula, Scarface! The original was in 1932!”
- “The remake of True Grit is at least as good and in some ways better than the original!”
- “Planet of the Apes trilogy is brilliant! Love the show!” - Ann Marie in Galway.
- “Morning Paula, Oceans 11 with Clooney is so much better than the Frank Sinatra version. Also the US version of The Ring!” - Colm in Monkstown
- “Good Morning Paula. Another project another setup, so now I get to hear you live everyday instead of sporadically wit playback to fill my fix. The 1990s remake of 12 Angry Men is better than the original as is Flash Gordon (though still not a masterpiece). Also only partially qualifying The Lord of the Rings (earlier version was just a cartoon!)” – Cheers, Vince
- “Hi Paula. The remake of The Bourne Identity was better in many ways than the origional with Richard Chamberlain and Jacklyn smith which was Truer to the book by Robert Ludlum. Technology is probably the biggest difference maker.”
- “Hey Paula Karate Kid remake with Will Smith’s young lad is good - my kids prefer it to the original.”
- “Cape Fear remake was better !” - Joe Dublin
- “Having Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Andrew Scott as Moriarty makes it the best version of Sherlock... though my friend disagrees as he loves the original one. Greetings from the Philippines here!” - Apple
- “Hey ya...have to be The Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg... unreal!”
- “Paula the 1988 version of The Blob is much better than the 1958 version of The Blob although both are atrocious!”
- “Paula, what about The Departed? It’s based on Andrew Lau's 2002 film Infernal Affairs. It's funnier, uglier, and more ambitious than the original!”
- “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Paula, original was called Bedtime Story in 1964 with Marlon Brando. Remake was with Steve Martin and Michael Caine in 1988!”
- “Paula, Godzilla!”
- “Morning Paula. I missed about 15 minutes of the show between getting outta the car to open up the factory so I'm not sure if it's been said already but Inglorious Basterds remake was just a million times better than the 1978 original (spelt Bastards interestingly enough!!)” - Siobhan, Kinsale
