So, Hollywood, if you're listening, here are some movies that are ripe for a remake:
- Pete's Dragon. I don't think Disney ever really retreads their movies. They just produce mediocre straight-to-video sequels. Pete's Dragon was limited by the technology of 1977, but I believe it could be redone so much better. Perhaps even a sequel where Elliott helps some other child ala the rescuers. We need to bring back Doc Terminus, however. I'm sure Jim Dale would be happy to see his antic character reprised and I could think of no one better than Eric McCormack. Whaddaya say, Disney?
- Enemy Mine. The effects look downright hokey by today's standard, but in this day of terrorist bad guys, wouldn't it be great to see enemies learning to understand each other and become friends. Some slight tweaks to this one and it would be easy to update it for our day. As it stands, you'd be lucky to find this one playing at 2AM on SyFy. (If you're watching SyFy for SciFi movies, you need help.)
- Ladyhawke. I know that the original was quite a fun movie and it seems a Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeifer, and Matthew Broderick in his prime (which is pretty much anything before Godzilla). The effects don't really need reworking, although some CG morphing back in 1985 would have been nice instead of the slight of hand they used. The story was good and the action fun. So why remake this gem? Two reasons: 1. Matthew Broderick - although I love his performance, a snarky American teen is quite out of place in this fantasy realm and even more important: 2. The Alan Parsons score. Prog rock synthesizers are so out of place in this movie. The may have seemed cool at the time, but today they sound more at home in Napoleon Dynamite - in a good way, sort of. I know we could just replace the score and still have a great movie, but there are so many things we could explore with the dual nature of man and woman. It's just begging to be remade.