Remakes have been attempted many times in the attempt to capitalize off an idea twice. Most of them fail miserably, and those that do the job decently often do not offer any more than improved effects. Not so here.
H.G. Wells' story has had some liberties taken with it in this version. Again, most who attempt to stand on the shoulders of a great writer (The wretched Planet of the Apes remake comes to mind) stumble futilely. In this case, there is a deeper message than the original story. The latter part of the movie drags a little bit before getting to that crux, but it's worth it. As a product of the times, H.G. Wells apparently sought out to write a story colorfully in order to voice his grievances against the inevitable idiocies of war. That message seems to still be an important one, but this movie goes beyond that and says something about the human spirit, and a thought-provoking perspective that makes fate, not just war, an inevitable result of the limitations of our own consciousness.
There are also things which are done better in the original of course. This version gives the future a little bit too much hope, and strays further from the original story than the 1960 version did. However, that is just Hollywood's typical smudge...the story is still poignant. The soundtrack is also very good.
One thing it could do without are a few line gimmicks like referencing Einstein just to illustrate the time traveler's intelligence...but again, this is minute enough a detail that it is simply amusing and just shows the script was written dumbed down a little throughout, which is typical.
This remake is an exception because it adds something good to the original, making them very similar, yet very different, such that both movies are compliments of each other. The only other that I've seen do this is The Parent Trap (in my opinion anyhoo).
H.G. Wells' story has had some liberties taken with it in this version. Again, most who attempt to stand on the shoulders of a great writer (The wretched Planet of the Apes remake comes to mind) stumble futilely. In this case, there is a deeper message than the original story. The latter part of the movie drags a little bit before getting to that crux, but it's worth it. As a product of the times, H.G. Wells apparently sought out to write a story colorfully in order to voice his grievances against the inevitable idiocies of war. That message seems to still be an important one, but this movie goes beyond that and says something about the human spirit, and a thought-provoking perspective that makes fate, not just war, an inevitable result of the limitations of our own consciousness.
There are also things which are done better in the original of course. This version gives the future a little bit too much hope, and strays further from the original story than the 1960 version did. However, that is just Hollywood's typical smudge...the story is still poignant. The soundtrack is also very good.
One thing it could do without are a few line gimmicks like referencing Einstein just to illustrate the time traveler's intelligence...but again, this is minute enough a detail that it is simply amusing and just shows the script was written dumbed down a little throughout, which is typical.
This remake is an exception because it adds something good to the original, making them very similar, yet very different, such that both movies are compliments of each other. The only other that I've seen do this is The Parent Trap (in my opinion anyhoo).
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