Warner Brothers has announced plans for a remake of the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. As evidenced by the popularity of films like the new Alice in Wonderland and the hugely successful rebirth of the superhero film, it's clear that remakes, franchise reboots, and live-action adaptations are very big business. As an audience, we're fascinated to see characters and stories with which we're already familiar adapted into a new narrative. Some Oz fans, however, might understandably be nervous about any modernized version of the classic original.

So what makes a remake, reboot, or adaptation worth making? To me, it seems to depend half on the original material, and half on the intent of the new version. With a story like Alice in Wonderland, audiences are likely to be most familiar with Disney's animated film version. This left director Tim Burton and leading lady Mia Wasikowska with a lot of creative freedom to portray a new, real Alice without clashing with the Alice already in the audience's mind. On the other hand, the iconic image of Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale is one of the first things that comes to mind when we think of The Wizard of Oz. How will an audience respond to a new portrayal of such an classic character? Would the film studio be better off downplaying the role of Dorothy, focusing instead on the magical land of Oz and the cast of characters there?

Despite the cultural prominence of the original work, I think there are many cases where the vision of the new film alone can make or break its success. Films that serve only to reboot a franchise for financial reasons, disregarding both loyalty to the original work and the necessary artistic license to make an interesting film, tend to fall flat. This is where many video game and cartoon film adaptations seem to have failed, with hopeless flops like Dragonball Evolution and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li failing to connect with audiences. Creative “reimaginings” like Alice and Sherlock Holmes, and faithful adaptations like Sin City and many of the superhero franchises, tend to instead be very well-received.

Then there's the question of whether the classics need to be remade at all. Personally, I'm a big fan of repurposing old material to make something new, fresh, and exciting. The trick is to refrain from making something modern and flashy just for the sake of being modern and flashy. An artfully told story will always be welcome over some big names and special effects.

Though there are some factors which seem to predetermine a remake for success or failure, it truly is a matter of taste. After all, some of my favorite remakes and adaptations have received terrible reviews across the board. The Wachowski Brothers' film adaptation of the old Speed Racer cartoon series has become my absolute favorite movie. I thought they did the original work complete justice. They brought the characters I loved to life and created a world like I had never seen before with their innovative film and CGI techniques. The critics, however, found it to be literally unwatchable and branded it nothing more than over-saturated eye candy.

What do you think? Do you love seeing your favorite stories be retold in new, creative ways? Should they just leave the classics alone? Will you go see the new Wizard of Oz movie anyway? And, perhaps most importantly, will they start remaking the Harry Potter series in 2060?

-Natalie is a blogger for The New View. Check out her bio to see where her view comes from.

Source

A new 'Wizard of Oz' could make its way down the Hollywood road, Los Angeles Times.