MovieChat Forums > Hachikô monogatari (1987) Discussion > Remake or Original?

Remake or Original?

posted 13 years ago by miser_cz
3 replies | jump to latest

I watched this movie after watching remake, just for comparison. Even though I love japanesse movies, this one just was not that good. I believe that remake is hollywood kitch sentimentalism, but in one thing it stands miles above the original. It is the chemistry between the dog and the professor.

In the original, Hachiko evidently doesnt give a damn about how the old man is all crazy about him. In remake its all much more gentle, and dog appears to like Gere. In original there are scenes where professor needs to hide meat in his hand (not visible on camera) just to be followed by the dog! More over, the dog is not acting at all - he is just staring somewhere behind camera where is some assistant waving pork cutlet - its too obvious and just doesnt work for me at all.

[–] jonathanmarklund 13 years ago

I usually never like remakes, but I have to agfree with you, I think the american remake is better then this movie. The path of events are more thought trough in the remake.

[–] blackheart981 13 years ago

The funny thing is that the American remake follows the orignal, true story more than the Japanese one. For an odd reason, the Japanese version made it different probably since the people of Japan probably know the story well enough. The original was also more depressing, it was just sad to see Hachi go like that towards the end with no one caring, but thank God that is not what went down back in the 20s-30s.

[–] DigIt 8 years ago

Interesting: I also watched this after seeing the remake and I thought that maybe this was more close to the actual story, with nobody caring much for the dog.
I thought that those bits in the remake when the town people were giving him food etc. was just an Hollywood device to get their public happy.
Are you sure in the Japan of the twenties the people had that same care too? Surely in later years everyone knew and appreciated the tale, but in this movie just a few cared...

Anyway I also believe the remake was a better movie, well acted by everyone and the dramatization worked a lot better.