I just watched the original this weekend, after a ton of viewings of the remake, and enjoyed both of them. A little bit difficult because of subtitles, but after a while, you don't even realize you're reading them.
As for similarities and differences, I found that the remake followed the original very well, and there weren't too many differences. However, I liked the remake more. Perhaps it's because of the actors (obsessed with Stanley Tucci), perhaps it's the fact that I didn't have to read subtitles. But a lot of it was because I thought the remake gave the minor characters more to work with, and I found myself more interested in them because of it. Stanley Tucci's character of Link was more fleshed out than the character of Aoki. Similar things, but just a bit more meat in his story. You learned far more about Vern, and he had a great deal more personality. For Chick, you just got the impression of a very hyper, happy kind of guy in the original, not the way it is in the remake. I also liked the fact that the wife had a great job.
But one of the biggest reasons was the relationship between the character of John Clark and the dance teacher. In the original, it seemed that if he had a chance, he might have slept with the teacher. But in the remake, you see that it was never about lust with John and Paulina. She was just expressing things that he felt deep down, but was ashamed of.
Both were great movies, and I impressed and enjoyed both, but for me, I just preferred the remake a little more. And I absolutely adored the part where they played Book of Love while he's getting ready for the final scene.
"Oh my God! You put a living room where the crack den used to be!"
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