The Most Tragic Remake

Believe me, I'm as aggrivated as you are. This type of movie only works at the time period it was made in. This movie would never be right set in mordern day. Reading a review of the original on here irritated me. In that the reviewer was looking at it through a mordern day viewers eyes. For example, when the pony ride guy is helping the little boy, she first thought he was a pedophile. In todays terms that could be correct, but back then, no one would think that sitting in the theatre. Granted I will say that its been at least 7 years since I've seen it (back in the day when AMC acutally shows CLASSIC movies, how I wish someone would run Laurel and Hardy marathons like they used to). When I get the money, I want to get the original on DVD. Only problem is that its been out for several years and its still 25 bucks. I'm sure that someone who has seen it on dvd has complained that its in mono sound format and not remastered into 5.1. ugh...

First let me say that I am usually highly critical of remakes.
That being said, I absolutely loved THIS movie. After seeing the low reviews here and reading about how GREAT the original movie is, I ordered it on Amazon.

Here is the probelm: I found THIS movie at a going out of business sale at Hollywood Video. It was VERY reasonable and I "judged the book by the cover" (or the DVD in this case. I could not possibly be more pleased with my decisin to buy it. I wouold have paid over 10 times the price. So I bought this with no real expectations one way or the other. I let the movie "win me over" and it did, BIG TIME. I purchased the original with hight expectations based on reviews and comments here. It ended up with my expectations that could not be met.

The baseline plot is the same; older brother plays "trick" on younger brother and leaves him feeling like a "fugitive". The original, however, is very light hearted. They call it a "comedy" but it is not a comedy based on todays idea of comedy. It simply isnt something of a "serious" nature.

The remake is far more dramatic. It makes a lot of social statements based on situations as they are TODAY, which was not as common in 1953. *I* personally didnt find the kids in the original as "charming" as you did. Frankly they seemed kind of "bratty". Lenny didnt seem to care much about Joey at all. He was just a little nuisance. In the newer version, the 2 brothers were more dependent on each other because the mother worked much of the time and was often drunk when she wasnt working. The parents were not in any posttion to BE parents or look after them properly. The "tears" I shed was for the boys, not for the movie remake. THe boys ONLY had each other to really depend on and Lenny ended up being much closer to his brother after Joey was found at Coney island.

These are really Different movies and serve a different purpose and represent a span of over 5 decades. I dont see how THIS version can destroy the original or anyones fondness for it. THIS version inspired me to actually purchase the original and view it. I would not have done that otherwise. So it brough me to the original work which is a GOOD thing. The fact that I like THIS one more is simply based on my own opinion. I found the boys in the new version to be VERY effective actors, particularly David Castro. He reads and speaks VERY well and he was exciting to listen to in his telling of the OLD Coney Island. The preformances alone speak well for the remake. The rest depends on whether you want a more dramatic movie that makes a statement, or a light hearted one from a simpler time.
BTW: I was VERY surprized that we did NOT see the Cyclone in the original. What is Coney Island without the cyclone????