Film Review: Footloose

Another day, another remake of a 1980s film. Craig Brewer’s Footloose is a respectful remake of the 1984 dance favourite, and a film that entertains just as it should.

Ren McCormick moves from Boston to Bomont, a small town in Georgia, to live with his uncle. Ren is a bit of a fish out of water, and is perplexed by the town’s unusual rules which ban public dancing. After five students were killed in a road accident, strict rules were brought in to protect the town’s teenagers. Ren, however, is determined to show his new friends in Bomont what they are missing…

Footloose is fun piece of entertaining fluff. It is not in the least bit taxing, and is a slice of escapism. The narrative is run of the mill, but the film provides enough amusement to make up for this. Footloose provides a good mix of humour, drama, and of course dancing.

Footloose is similar to this summer’s Fright Night remake in that it pays homage to the original. In its choice of music and the styling of protagonist Ren, Footloose acknowledges its antecedent. Unlike Fright Night however, Footloose‘s narrative sticks pretty close to the original. The minor changes in the film are really to update it for the twenty-first century more than anything else.

Given the film’s themes, music is of course pivotal. The filmmakers made a wide choice not to remix or alter two of the original film’s most memorable songs – Deniece Williams’ ‘Let’s Hear It for the Boy’ and of course the Footloose theme by Kenny Loggins. These tracks act as linchpins for both the original film and the remake. The soundtrack does include other songs which update the film to its modern-day setting.

The dance sequences are well choreographed in the film. Footloose features a range of dance styles. It seems unlikely that there would be several great breakdancers in a small town, but then again this is a film about a town that has banned dancing, so a suspension of disbelief is a prerequisite.

Casting in the film is good. Although not first choice for Ren, Kenny Wormald is a good choice for the lead. His unassuming persona works well. Julianne Hough is a little hammy as Ariel, while Dennis Quaid is given little room to manoeuvre in a rather cheesy role. Miles Teller brings many of the film’s laughs as Willard.

An unnecessary remake it may be, but at least Footloose brings the feel-good factor.

The Empire Big Screen Diaries – Day 3

Like the protagonist on an epic quest in a sword and sorcery film, I embarked on the final day of Empire Big Screen. First order of business was the Paramount Showcase. After a brief video animating the company’s biggest films, a series of trailers were shown. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was followed by Paranormal Activity 3 and Like Crazy. After this, a featurette on Cowboys and Aliens was screened, introduced by Jon Favreau (on video). We also got to see a short clip of the Footloose remake, and the trailer for The Devil Inside (which was highly reminiscent of last year’s The Last Exorcism). Two clips of the Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots were then screened. Te footage was great; the film looks as if it will be very funny. To round things off, footage of The Adventures of Tin Tin was screened with a message from producer Peter Jackson and director Steven Spielberg. The clips looked good, but I always think humans in CG-animation look weird.

After a brief interlude, the Lionsgate Showcase began. After the trailer for A Dangerous Method was shown, we got to see footage from Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus. Set in the modern day but with the original Shakespearean dialogue, the film looks interesting if a little unusual. The showcase was rounded up by four trailers – 50/50, Abduction, Warrior and Conan the Barbarian.

Seizing the opportunity for a proper lunch break, we headed to Armadillo (again). My fish burger was nice, but I felt bad that we didn’t leave a proper tip. In fairness, it was all the change we had, but apologies to Armadillo staff.

The Disney Showcase was the final one of the weekend. Real Steel was first up, with director Shawn Levy on stage to talk about the film. He also gave away tickets to the premiere, but asked the most difficult question ever. Needless to say, I did not know the answer. Two clips were then screened; the film looks like fairly standard family fare. Andrew Stanton then introduced John Carter and footage from the film was screened. Finally, Steven Spielberg (by video) introduced some footage of his upcoming film War Horse. What struck me more than anything was that Spielberg seems to have some hand in directing or producing many of the films discussed this weekend. He may have even a hand producing this post. Human star of the film Jeremy Irvine then came on stage to discuss making War Horse.

After hanging out in the press room for a bit (Jeremy Irvine was being interviewed there, talent-spotters!), it was time for The Muppets! Director of The Muppets James Bobin and star Kermit the Frog were interviewed live via satelite. I was told that the Muppets were originally meant to appear in person. Maybe it is just as well this did not happen, as I may have got kicked out for running up on stage and hugging Kermit. The interview was a lot of fun, and the clip screened involved Kermit singing a song. It almost brought a tear to the eye…

After all that excitement, it was time for the Conan the Barbarian premiere. Jason Momoa was present to introduce the film, shown at the biggest screen at the O2 Cineworld. The film was pretty disappointing itself (review to follow).

After the very last visit to the press room, I went to the secret screening. Cineworld tried to rob me blind with their popcorn prices, after which I settled down to watch the film. Before it started, I asked the gentleman next to me if he knew what the film was (I did by this point). When he answered “Cowboys and Aliens” I was perplexed, and thought he was joking until he showed me his ticket. I was in the wrong screen. After cursing my stupidity, I ran next door and luckily the trailers were still on. I then settled down to watch The Debt, a very good thriller (review to follow). And that concluded Empire Big Screen; the film was good way to end a busy but exciting weekend.

Many thanks to Empire and Romley Davies for having me, plus all the lovely people who made the weekend so much fun (you know who you are!).