Better than the original? Spoilers Ahead

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2004)

OK, OK, everybody hold on a second. First of all, let me make it perfectly clear that I am a Romero fan, no doubt about it. Not an obsessed fan, not a zombie movie maniac, but a fan nonetheless. I thought Night was a masterpiece. I've never seen Day. I recently (as in the last week) watched both Dawns. And I have to say it--I think the new one is the better film. Here's why: 1. Character Development--We get peeks (and only peeks) into these characters former lives, their motivations, and this is the artistic way to do it. Granted, CJ's character change was a bit hard to swallow. But every other major character was more than just a cardboard cutout.
Ving Rhames' and his desire to find his brother becomes his desire to help his new family in the mall. The dude from U-571: more than halfway through the film we find out that he was married with children, was a poor husband, was a good father, and held tons of bad jobs. Yet he is the voice of reason, he is the father of the group, he is the good man in a storm. Sarah Polley: we've seen what she went through in the beginning of the film, and therefore we don't need to hear it again, so we don't.
Mekhi Phifer: Though a complete maniac when he reaches his demise, we can understand why he's become a maniac.
2. Likable characters: This goes a long way in my book. I'm not saying I didn't like the characters in the original. But they were too one-dimensional for me. The white cop just becomes a lunatic. We don't get glimpses into their past lives or why they are who they are. There's absolutely no chemistry between the father and mother-to-be. The black cop just suddenly decides that he doesn't want to live anymore, but then gets his motivation back at the end. I thought that was done pretty poorly.
On the other hand, I really felt for some (obviously not all) of the characters in the new one. Even Andy from the gun shop, who has a mere two or three lines of dialogue, I felt for. The people in the new one are more fleshed out, more human, and more likable.
3. HUMOR: This is an added-bonus for horror movies, which Romero was great to put into Night. But, the humor in the original Dawn seems so dated now. The idea of one-stop shopping is the only line that stands out in my mind.
Compare that to the humor in the new one. Take the scene where Andy's shooting zombies in the parking lot and Ving's holding up the sign to tell him which celebrity to shoot--Jay Leno, Burt Reynolds ("man he's good, that didn't even look like Burt Reynolds").
4. LESS Stupid Character Moments: The original Dawn has many of these. With the white cop taking his sweet old time and running around like a maniac.
Yes, the new one has its share, but I would say there were less as a whole. Like when that chick went to save the dog.
5. Fast Zombies: Obviously, this makes zombie attacks much more intense.
6. More of a feel good movie (despite the credits): The new version felt much more hopeful. The people all, eventually anyways, came together, formulated a plan, decided to risk themselves to help out Andy, etc. In the original, the characters were hiding from the zombies and society, and seemed content to live their days out in a shopping mall.
There's more I could say, but I've already gone on for too long. This should generate (hopefully) a lot of comments.