For WHAT IT IS (a remake of a fun 1980s musical) it's not bad

Rating: 6/10 (15 October 2011)

Rem MacCormack (Kenny Wormwald) moves to the small town of Bomont after his mom dies. He lives with his aunt, uncle and their little girls. He finds out Bomont has a ban against loud music and dancing which was pushed by the Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) when his son was killed driving home from dancing. Ren thinks it's ridiculous and fights it. He also falls for the reverend's hot daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough).
OK--I'm a big fan of the original. I saw it multiple times up the theatre and on cable and got the original soundtrack on vinyl (kids--ask your parents!)and then again on CD. I was dreading this remake but it's actually pretty OK. It starts GREAT with a bunch of kids dancing very well to the title tune and basically follows the original script. Some of the dialogue is lifted verbatim from the original! Still there are plenty of changes--there are plenty of dramatic scenes that weren't in the original, the chicken game with tractors is turned into a race between four buses (!!!), some of the songs are (unwisely) replaced with rap songs and the dancing has changed. "Holding Out for a Hero" is heard once in the background and "Somebody's Eyes" was used when Willard (Miles Tenner) learns how to dance--but most of the songs from the original were left out. Also there's more swearing here and the fights between the teenagers are pretty brutal (for a PG-13). The acting isn't bad. Wormald is just an OK actor but he can really dance unlike Kevin Bacon in the original. He's a handsome guy too. Hough is beautiful as Ariel (LOVE those eyes) and she can act AND sing:) Everybody else is OK in their roles especially Quaid as the reverend. The dancing is incredible--full of life and energy and the whole audience applauded at the end! So--not a great movie but pretty good as a remake of the original.