The Motley Fool Weighs In On "Godzilla" Remake

Above, a shot from the "Godzilla " trailer. Photo: Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.

The Motley Fool has weighed in on the upcoming Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. Godzilla. The writer (Leo Sun) generally doesn't like remakes of foreign films. He has misgivings about the upcoming movie. He feels that Hollywood still hasn't learned from failed foreign remakes of the past after looking at the Godzilla trailer.

He wrote:

Ever since the 1990s, there has been a surge in Hollywood remakes of foreign films from Europe and Asia. The logic fueling these remakes is simple -- the original film's concept worked in its home country, and American audiences are mostly unfamiliar with foreign films. 

That idea wouldn't be bad if those remakes were labors of love. 

However, they're usually not -- they often suck the life out of the original and give American audiences an empty husk of a movie. Simply take a look at some of the critical response to the major foreign remakes over the past two decades.

To a certain extent, I agree with him. I didn't bother with the American The Ring, preferring to watch (and enjoy) instead the original Ringu from Japan.

The problem with remakes of foreign films, Hollywood does get them wrong. The 1998 Sony/TriStar Godzilla is a glaring example. (Another recent remake that was a big misfire was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.)  The tone of the movie was all wrong, just one big camp-fest. The monster didn't look or act like Godzilla. The only thing it had going for it was that it, at least, sounded like Godzilla.

At this year's Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles, I said that if Godzilla looked and acted like Godzilla, along with a decent script, I am okay with it. (I haven't heard enough of this Godzilla yet to determine if it sounds like Godzilla.) Thus far, Legendary and Warner Bros. seem to be doing this one right. That is why I am looking forward to seeing it. I have much better feelings about this Godzilla than I did for the 1998 abomination.

We'll find out for sure next May.

To read the full Motley Fool article, go here.