I have fond memories of dancing and singing along to "Footloose" (PG, 1984) in junior high. I don't remember seeing it in a theater, but rather at a friend's house after it was on one of the premium movie channels. All of us crushed on Kevin Bacon and secretly wanted to be a bit wild like Lori Singer's Ariel character. So I knew I'd have to see the remake.
I was unable to make any of the screenings, so I barely got to see it this weekend with my daughter, one of her BFFs (both in sixth grade) and her mom. Both of us had our daughters watch the original first. And interestingly, they liked the original better. My daughter said it's because it was funnier. Guess she liked Chris Penn's version of Willard better.
Still, they laughed and danced in their seats watching the remake (featuring Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough), which follows the original storyline closely: new kid comes to town, can't understand why dancing is outlawed and tried to get the town to agree to put on a senior prom. Some changes include showing the deathly crash that lead the small town to outlaw dancing. They changed the circumstance for Ren's arrival. This time around, he's from Boston and his mother has died of leukemia. His uncle is an ally in Ren's push to change the town's dancing laws. You don't see Ariel's crazy highway stunt from the original, but she does show a wild side. My grade is a C+.
The remake is PG-13, for teen drug and alcohol use, language, sexual content and violence.
What you should know should you take your kids:
-A fiery crash is shown, resulting in the death of several teens.
-A character loses her virginity. Some kissing/touching is shown before she begins to unbutton her top and asks for the door to be closed.
-Other sexual situations include some close, sexy dancing; joking about a hookup with two women; a character making advances on another.
-A character is given marijuana, which is refused. Several underage characters are shown drinking and smoking.
-Characters play a game of chicken that leads to several vehicle crashing.
-Several characters get into fist fights. One character beats his girlfriend.
Some things to discuss:
-If you come across a law you feel is unfair, what can you do about it? Would you do something about it?
-Willard finally learns to dance. Is there something you've been afraid to try because you thought you couldn't do it? Share your story.
-What would you do if your friends wanted to do something (such as the chicken game) where someone could get hurt? Do you feel there is a lot of pressure to do crazy things even when you know they are wrong?
-Do you feel that the movie accurately relationships between teen guys and girls? Explain.
-A character makes up a story about a sexual encounter and jokes about it later. Can you tell when someone is exaggerating a story? Why do you think they do it? How does it make you feel?
-Why do you think teens and parents think so differently? Do you ever wonder what your parents/rulemakers were like as teens?
Cheers!
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